I Lied. I Struggled To Groove.

The design groove, I mean. General design skills are transferrable, but UI specific to iPhones and Androids was a new thing. Luckily, I could ease in with a persona sheet.

My persona wasn’t as polished as some others I looked at for reference. I originally made it pale green, with a forest green contrast and white offset. It was a bit too in-your-face, thus this toned down gray.

My potential user, based on my research, was a working adult with limited weekly recreation time. This “Ash Artsy” is possibly partnered, but does not have children (one at most). Ash finds work productivity important, but would like to truly relax during breaks from work, as they often spend their entire break time anxious about the next task. Most importantly, while they may use digital task managers, too much tech increases their stated stress; taking time away from screens is necessary to relaxation.

I broke Ash’s needs down into yet another sticky note chart. It was quite rudimentary.

See? Rudimentary as heck. I’m not too embarrassed; we all start in UX somewhere, right? I settled on an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). The product, whatever it would end up being, would help users take breaks every day, and to actually relax during those breaks. I decided they should also keep track of their rest progress, as goal-setting was a common thread in the interviews. Taking my cues from the digital calendar add-ons Breakbot and Insights, and remembering the apps I researched, I figured the product should be an add-on to an existing calendar. The potential user was looking for simple. I didn’t think they’d love a complicated, 100-screen monstrosity telling them to JUST RELAX. Simple was the name of the game.

I didn’t consider that simple was complicated to create. The shoddy, blurry, red route above was the result of my flying hubris hitting the brick wall of creative exhaustion. It would have to be redone. Everything would have to be reworked.

If I have earned the right to give tips, my tip would be this: if you’re not comfortable with creating, recreating, and then recreating, UX Design may not be for you. Simple may have been the name of my capstone game, but iteration is the name for UX/UI as a whole.