Duration
09/2021 – 01/2022
Role
Project Manager, UX Designer
Work
Market Research, Competitor Analysis, Personas, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, User Interface, User Experience
Miro: looking for a fully integrated solution in order to merge two existing features, apps and templates, into a single, streamlined, and intuitive user experience.
As part of UC Berkeley’s Undergraduate Marketing Association’s Design Team, we worked with Miro to combine two of their preexisting features into a single, streamlined user experience following analysis that the separation between the two was confusing and caused unnecessary cognitive overload amongst users. We conducted an extensive competitive analysis, conducted user research and synthesized our results, studied user personas and developed user flows, before ideating and adjusting our solution which culminated in high-fidelity solutions and prototypes.
Problem
Following user research and study, Miro determined that their platform’s utilization of two different features meant to support and improve the user’s workflow, templates and apps, were confusing and disjointed in use cases.
Although these features were heavily integrated but different, the vast majority of users were intimidated specifically by apps’ seemingly high barrier of entry and thus elected not to utilize their additional product offerings.
Research
To further inform our solutions, and contextualize the struggles faced by Miro users, we utilized a variety of research methods to better inform our solution. This included 120+ user surveys, 20+ user interviews, competitive analyses, and a variety of secondary research. These delivered us some key insights to take forward with us into our ideation process.
Pain Point #1
Our first pain point we found that templates are more intuitive than apps, especially for new users.
- Users rated templates as significantly easier to find, utilize, and understand as opposed to apps
- This disparity only grew amongst new users, who found that Miro’s current onboarding process for templates helped to increase their understanding of templates’ function
Pain Point #2
Next, we found that users who do not use apps either are unclear on their purpose or have found them to be difficult to use.
- The vast majority of users don’t use apps, and this effect is even more pronounced amongst new or inexperienced users
- Many users would wish to use apps, but find their function and utility either overwhelming, daunting, or not worth the effort to learn
- Those who do use apps only utilize a select few apps that are consistent with their workflow, but rarely expand and utilize apps outside of their traditional user flow
Pain Point #3
Our third insight demonstrated that users don’t understand the differences between apps and templates, much less how to use them together.
- Survey results displayed that even when accessing apps, a lack of descriptive utility and demonstration of each app’s function has lead to cognitive overload wherein users fail to find a useful app
- Users also reported not understanding in which scenario they should use apps vs. templates, and struggle in differentiating between the two as is
- Because of this, users very rarely even consider how apps and templates can be utilized in conjunction with one another, often failing to even use both on their own
- This was a major failure on Miro’s end, as templates and apps were meant to be used together and can greatly improve the user experience
Affinity Mapping
Main Insight
Users are looking for a fully-integrated solution that makes templates and apps both easily accessible and demonstrate the value of each, both together and separately.
Miro User Flow
Design Goal
How might we merge two existing features, into a single, streamlined, and intuitive user experience?
Considerations
- Prioritize Ease of Use
- Encourage Compatibility
- Prevent Choice Overload
- Facilitate Convenience
Marketplace
Marketplace is an all-in-one place for users to find, access, and combine both apps and templates for ideal usage, accessible through the menu.
Through marketplace, users can find both apps and templates, build their toolkit or bundles, and search and filter between each. Our proposal included a new filter system that prioritized use cases and recommended apps and templates based on users’ past usage.
This is meant to lower the barrier of entry to apps, demonstrate how they can be used in conjunction with one another, and streamline the extension process for new and experienced users alike.
This is implemented across every use case
Navigation
Our team also redesigned and created a new navigation and system for Miro.
A new icon with a pop-up when activated shows the user the marketplace, with an opportunity to expand the user interface to display all available integrations, not just apps or templates individually.
The “Your Library” is integrated with toolkits to show commonly used integrations, making the user experience easily accessible. Placing apps above templates further lowers that barrier of entry again and encourages app usage across miro boards.
Bundles
Bundles are a solution that combines both apps and templates by creating pre-packaged solutions of combinations of each that promote one another.
This further lowers the barrier of entry, particularly amongst new users looking for simple, elegant solutions for their whiteboarding needs.
This additionally gives users a “shortcut” or easy way to utilize apps and templates together, a major stakeholder and client request.
Lastly, flexibility and an edit function still makes bundles useful and accessible for seasoned users by providing them with a starting point to build the custom experience they need.
Tool Kits
Tool Kits are a solution that lowers the barrier of entry to both templates and apps by providing suggested integrations for new users and providing use cases for each. Each user has a tool kit that will be custom-tailored to the user based on their individual needs and use cases. Oftentimes, this includes basic apps such as Zoom, Slack, and Google Drive as well as industry-specific templates.
Tool Kits can then be used across boards and altered to fit the users’ needs over time as they become more accustomed to the apps and templates they are most familiar with.
This not only lowers the barrier of entry to BOTH apps and templates, but encourages the user to use such. Additionally, it makes the process of setting up and using each board after initial setup significantly easier by utilizing the user’s preexisting toolkit to suggest and create new boards easily.
Reflection
This project was a great way to work on a UI/UX-heavy use case, specifically in terms of integrating new users onto a platform with a high barrier of entry. Additionally, creating, prototyping, and presenting a high-fidelity prototype to a client was a first for me! In addition, this was my first experience as a Project Manager. Leading a team of 10 was not easy, not only in terms of teaching and communicating the clients’ needs and wishes, but organizing, setting deadlines, and delegating tasks. And waking up at 7am to meet with Miro, who’s product team was based in Amsterdam, didn’t help! But overall, this was an immensely valuable experience that made the sleepless nights worth it.
Next time around, we would definitely focus on user data more. We would’ve loved to have had time to conduct a longitudinal study, further refine our ideation, and work with the team through to implementation, but that was outside our project scope.
My wonderful team!