Week 5- Derek Woollam
Derek Woollam
iOs Designer at The Weather Network/ Pelmorex
Derek Woollam is a senior mobile designer at The Weather Network. He works on designing apps and prototyping them to serve the user's needs. The Weather Network app is considered to be the most downloaded app and the number one weathering app in Canada.
One of the many things he has worked on during his time at the company is compiling data to create personas and through that data, he creates an infographic. Through those infographics, each designer would look back on that persona to help market the app to that specific audience. He has created and redesigned the app to appeal to users, but one that stood out was an app that featured the forecast in a more interactive way. Through this difference in showing the forecast, it really stood out to me because how it directly shows the interaction and change of the forecast from day to night when scrolling down.
One of the many things he has worked on during his time at the company is compiling data to create personas and through that data, he creates an infographic. Through those infographics, each designer would look back on that persona to help market the app to that specific audience. He has created and redesigned the app to appeal to users, but one that stood out was an app that featured the forecast in a more interactive way. Through this difference in showing the forecast, it really stood out to me because how it directly shows the interaction and change of the forecast from day to night when scrolling down.
The Methodology of Design Thinking
Woollam has also presented, what is known to be the methodology of design thinking. When thinking about design, one must conduct thorough research on their target audience first before creating an app to understand the user's needs. This is called emphasize. This is done by creating personas, which he has mentioned in his presentation. Creating personas help one design for that specific user.
Secondly, we have the define phase. Again, continuing to understand the user and the problems that arise for them. Through the personas, Woollam creates infographics to create a better understanding of that persona and put into perspective the problem's that he or she needs solving.
Thirdly, we have ideate, where the designer begins the planning. Brainstorming ideas with his other coworkers to create something that appeals to that user. During this stage, many ideas go back and forth, until a certain conclusion is made.
Thirdly, we have ideate, where the designer begins the planning. Brainstorming ideas with his other coworkers to create something that appeals to that user. During this stage, many ideas go back and forth, until a certain conclusion is made.
When everyone makes a clear decision on a design to the user's problem, the prototyping begins. Through the ideas that have been created through the ideating process, those ideas come to fruition to create a more concrete representation of it. Building a more real and active design to begin testing.
Finally, begins the testing phase where the design choices have been made to create a working app and getting an actual user to critique its work. Through testing, one can see how the user uses the app and to figure out if it is easy or difficult to understand when going through it.
Interactive Activities
What is interesting about his presentation when telling us about the methodology of design thinking, he has shown bits of it through interactive activities. This was the highlight of the presentation in my opinion as he mentioned that he does this with his coworkers during the process of creating an app for their company.
One of the processes that we did was the "Ideate" phase. As a group, we began brainstorming ideas of what to name a specific screen on the weathering app. Through those names, we wrote them down on a sticky note and stuck them on a whiteboard. After that, we began a voting phase to determine the best name for that splash screen. Then we begin designing the icon for that name and we start the process again. It was quite interesting during this activity because, by the end of it, the actual app has the name, "overview" instead of "weather." Which is pretty interesting as during that brainstorming process, we were in the mind of a user and as a user, the name "overview," wouldn't make much sense when we could just name it "weather."
Another process activity we did is the testing/prototyping process. One of us tested a prototype app and we basically gave a critique of the design elements on how easy or difficult it is to do simple tasks. Three people would be working on something like this. One would be the coordinator, telling the user what tasks to do. Then we have the note-taker, taking notes on the process of how the user is using the app. Finally, we have the user who is testing the app and following the tasks being mentioned by the coordinator.
I found this process to be quite interesting as we are basically critiquing one's design and seeing the certain problems that arise when using an app. Seeing the starting stages of the creation of the app was an interesting experience and critiquing the design through the testing stages was enjoyable to see. Some may have difficulty with certain tasks and depending on the user, certain tasks may not apply to them as much. So, to see different perspectives of each stage and the difficulties that come with it was very informative and even more appealing since we did these activities first-hand.
One of the processes that we did was the "Ideate" phase. As a group, we began brainstorming ideas of what to name a specific screen on the weathering app. Through those names, we wrote them down on a sticky note and stuck them on a whiteboard. After that, we began a voting phase to determine the best name for that splash screen. Then we begin designing the icon for that name and we start the process again. It was quite interesting during this activity because, by the end of it, the actual app has the name, "overview" instead of "weather." Which is pretty interesting as during that brainstorming process, we were in the mind of a user and as a user, the name "overview," wouldn't make much sense when we could just name it "weather."
Another process activity we did is the testing/prototyping process. One of us tested a prototype app and we basically gave a critique of the design elements on how easy or difficult it is to do simple tasks. Three people would be working on something like this. One would be the coordinator, telling the user what tasks to do. Then we have the note-taker, taking notes on the process of how the user is using the app. Finally, we have the user who is testing the app and following the tasks being mentioned by the coordinator.
I found this process to be quite interesting as we are basically critiquing one's design and seeing the certain problems that arise when using an app. Seeing the starting stages of the creation of the app was an interesting experience and critiquing the design through the testing stages was enjoyable to see. Some may have difficulty with certain tasks and depending on the user, certain tasks may not apply to them as much. So, to see different perspectives of each stage and the difficulties that come with it was very informative and even more appealing since we did these activities first-hand.
Finishing Thoughts
Overall, this presentation was very different from previous weeks. It was very interesting and very fun, due to the activities we did as a group. We actually got to experience what it's like to be in the process of creating an app and the steps needed to get to the final product. Being in perspective of the design process made me learn that it definitely takes time to come to a final decision. Also, problems do arise when creating a design for an app. Some users may understand while others do not. We have to constantly think back on the persona/the user and look through their lenses. Would they know how to get here? Do they know what tasks can be done on this page? These things we have to consider when designing such things and I believe this is great information that I will constantly bring to my designs.
Useful Links:
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca - The Weather Network
An insight on Derek Woolam's company.
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/derek-woollam-1288302a - Derek Woolam's LinkedIn profile.
Useful Links:
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca - The Weather Network
An insight on Derek Woolam's company.
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/derek-woollam-1288302a - Derek Woolam's LinkedIn profile.
Comments
Post a Comment