PROJECT OVERVIEW
Family Tree is a genealogy app created by Family Search. They tasked my team and I with improving its user friendliness in order to increase the user retention of the app.
MY ROLE
We as a team concluded that Family Tree had several key aspects in need of improvement. My partner and I focused solely on tutorials for new/returning users.
THIS CASE STUDY CONTAINS
My initial research process for improving this app
Insights gained from other genealogy apps
Outlined steps of my user-centered design process
Showcased final product
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 1-A
We decided to begin with some basic swipe cards that would introduce and briefly explain the different functionality found within the app.
USERS' EXPERIENCE
Users wanted to know if the tutorial was optional or if they had to swipe through everything in order to begin using the app.
One of the users tried tapping the edges and asked if he was supposed to do that or swipe.
Some were curious if there would be any way to go back to the tutorial later if they forgot things.
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
We saw that by using this style of tutorial, we were bottlenecking users into being forced to go through what may seem like a chore before being able to actually use the app.
Our goal was to help users understand what it is they're able to do in the app, as well as help them understand how to do it.
We wanted to implement the tutorial as lightly and subtly as possible, so as not to make the user feel that they need to complete a set of chores before being able to use the app.
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 2-A
We began digital prototyping, continuing to test swipe cards a bit while also testing a different tutorial approach where the user decides what to be taught about rather than having to go through a brief explanation of everything.
USERS' EXPERIENCE
Users felt excited about being able to choose the tutorial topic.
Some users didn't know they were able to swipe (due to a design flaw).
Overall they were more mentally engaged and stimulated than they were in round 1 of testing.
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
We liked this new direction of being able to focus tutorial efforts on specific topics that users chose.
Doing so gave us more options and flexibility in how we approached the whole tutorial process.
However, we felt that users weren't recognizing and responding to the tutorial as simply and intuitively as we had hoped.
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 3-A
Our goal here was to continue to target users' individual needs, while further streamlining the process.
USERS' EXPERIENCE
Users recognized and reacted with the tutorial screens more intuitively than before.
Control scheme was not questioned.
They didn't ever ask if it was required to complete it all. They naturally wanted to.
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
We felt that we were on the right track to a simple, modern, and efficient tutorial experience.
Now that we felt confident about this portion of the tutorial, we wanted to do some designs and testing for the next part of the tutorial.
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 1-B
Testing the user experience of the next portion of the tutorial, where the user has already selected what they would like to learn about.
USERS' EXPERIENCE
The process made sense, but some users were wondering if they were being shown or were supposed to be tapping and navigating through the tutorial.
The users weren't sure if the tutorial was over or if they were still in it.
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
Instructions were clear to the users, but overall felt like it could have been simplified.
We realized that telling the users what/how to do something could be effective, but there are better ways of teaching.
Some of the best tutorials are found in video games. Users learn by doing, not by being told. It is more effective to guide the user through doing, rather than telling or showing.
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 2-B
Instead of telling the user what to do, we decided to have the tutorial guide the users through simply doing it themselves (in this example, creating a family tree).
USERS' EXPERIENCE
Users knew what was happening, but had to look around on the screen a bit.
Some of the users commented that the message bubbles seemed out of place.
Some users tried tapping the messages rather than tapping what they were pointing to (design flaw that we needed to fix).
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
We tried showing instead of telling, but still were overcomplicating things.
We wanted to further simplify the tutorial, as an effective video game tutorial would.
Often times, if something needs to be described with words, it wasn't described well enough.
"...use words if necessary." -Francis of Assisi
DESIGN, TEST, EVALUATE: ROUND 3-B
Further simplifying the tutorial to the point that unnecessary words have been eliminated and guidance is kept to an effective minimum.
USERS' EXPERIENCE
Users weren't confused at all. They knew what to press and understood what was happening.
They didn't seem overwhelmed with clutter on the screen. There was clarity and focus.
EVALUATION (the overall takeaway)
We succeeded in simplifying the tutorial and only providing the necessary information and guidance required for users to understand how to use the app.
We want users to feel confident in knowing how to use the app, and feel that they've figured it out themselves rather than having us tell them. This increases the user's satisfaction and commitment to the app.
"You are your own teacher." -Ajahn Chah
RESEARCH DONE THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS
GENEALOGY APPS
In the beginning, we researched other genealogy apps. Two of the apps that stood out the most were Ancestry and MyHeritage. They both introduce some of the basic functionality of the app as well as give the user something to be excited about. The cards seen on the left serve as some of the inspiration for the card-style tutorials seen in some of the initial designs for the Family Tree re-design.
OTHER APPS
We ended up also researching other apps that weren't necessarily genealogy-related. Regardless of the kind of app, design principles still stand. Seen on the left is Habit Tracker, a self-improvement app. And on the right is Indeed, the job searching app. We applied some of the experience-customizing design techniques seen in both of these apps to our tutorial.
GAMES
During the second half of our testing/design process, we realized that we ultimately needed to make our tutorials more like the tutorials found in games. These mobile games are designed to reel users right in and get them to play immediately. The tutorial and the gameplay aren't separated. We realized that the best tutorial is one what has the user do, rather than be told or be shown.
IN CONCLUSION
There are a ton of ways to design apps, and many that are different are successful for different reasons. The key is applying fundamental design principles within the context of your target user group and fixing mistakes based on testing and research. Good design is a continual process.
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