The Official Black App
About The Official Black App
Leveraging the thriving landscape of black tech entrepreneurship, The Official Black App capitalizes on this momentum to connect every black-owned business within the app to the global market. Currently, individuals seeking black-owned businesses face the challenge of either scouring websites to determine if a business meets their specific criteria or relying on search engines that often yield random results, primarily utilizing the term "black" in the title. The primary objective of The Official Black App is to facilitate the circulation of the black dollar within the black community. The app meticulously verifies and vets businesses to ensure customer satisfaction.
Client Request
The client presented us with a range of possibilities to consider for updating their app. These options included modifying the onboarding process, enhancing the search feature, integrating social media, refining the user interface, or incorporating new features. However, the client emphasized that these suggestions were merely his initial ideas, and he prioritized making the most crucial updates based on the research findings.
User Interviews
The Problem
Having established a clear understanding of our target audience, our next objective was to identify the most significant issue revealed by our research. By synthesizing the collected data, we arrived at the following key findings :
Business Owner Problem Statement
Small local business owners need a platform that provides value to their business so they can easily promote their products and services to customers.
Consumer Problem Statement
Small business enthusiasts don't know where to look but need a way to find quality products from local small businesses so they can support their community.
Ideation
Having received the client's instructions, my team and I proceeded to conduct independent research. I focused on :
Testing
With the low-fidelity prototype ready, I promptly prepared a usability test to assess areas requiring adjustments and to evaluate the effectiveness of the design. Key takeaways were :
Final Design
A community blog offering best practices for running a business
Reflection
Closing Thoughts
Gained hands-on experience with real client-facing work for the first time
Learned best practices and nuances of effective client communication from teammates
Future Steps
Only so much can get done within one sprint so some future steps I would like to work on are :
Introduce an in-app educational walkthrough to help users quickly understand icon functions and navigate the app more efficiently
Enable in-app purchasing so businesses can sell products or services directly within the app instead of redirecting users externally
Timeline
5 weeks
March 2023 - April 2023
Platform
Mobile App
Team
Erica Nieves ( Me ^_^ )
Christiana Aghjayan
Seungyong Han
Talia Sperry
To enhance our understanding of our users, we conducted interviews with both consumers and business owners. Our intention was to gather insights into the challenges faced by business owners and their expectations from a review and recommendation platform. Similarly, we aimed to comprehend the motivations driving consumers to support small businesses and their approaches to fostering the growth of such enterprises. The outcome of our interviews revealed the following findings:
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Trello
Google Drive
Monday.com
Business Owner
Wanted a platform that requires minimal ongoing maintenance
Wanted to maximize the value of the platform they were using
Consumer
Wanted an easier way to find small local businesses
Feel connected to the community when purchasing products and using the platform
Client Hurdle
Usability Test
Following our kickoff meeting with the client, we promptly shared a Statement of Work (SOW) requesting the app analytics and slide decks for a comprehensive understanding of their app and requirements. Regrettably, despite receiving the slide decks, we faced challenges in obtaining the app analytics. Despite multiple email attempts and even a text message, we did not receive any response from the client. Consequently, we encountered difficulties in accessing the app data necessary for our work.
In addition to the unavailability of app analytics, we also encountered a limitation in accessing the app without incurring a cost. Since the app required a $1 purchase on the app store, we decided against burdening participants with the expense when they were volunteering for the usability test. As a workaround, I took the initiative to create a grayscale version of the existing app interface specifically for our usability testing purposes.
The home button did not make sense to users
Language like”Spend Black” and “Quick Shop” were unclear
Too many categories on the homescreen
Persona
After gathering and analyzing our research findings, we recognized the need for multiple personas in our product, we prioritized developing these personas as our next step. Although the client provided us with their perception of the target audience, we discovered that the personas they provided contained irrelevant details while lacking essential elements that truly brought the personas to life. Therefore, we took it upon ourselves to update and revitalize the personas provided by the client, infusing them with a fresh perspective.
Client Personas
Updated Personas
Business Owner
Consumer
Having received the client's instructions, my team and I proceeded to conduct independent research. I focused on :
The pin on the map should be interactive
People would like to have a search feature within the blog/forum
The blog/forum icon initially didn’t make sense to users but once they knew what it was they understood its purpose
Rebranding
For the rebranding we mainly focused on the colors and how the colors would embody the essence of the app. We were with purples to symbolize ambition, wealth, creativity, pride, and independence to symbolize business owners. For consumers and business owners alike we used pinks for friendship, community, care, and compassion.
Business Owner
Consumer
Proximity map to aid users in locating nearby businesses
Forum for uses to recommend and share their favorite establishments