Shutian Wang UX Design
Terps Makeathon
Gmail Redesign for First-time Computer Users
Background
This is a team design challenge for Terps Makeathon 2021 at the University of Maryland. Terps Makeathon is an annual event hosted by UXTerps. Participants will use their UX/UI skills to finish a 24-hour design challenge. The topic was "healthcare" related due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Three of the sponsors gave us 3 health-related topics. This event was totally remote, all the participants worked through Zoom and Discord.
About the Trace Center
The Trace Research & Development Center has been a pioneer in the field of technology and disability, known for high-impact research and development. Its mission is to capitalize on the potential that technologies hold for people experiencing barriers due to disability, aging, or digital literacy, and to prevent emerging technologies from creating new barriers for these individuals. In doing this, they bring together disciplines such as information science, computer science, engineering, disability studies, law, and public policy to engage in research, development, tech transfer, education, policy, and advocacy.
My Team and the roles (Order by the last name):
Sean Simmons: Lead UX & UI Design
William Song: User Testing & UX Design
Tram Vo: UX Writer, Scribe & UX Design
Shutian Wang: UX Researcher, Writer & UX Design
The Problem
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The current Gmail page is too complex for the elderly user group
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The current Gmail required knowledge and experience with technology and the internet, not very friendly for the new users of digital products
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User complains about the language barrier while testing the product
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Font size is not very friendly for the elderly user group
The Goal
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Remove unnecessary advanced features from existing Gmail;
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Create a more visually intuitive, simpler, and clearer interface that will be easier to navigate by Simplifying visual cues and features; Simplifying language; Reorganizing how the user can access and organize mail
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Replicate the feeling of getting mail from a traditional mailbox;
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Emphasize the main purpose of the Gmail → mailing feature and not other features.
UX Method Used
In this challenge, we used survival methods to complete our project, here is the method we used:
User Research - We did research online and interviewed folks around us such as our roommates, family members due to the global pandemic.
User Persona - We created a persona based on our research.
Wireframing & Prototyping - Created wireframing and prototyping to test for the audience
Usability Testing & Iteration - We tested on William's grandmother, the only senior adult we could reach out in 24 hours.
Tools Used: Figma, Zoom, Discord, Google Docs
Timeline: 24 Hours
Ideation & Initial
We first came up with this "Calendar Mailbox" idea. Users can easily organize the mailbox by date; however, we didn't keep this idea because we realized how many emails will be showing on this calendar and it sounds very confusing.
Then we focused on our user group, many first-time computer users are senior adults. We kept the original homepage style, however, we created an envelope style for the mail. Here is the sketch of our initial envelope view.
Final Concept
Login Page and Link to Tutorials
Main Page
Trash Page
Login Page and Link to Tutorials
Usability Testing: William’s grandma
Because of the pandemic lockdown, we weren't able to connect with many other senior adults as our testing users, we were only able to test one person, team member William Song's grandma, who is an 86-year-old Chinese native speaker at that time. Here is the conclusion of the test:
This was her first time seeing Gmail and using a mouse
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Confused about what she was looking at
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Was unable to find many features in it, due to lack of understanding of English and clutter of words causing everything to blend together.
Our design
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Even without the tutorial, she was able to easily understand the icons of the design, the mail, the icons on the left, and what they were used for.
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After the tutorial, she was able to understand what each function does and had no problems navigating through the site.
Reflection
This was my first time participating in Makeathon, also my first time participating UX design project. It was such an amazing but short journey. All my team members from we don't know each other bonded a lot during the 24 hours design process. I would love to participate again.
What we could have done better for this project?
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I would like to reach out to more users for our product's usability testing.
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Adding more tutorials that slowly unlock new features
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Adding a quick mail selection
In the end, I'd like to appreciate UXTerps for organizing this amazing event and offering me this opportunity to learn more about UX design; Thanks to our sponsor Trace Center for doing an amazing job in the technology industry to improve human lives.