Lendy

Process

Similarly to my design process with Schedi, the Double Diamond process was the framework I followed with Lendy. By following this process, I was able to back up my design decisions with generative research data.

Contextualizing the problem

To start off the Discovery phase, I wanted to perform some preliminary research to contextualize the need for a solution like Lendy.

Data from several sources show a dramatic increase in the number of households struggling to put enough food on the table. Some 22 million adults — 11 percent of all adults in the country — reported that their household sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the last seven days, according to Household Pulse Survey data collected February 17-March 1. This was far above the pre-pandemic rate: a survey released by the Agriculture Department found that 3.4 percent of adults reported that their household had “not enough to eat” at some point over the full 12 months of 2019. (Source)

From this data, we can see that COVID layoffs and the inability to find safe and stable work are the primary contributors to the increase in financial insecurity in 2021. With 11% of all adults unable to consistently afford food for their households, we can also assume that these same people have little to no ability to spend on non-essential purchases like home goods.

Discovering user habits

My first step with user research was to distribute a survey. I asked questions that would provide insights about users' ability to make non-essential purchases and their willingness to borrow items from their neighbors both before and during the pandemic.

To view the survey I distributed, click here.

Insights:

Most people who selected "Never" did so because they have little to no interaction with their neighbors. Others who selected this option did so because they are able to afford replacement purchases, rather than having to rely on borrowing items from those around them.

Insights:

"Often" went from 0% to 11.5% from before COVID to during COVID

• "Sometimes" answers in the preceding question split in half. More people reach out for help from their neighbors during COVID pandemic after losing income, being unable to go to the store, etc.

"Rarely" went from 32% before COVID to 23.1% during COVID; "Never" went from 44% before COVID to 53.8% after COVID

• There was a change in the contingent of participants who stopped borrowing items from their neighbors for fear of catching the COVID virus.

  • Smaller percentage change in the people who started borrowing less than the percentage of people who started borrowing more, despite fear of catching the COVID virus.

Understanding the competition

I performed SWOT analyses of Craigslist, OfferUp, and Nextdoor, but have included Craigslist's analysis here as it is the most analogous product, feature- and scope-wise, to what I was developing with Lendy. I identified some glaring setbacks with regards to security within Craigslist, so I knew that this was a component that I would need to stay mindful of when developing the app's features.

Personas

I synthesized these survey insights and insights from user interviews into two personas.

My first persona, Desirae, acts as a representative of surveyed users who are eager for a solution like Lendy so that they can solve a more time-sensitive problem. Desirae is in need of a tool set to construct her daughter's new bed frame, but she can't afford to buy a set from a store.

Abram, my second persona, represents the contingent of surveyed users who would be willing to try Lendy, but don't need it to solve a pressing, time-sensitive problem. Abram is seeking out a sewing machine and a plastic basin with which to reconstruct and dye his and his friends' clothes. He can technically buy a sewing machine and basin, but his budget would be tight for the proceeding 6 months.

Information architecture

With this project, I wanted to try a new planning strategy for my user flows. I used screenshots from Craigslist, OfferUp, and other apps to help me visualize the user flows in a different way from preliminary sketches. This method helped me quickly iterate upon the flows and move to developing wireframes more quickly.

Below is the "View/Borrow Item" user flow. I also included the sub-flow of viewing a neighbor's profile, as it didn't make sense to me to make a separate flow for such a small series of steps.

From sketched ideas to low-fidelity wireframes

To continue the efficient momentum of my process, I developed wireframes that are readable at a high level. I wanted to focus more on content strategy during the Develop phase, as the amount of microcopy needed for my MVP was minimal enough to skip it during this step.

Prototyping

Brand name

Early in the design process, I decided on the name Lendy for this app. I think that it's concise, descriptive, and distinct. It also sounds friendly, which is a word that people (ideally) want to associate with their neighbors.

Word association

I did a brief word association exercise to spark inspiration for my moodboard image search. Like with my other end-to-end projects, I used keywords from this exercise to search for visual inspiration on Are.na.

Moodboard

To find the images in my moodboard, I ran searches on Are.na using the keywords I located during my mind mapping exercise. Like with my moodboards for previous projects, I prefer to take inspiration from multiple types of sources: logos, illustrations, typefaces and photography. This also helps me decide what elements I think will fit within my app's brand with regards to color, line, illustration, and other components.

Typography

I found the Arvo typeface from the Google Fonts trending page. As soon as I saw it, I knew that this geometric serif would be perfect for my app's title fonts. As for the remaining fonts, I wanted to locate a similarly geometric sans-serif typeface. I consulted Arvo's type.io page and found a pairing with Fira Sans.

Color palette

During my moodboard search, I found that the colors that appeared most in the images were yellow, orange, and pink. Secondary to those, I saw a lot of green and blue. I'd already used blue and green as the brand colors for my previous two projects, so I wanted to challenge myself with a different primary hue.

Logo

I wanted to keep the logo simple. I chose to stick with a wordmark of the "Lendy" name in the Arvo typeface. I went with the bold font for a strong, well-defined look.

Usability testing

During usability testing sessions, my goals were to gather feedback on the visual design and micro-interactions. I also wanted to gather ideas from my users about what features to introduce in the following iteration of the design.

All participants were able to complete the prepared tasks, albeit some difficulty with recognizing the function of some icons on the Home screen. (Pre-testing screens are on the top, post-testing screens are on the bottom.)

I took the synthesized feedback into consideration when making preliminary changes that I will introduce in the proceeding iteration of the design.

To view the current version of the high-fidelity prototype, click here.

Next Steps

My primary objective is to continue fleshing out the current features I've introduced to Lendy's design, and then to continually verify the effectiveness of my decisions with real users. I received the suggestion to rework the green tones within the color palette, so that is another component to take into consideration for future iterations.

Conclusions

My primary objective is to continue fleshing out the current features I've introduced to Lendy's design, and then to continually verify the effectiveness of my decisions with real users. I received the suggestion to rework the green tones within the color palette, so that is another component to take into consideration for future iterations.

Thank you for reading!

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