M A K E R T O O L S

Student Project 1: General Assembly UXDi Winter 2013Design by: Allison Cooper

P R O J E C T S D R I V E P E O P L E .

A B O U T T H E P R O D U C T• MakerTools is a mobile shopping application for makers and creative

tinkerers to discover new creative projects and buy the tools needed to build them. It features a personal inventory and wish list tracking tool, a database of cool projects with tag and tool metadata, and an online shopping portal for purchasing the tool from preferred vendors.

• Ed will find MakerTools useful because he needs a way to organize the tools he has and wants for his creative maker projects to make informed decisions about which tools he purchases next.

A B O U T T H E P R O J E C TOur first assignment in the General Assembly UXDi course was to build a mobile shopping app for a specific user based on interviews and iterative feedback with a classmate. We used prompts for user research such as going through our users’ weekly routines to uncover needs, and then worked with them to design intuitive interfaces with paper components and explored functionalities and iterated on this design with the POP interactive paper prototyping app. I got to work with Ed, who is the coolest.

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H O M E F I LT E R S U G G E S T

M A K E R T O O L S demo: https://popapp.in/projects/528fa5b3cf118f8d2d0002fd/preview

METHODS: We asked Ed to sketch out his weekly schedule to better understand his needs. We also conducted interviews with him with prompts relating to his personal financial practices and daily life.

FINDINGS: We found that Ed has really got his life together in most realms, but further discussion around his interest map led us to find that creative problem-solving and project-making is an important passion of his.

OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED: We found that Ed has a passion for maker projects and creative problem-solving and that this would be an ideal space for a mobile shopping app to address.

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D E S I G N R E S E A R C H

D E S I G N I T E R AT I O N : H Y P O T H E S I S

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• METHOD: Ed was asked to arrange the elements of the maker shopping app on his own, and we then iterated on this idea with paper sketches.

• FINDINGS: The original idea— to be able to shop for and swap maker materials— was quickly found to be far too complicated, but we learned how Ed and his fellow makers “geek out about tools.” Likewise, a tool-swapping feature was found to be too complex and unimportant for Ed.

• OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED: Tools simpler/more logical than materials. Sharing would be difficult.

D E S I G N I T E R AT I O N : P R O T O T Y P I N G

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• METHOD: Prototype created with POP; ~4 users tested

• FINDINGS: clutter was a problem; many apps have similar features already; really focus on the main goal of the app.

• OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED: borrow from Amazon and Pinterest, focus on the cart, minimize features/typing

L E S S O N S L E A R N E D

LISTEN. Keep it simple. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

M A K E R T O O L SEarly iterations

Allison Cooper allison@allisonmariecooper.com

T H A N K Y O U !