Background
Working with a first time entrepreneur
With a background in healthcare analytics at IBM and GSK, Erika wanted to create a resource for people to find a love for healthy living through their community. Erika had been developing her idea for years: An on-demand health and wellness app that could motivate people to engage in mental and physical group activities in their area. She had enrolled in an incubator and reached out to me to design the app from her rough idea.
Erika envisioned a resource for people to find a love for healthy living through their community.
Erika had no product experience — she just knew how she wanted the app to loosely function and feel like. She came to me to take her idea from vision to visual, interactable screens ready for a developer. This included a logo and a top level brand system. We had one month to deliver a final product for Erika’s startup accelerator program NC Idea Labs at American Underground.
The problem: People struggle to consistently do fitness activities that benefit their health due to a myriad of problems including cost and accessibility.
The proposed solution: An app with a central hub of local health and fitness activities for people to join based on their unique needs.
The UX Product Process
A Cursory Review
I am the project manager as well as designer for the vast majority of my freelance projects. I set timelines, keep both myself and my client on track, ensure developers or marketing is set up for success after handoff, and present at each stage of the process as I’m building the product. This was the case with BeSpree as well.
User Research
Delving into user needs
Erika had already conducted phone interviews with her target audience when I joined the project. After discussing her vision for the problems she wanted to solve and the market she expected to fill, I picked up from her documentation of personal product goals and user testing findings to continue the design process.
We discussed precedents as a team and moved forward with an understanding of potential user journeys based on apps with the same or similar goals as ours.
App Process
Workflow and wireframes
Brand Development
Logo, color scheme, and typeface
We wanted to communicate a fresh, accessible, casual, and friendly brand. I designed a logo to communicate the playful spirit of BeSpree and crafted an accessible, friendly palette for the app’s color scheme. This color scheme was later expanded into BeSpree’s pitch deck and website.
Brand Foundation
Who BeSpree Is
Joyful
Modern
Motivation
Family-Friendly
Light
Accessible
Who BeSpree Isn't
Boring
Difficult
Stale
Cumbersome
Social App
Envisioned User Experience
Motivated
Enthusiastic
Energetic
Excitement
Encouraged
Color
Typography
Logo
Visual Design
BeSpree on the screen
Takeaways
I produced a full app - 52 screens - for Erika to demo to potential investors and hand off to a developer, as well as a greater brand system that lent itself well to the website and pitch deck I would later create for Erika. All in 50 hours over 4 weeks.
BeSpree went from a preliminary idea to a spec'd out, 52 screen app in 50 hours.
This was also my first project as an independent freelance designer. I was able to walk a CEO through the product design process, achieve buy-in on design decisions, and keep us both on track for delivery by deadline. BeSpree is currently in development.
