Photools is an educational and interactive photography app that provides an easy-to-follow learning experience for basic photographic elements including aperture, Shutter, ISO and composition. Users will be able to explore photos and put their learnings up to test by engaging in fun challenges.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

THE PROBLEM

Lack of information about camera use and features.

Beyond taking out a camera to snap memories for life, photography today fosters creative expression and professional opportunities. As a result of Instagram and other social media, photography skills have become a popular interest and are able to bring valuable career advancement opportunities.

However, investing in high-end cameras is a blind move. One can own the equipment but lack the knowledge and that is because reading the instructions booklet provided is often useless, time consuming and fails to teach the user.

THE SOLUTION

There is so much potential behind a beautiful camera and with Photools we want to uncover it. 

Simple, easy and fun, the app teaches users how to take better and more impactful photos. 

THE GOAL

The goal is for users to become comfortable in their photography skills and be able to take unforgettable photos.

DELIVER

• Problem definition
• Project concept
• App content requirement
• Usability test
• Final Wireframes
• Business strategy and analytics report

• Information architecture

 UX RESEARCH

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

By conducting a comparative analysis, it helped me to gain more insight into an educational photography site and app. I assessed five photography sites and app against four criteria. The goal was to identify the pain points and functionalities, and based on the outcome to tailor a pleasant journey for the photographic amateurs.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS-THE KEY FINDING

1. A wall of text

While I was doing my research, I noticed that a wall of text doesn't help the users to engage the learning process, and it usually decreases their interest quickly. 

2. Focus on one feature

3. Adding visuals with text to engage audiences better. 

STORYBOARD

The storyboard illustrates most people have the same issue when it comes to photographing by themselves or friends. Also, this is one of the reasons which inspires me to develop an an educational and interactive photography app.

TARGET AUDIENCE

•Primary Target Audience: Amateur camera users

For amateur users, they need more solid knowledge and understand each element’s function.

•Secondary Target Audience:Art and design students

A portfolio is essential for art students because it shows their capability to demonstrate particular tasks. As the online portfolio is more accessible, most of artist or designer have a website to showcase their work. However, they have difficulty transferring traditional portfolios into digital platforms. Photools makes learning photography easy for art students and ensures them to operate cameras properly.

•Secondary Target Audience:Camera companies

Camera companies can assess to Photools to advertise to potential users.

USER JOURNEY MAPS

The purpose of Journey Map is designed to discover opportunities for my senior project Photools and based on these opportunities, my app can develop properly and eliminate drawbacks for beginners. There are six steps for the primary audiences to experience the journey which is from awareness to find an educational photography site. These steps and seven reaction provides valuable insight for Photools because it helps me to build the app from users' need and perspective. For instance, at the research step, users could only find educational photography on websites; moreover, most learning websites are not free. Hence, these could be opportunities for my senior project to benefit primary audiences who tend to use smartphone frequently.​​​​​​​

DRAFT PROTOTYPE

Following user research, the draft prototype was the next step to test the usability and user-flow. The paper prototype was very handy and flexible for usability test because I was able to make some changes based on the finding of testing. In addition to that, the draft prototype enables me to understand users' pain points.

CONTENT STRATEGY

VISUAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

THE FINAL WIREFRAMES

FINAL PROTOTYPE

BRAND IDENTIFY

TAKEAWAYS

Throughout the process of using the usability test, I realized that the users had difficulties in navigating the draft prototype. I, therefore, made the necessary changes to allow the users to increase their comfort levels. I specifically, changed the structure and content by narrowing the scope.