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Project Area
Service Design
Duration
1 Week
Target Audience
College Students
Team
Individual
OVERVIEW
As part of the Service Design module at NID, this is an attempt to define a service, write a service proposal and design service. Identifying the intangibles and translating them into a tangible format. UniMate is one such service that harnesses the power of the student community and utilizes it to strengthen intra-college relations. Sharing the things we only use now and again cuts down on clutter, is more affordable, brings people together, and is kinder to our planet.
Driven by social impact, UniMate supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11,12 & 13
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CONTEXT
The COVID pandemic that hit the world in 2019 and the following years were not so easy. One thing that emerged out of this pandemic was the value of life and the value of each other. Helping out, reaching out to fulfil a person’s needs. What they might seek, you might have. "COVID taught us that it's the community that survives". Relating to the power of community in the NID community in the R&D Campus situated in Bangalore. Resource sharing was what kept most of us alive and well. There was borrowing, and there was the lending of items ranging from stationary, medicines, sugar, salt, water, and whatnot. However, as the pandemic receded, this borrowing and sharing declined, and resource sharing was lost.
UniMate is a service that lets you share resources as a borrower and lender with people within your student community, strengthen intra-college relations and promote a sustainable way of living.
VALUE PROPOSITION
DESIGN PROCESS
Discover
Describe
Develop
Deliver
Brainstorming
Secondary Research
Primary Research
Market Analysis
User Persona
Empathy Map
User
Service Proposal
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Vision of service
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Key Features
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Service Attributes
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Service Features
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Key Offerings
Service Definition
Service Journey
Service Blueprint
PROPOSED SERVICE
UniMate is a borrowing and lending service which focuses on risk mitigation in the process of resource sharing to promote community building. Our motto is to minimize the consumption of new products and work towards a sustainable future by reducing the carbon footprint that comes with each unnecessary purchase.
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
VISUAL DESIGN AND UX PROCESS
UX DEDO
Visual Design
Information Architechture
User Stories
Wireframes
Hi-fidelity Screens
VISUAL DESIGN
Typography & Color
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Poppins
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
#009DAE
#014761
#69E2DD
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#FB5842
Name & Logo
Help
Friend
College
University
UniMate
"give"
unite
peers
The inspiration behind the name was the simple act of "helping" your college mates which connotes the virtue of generosity.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
USER STORIES
Borrower
Akshay is in need of a thermocol cutter for his Design Project
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He thinks about where he could get a cutter at this hour
He opens the UniMate app and browses for the cutter
The request is accepted.
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Ritika (lender) and Akshay meet and complete the transfer.
Lender
Preeti has an easel which she rarely uses
She opens the UniMate app and lists it as an item that is open for borrowing
Preeti gets requests from various borrowers for the easel
Preeti and Aman meet and complete the transfer.
TASK FLOWS
Borrower
Lender
WIREFRAMES
HI-FIDELITY SCREENS
Splash Screen
Home Pages
Borrower home screen
Search for items
Powerful search of item listings
Popular Items
Item recommendation based on popular searches and transactions
Category
Choose from the available categories to find items of your choice
Lender home screen
See Your Profile
New requests, Items Lent & Ratings
See who else is lending
To motivate users to lend
Popular items
See items that people have listed andto find out if you have something in your closet to offer
Shuffle between roles
Lender Mode
Borrower Mode
Toggle between the roles based on your requirement.You may chose to help or accept help from others.
See your listings
See all your items here
Availability
Select your availability to others
Invite friends to join
Spread word in the community
See Profile, Reviews and Listings
See the complete view of your profile as well as others to make an informed decision
Verified profiles
Verified user tag
helps identify the users & establish trust
Online status
helps in identifying availability of the user
Key Insight 1 - The WHO?
Identifying the person from whom you are borrowing, or lending is very important.
Having mutual friends with an unknown person develops trust in a person's mind. A person would rather give their item to someone with whom he shares mutual friends rather than a complete stranger.
Key Insight 4 - The WHERE?
Knowing the status of the item, its location, and who it is with is important.
Knowing the location of the item keeps the lender free from worry as he knows where exactly he/she needs to go in order to get the item back.
Find out which department they are from
See how far the user is from your location
See the user's latest activity
See how many friends know this user
Reviews
Overall User rating
Sort Reviews by
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Most Recent
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Most Favorable
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Most Critical
User ratings based on communication
User rating based on item as described
Item listings
All item listings by the user
List of unavailable items (items which have already been lent to someone)
Item details
Item Details
Clear Images and description of the item
Key Insight 2 - The WHAT?
What kind of item is being shared plays an important role in the decision making
Item details provide the crucial point in decision making for both the borrower and the lender.
Instructions for use
Providing extra information regarding the product and its usage can help bridge the gap between borrower and lender
Borrow
Proceed with entering the borrowing details
Key Insight 3 - The WHY?
Identifying the purpose of the use is quite important for people in deciding whether to lend or not
A chat option gives the medium to discuss the WHY of the transfer which develops trust.
Effortless Communication
Filter messages
All,Unread,Starred,Spam etc
Inbox of lender
Message threads from various communications from other users
Borrow request by a user
The requested item goes through a chat channel to sort out the details of the transaction.
Chat
Details of the transaction and other additional conversation occurs here.
Call
For a quick conversation
BORROWER - KEY FLOWS
Placing a borrow request
Users can place a borrow request by -
a. Searching for items in the search bar
b. Browsing Popular Items
c. Browsing Categories
d. Posting a request for an item if they are unable to find an item on the app
Picking up an item
On approval of borrow request by the lender, the borrower -
a. Gets Notified that the borrow request has been accepted OR by checking the status of the borrow request in his Manage Requests section
b.The borrower will go to the address given in the app to pickup the item
c.The borrower will scan the QR code provided by the lender to complete this transaction
Returning an item OR Requesting for Extension
a. The borrower is periodically notified about the time left to return the item
b.He can chose to RETURN or REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION in case he needs to keep the item for a little bit longer.
In Case of - RETURN
The borrower will get an OTP which needs to be told to the lender to complete this transfer marking the return of the item as complete
In Case of - REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION
The borrower will need to set details like increased number of days and send the request to the owner to approve.
LENDER KEY FLOWS
Listing an item
Users can place a list their items by -
a. Clicking images of their item
b. Providing a few details
c. Providing instructions on the usage of item
d. Tagging the items with right categories for easy search by other users
Lending an item
Users can accept the lending requests by -
a. Going to Manage Requests Section
b. Deciding between the number of requests received for an item
c. Approving one request automatically notifies the other users about the status of the item as - already lent.
d. A QR Code is generated which needs to be scanned by the borrower to complete this transfer
USABILITY STUDY
An unmoderated Usability Study was conducted at various stages of the project to find out areas for improvement with a participatory design approach and improve on the feedback.
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Whether to have a single screen for both lending and borrowing?
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Lack of clarity in the About section
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Lack of a calling feature could be much quicker and more accessible.
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Lack of consistency in the overall design. Suggestion of using a design system.
Below are some of the designs before the Usability study which were improved into the current designs presented in the case study.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
​A lot of loops need to be thought through in a service. Having different sets of users interacting with each other with a completely different behaviour and how to manage this relationship is a fun challenge to work out
Design system is very important for speed, consistency and makes your life so much easier.
It is important to seek right advice at right time. Critical feedbacks are much more helpful than they are damaging.
Naming your design right is an important thing. Moving from a name - DEDO to UniMate has been a decision.
Thank You :)
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