DIYHive
Our team was entrusted with designing an app powered by The Home Depot that allows users to manage their DIY projects, share their work, and interact with other users in the Hive Community.
Role
UX Design, visual design, information architecture
Time
3 weeks, 2023
Team
Lenet Ron
Samira Fakhravar
Context
Goals
Create a project management application that allows users to track each step of their DIY project, receive live customer support, and share their work with a community of inventors.
Problem
Home Depot offers users a DIY demo feature to its smartphone app, although this is useful, it doesn’t help users plan and track their own projects. DIYHive can provide a better user experience by adding step-by-step instructions and checkpoints throughout the process, helping users stay focused without getting lost during the process.
“How can we efficiently help users manage and track down their DIY projects?”
User Research
Our team conducted user interviews with 10 regular DIY builders ages 28-45, who all identify as avid project enthusiasts, despite not having professional certifications in project building. Through our interviews, we sought to gain insight into users' project preferences and behaviors when building a DIY project on an app. Our ultimate goal was to better understand how we can enhance users' project management experience and provide them with a more satisfying overall experience.
What the users say...
“I get frustrated and screw things up and take shortcuts because I want it done fast. I get impatient and I want to see what I envisioned in my head on paper.”
"I’m suffering from a lack of organization and planning. To address this, I’ve started using apps like Trello to create task lists and set deadlines."
"I find that social media and online forums are a great way to connect with other DIY enthusiasts and learn new techniques."
To begin with, I focused on comprehending the limitations that users faced while constructing their DIY project. I researched competitor brands such as Lowe’s, Ikea, and Houzz to find examples of project management/tracker.
PROBLEM
DIY enthusiasts lack an effective project management tool, causing frustration and a lack of confidence. Without this tool, Aziz struggles to confidently select the right materials, receive expert advice and inspiration, and cannot effectively manage his DIY projects on his own.
Users needs a way to confidently select, plan, and track his DIY tools and projects so that he can feel accomplished and proud of his finished DIY projects.
SOLUTION
DIY Hive, powered by Home Depot, is a social media-driven DIY and project management app that empowers users to find project inspiration and confidently select, plan, and share their DIY projects with others.
DIY Hive features a project planner, 24/7 customer support, and AR image recognition tools ultimately giving users confidence when creating his DIY project, as well as a sense of accomplishment when sharing his finished DIY with friends.
We then synthesized our research findings into a comprehensive affinity map, which allowed us to narrow down on our main takeaways and extract the essential insights that we could leverage during the design phase.
Design Process
Sketches, wireframes, more iterations, user testing & branding
Early Sketches -
We conducted many design studios throughout the process to help us stay aligned with our ideas. These are my early sketches of DIYHive, I wanted to find a way to incorporate the step-by-step process tracker and live chatbot to the project management experience.
Wireframes -
We conducted rapid prototyping using mid-fidelity wireframes to converge our ideas, which helped me better understand the user flow of each screen and generate additional design ideas for iteration.
Usability Test -
After we tested our mid-fidelity prototype through usability testing,
5 out of 6 of users
expressed their confusion on where they would navigate to after adding DIY project to their board.
4 out of 6 of users
users expressed that they wanted to see what happens after sharing their project to the Hive Community instead of staying in the project library.
2 out of 6 of users
users enjoyed the icons in the menu bar.
All 5 users preferred having “Creating Project” on the menu bar of the home page.
After rounds of iterations...
We subjected our designs to several rounds of team reviews and refinement, constantly iterating as we developed our branding. This iterative approach to design allowed us to ensure that every page is aligned with our evolving brand vision.
DIYHIVE
Our goal for DIYHive was to create a unique and distinctive app that would stand out from the crowd. To achieve this, we selected a pastel color palette that aligns with the aesthetic preferences of our DIY project builders.
font
STYLE GUIDE:
#937C36
#F1C644
#FFEAAC
#E6E6E6
#FFFFFF
WELCOME TO DIYHIVE
HOME PAGE
EXPLORE PAGE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
SOCIAL FEED
ACTIONS
MY PROJECTS
PROEJCT PAGE
CHATBOT
SHARE PROJECT
Takeaways
Working in a product team — Working with Lenet and Samira on DIYHive was a fantastic experience. They were excellent teammates who provided invaluable guidance and ideas throughout the project. This project taught me how to effectively communicate my ideas and be adaptable when making design decisions.
Breaking new ground — As someone who enjoys building aesthetically pleasing projects, I found the ideation phase to be particularly challenging. I couldn't help but be influenced by existing ideas and designs. However, through collaborating on this team project, I honed my ability to think creatively and integrate our ideas to develop a user experience that goes beyond the norm.