Better Bag

Context

Many students experience living away from home for the first time in college or university.

With a change in location and lifestyle, they are prone to struggles with taking care of their health and wellbeing - particularly with purchasing living essentials. As current university students, we understood the weight of these responsibilities on top of academic studies.

design challenge

How might we address the challenges of students who need a motivating way of planning and purchasing living essentials?

the solution

Better Bag is a shopping and scheduling app motivating students through community and rewards.

Intended to be implemented for a university campus, the app assists with completing shopping lists through gamification and builds student connection to the campus community.

Browse through products to add to your shopping list.

When the date of the planned shopping trip approaches, users will be notified and can check off purchased items from their list.

Engage with the community.

Addressing the need for advice among peers and a sense of community, users can write and respond to posts in the Community tab.

A rewarding experience.

Better Bag provides both in-app rewards and redeemable coupons which can be claimed by completing certain tasks and obtaining coins.

User research

Identifying and defining the problem.

Areas of focus highlighted by students.

We conducted interviews and an online survey with post-secondary students who have had experience living away from home. Our goal was to test our assumptions and fill our knowledge gaps.

we think we know

Students struggle with newfound independence and responsibility.

we don't know

What causes these struggles? What are the factors the positively and negative influence the experience?

Based on our synthesized findings pointing towards the purchase of daily living essentials, we developed two personas and their user journeys. They informed us on how we could develop the app for a wider range of students who are living away from home but with different needs.

development

Ideating solutions that address the need for motivation, affordability, and community.

Incorporating simplicity and gamification.

From our research, we identified the need for motivation to plan shopping trips, a convenient way to find affordable living essentials, and support from fellow students on campus.

Covering these needs in our simple primary task flows, we then extended beyond and incorporated the reward system and profile customization. Such features could be the key to user retention and routine building.

Discovering the need for familiarity through user feedback.

As I developed the user flows for adding items to the shopping list and rewards, I conducted multiple rounds of usability tests. While users found the app easy to follow, they expressed confusion with the calendar view and check marking of completed tasks. Based on their feedback, I realized that simplicity should not sacrifice familiarity.

Crafting a motivating brand and visual system.

To increase engagement, I developed the visual system to maintain a polished look that appeals to all students without encouraging overspending.

Final Prototype

A motivating, streamlined shopping experience and connection to the campus community.

Takeaways

Relying on research rather than assumptions.

This project was an opportunity to remember that starting with user research will always reveal important insights, whether the results reinforce or contradict our initial assumptions.

Considering the implications of new features.

Through the process of streamlining the user flow and developing the gamification aspects of our app, I became aware of how a well intended feature could possibly do more harm to the users than good. Usability testing is key!