Lettuce Focus

Lettuce Focus is a organizational tool, created to assist specifically post-secondary students with staying on top of tasks. Lettuce Focus is themed around a shared experience we had as kids; having to stay behind at the dinner table to finish your vegetables. Unlike those painful nights spent staring at your plate, Lettuce Focus strives to gamify task organization and reward users for staying focused.

Project Overview

The purpose of this project was to create an app that focused on benefitting the user and promoting light ux habits. Research was to be conducted on dark ux, to show understanding on unethical practices within app development. Usability testing, general surveying, flow charts, and empathy maps, were to be utilized in showing the extent of the app development process. A final high fidelity mockup was to be created, as well as a small collection of ads to showcase the final application of the app.

Objectives

Large scale objective - Create an app that benefits the user instead of the company.

Small scale objective - Create a focus app that can properly benefit any type of student’s organizational skills. This could be a person with ADHD or a lower attention span, to someone who self-identifies with being a very organized individual.

Dark UX vs. Light UX

Process Sketching

Software Used

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe XD
Monday.com (User testing for competitive analysis)

Deliverables

Graphic Toolbox
2 ad mockups
High fidelity app prototype
Screencast of app usability
UX case study

Competitive analysis (home pages)

Monday.com (home)

Dark UX is the process in which companies manipulate a user into completing tasks or contribute data to benefit their company. This process is done using an immoral process that takes advantage of a user's vulnerability and personal information, normally without their knowledge. Examples of this process would be integrating hidden fees, a forced sensing of urgency via nagging, or obstruction of information. Light UX would be the opposite of this process, keeping the user’s best intention at heart when moving through the design process. Examples of this would be prioritizing accessibility and creating an app that allows a user to feel they have benefited themselves in some way.

Mind Mapping

Competitive Analysis

Monday.com - Monday.com is a paid subscription based project management software. The app is ranked #111 in productivity on Apple’s app store, and is estimated to have 186k registered users. Although Monday.com focuses on larger scale projects and team-based organization, they pride themselves on customer care and transparency and trust. These brand traits allow them to come across as an approachable and accessible app, pushing them apart from more Dark UX centered software. Link to site
Notion - Notion is described as being “a single space to think, write, and plan.” This is the exact mindset the Lettuce Focus app is centered around. Notion is ranged #36 in productivity on the Apple app store, and has approximately 30 million users world-wide, and is one of the most well known organizational tools both for individuals and larger team works. Notion would be considered Lettuce Focus’s largest form of competition, as both the purpose of the apps and general message are similar. However, while Notion is completely customizable, some might find it overwhelming to be faced with so many options. This is when the accessibility aspects of the app come into play, as this although exciting to some can take away from the main purpose of the app. Link to site
Remember the Milk - Remember the milk is a computer software designed to keep you organized. Not only does this app also feature a fun title, but it’s been operating since 2004. This means the software has had time to break into the market and gain the loyalty of consumers. The app is also a free software, but has the ability to add a paid feature in order to unlock everything. This would be an example of integration of Dark UX, because the use of a hidden paid feature shows that although they state they put the customer first, they still prioritize profit. Link to site

Empathy Mapping

This empathy map was created using data collected from two forms of user testing. The first was a 5 day usability test conducted with the app Monday.com. The second was a general preference survey, conducted to reach a wider audience and understand the preferred app layout. Data was also added from secondary sources, in regards to what is currently saturating the organizational app market and how to stand out.

Primary Research

User Testing - A usability test was conducted using a direct competitors app (Monday.com) To summarize the users experience over a 5-day period, each participant was asked to select all the words they felt described their journey. These were the words provided: Appealing, Attractive, Busy, Clear, Difficult, Easy to use, Essential, Calm, Consistent, Dated, Annoying, Intuitive, Organized, Time-Consuming, Simple, Reliable, Useful, Indimitading, Effortless, Overwhelming. Out of these words, the phrases with negative connotation that received the most interaction were, ‘annoying,’ ‘time-consuming,’ and ‘Indimitading.’ The words associated with positive connotations that were used the most were ‘clear,’ ‘consistent,’ and ‘organized.’ Some recurring comments discussed the dislike for the horizontal layout of the app, as well as the users initial interactions weren’t always easy. When asked if users would ever use the app again, 80% of users said no.

Surveying - A general survey was asked about what the general public prefers in ways of visual layout and specific tools they used to stay organized. The consensus from this was that the general public uses organizational apps when it best suits the project at hand, and not consistently integrated into their routine. Users prefer a visual/widget based layout, as well as value the ability to easily see or access tools within an app. The most common form of organizational tool is a notes app kept on a phone, and 93% of users said they found it helpful to have a form of push notification reminders set up in order to stay on top of tasks. When prompted with the ability to add any dream feature to an organizational app, the most common response was something regarding gamification, as well as a clean or visually intriguing colour palette.

Empathy Map

Secondary Research

With the desire to make this app inclusive to all levels of organizational and focusing skills, secondary research on ADHD symptoms and solutions in students was reviewed. For those who don’t know what ADHD is, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder is when a person has difficulty controlling behaviour and attention. This affects functions such as self-regulating, organization, and planning, better known as the executive functions of the brain. (Parker, 2000). ADHD has become highly recognized in more recent years, as it seems like the amount of people diagnosed with ADHD has grown significantly. Ways to assist those with ADHD is keeping up with persistent reminders, whether that be set up on a reminder app or by word of mouth. Another helpful tool is assisting in eliminating distractions, a quiet environment and content that is straightforward will always benefit a person with ADHD. Engagement is the biggest thing, as those with ADHD can lose the ability to focus quickly, This is why being straightforward is valued.

User Personas

Flowchart

Graphic Toolbox

Wireframing and prototyping process

Prototype Screencast

Solution

The final app was created utilizing a widget-based platform. This solves multiple issues in formatting such as the desire for "visual heavy" interface and assist in supporting the common symptom of ADHD known as "item permanence." This is when someone forgets about something the minute it is no longer in their sight of range, or the topic of discussion.
The app utilizes a green and neutral colour palette to promote warmth and comfort. Green is also heavily associated with health and vegetables, making it the obvious focus for the palette.
The gamified portion of the app can be seen through the reward system, as well as the interaction within the widgets. Adding more visual reactions within the tools allows for the app to have a fun interactive element, making it stand out from it's competitors.
The onboarding in this app is extensive, that is to ensure users are properly educated with information about what the app needs to function and what privacy settings must be enabled.
Push notifications and email reminders must be enabled, which is an example of utilizing dark ux themes for light ux purpose. Enabling these features doesn't benefit the business, but benefits the users as it reminds them to stay on task and fulfill their personal needs.
Lettuce Focus is centered around the user in every way, and with room to continue exploring applications, the possibilities for Lettuce Focus are vast.

Instagram ads

Future Steps

Future steps for lettuce focus would look like expanding the app interface to become more social. Creating team boards, or having guarantors (friends or family) on the app that can assist users to be held accountable for tasks in real life. Another area for expansion would be the ability to sync social media platforms as a way to send reminders. This way Lettuce Focus could send automated DM's on Instagram or Tik Tok, so users could continue to be reminded. The point of Lettuce Focus is for users to feel secure in knowing the app will support them in task organizing and keeping on top of things, so the ability to add more or less reminders allows for the app interface to be more accessible for those with attention disorders or general disorganization.

App store userface