Introduction

“Draft” is a mobile app that will assist users with the interior design and/or redesign of their homes.

My Role

This app has been an exciting challenge to work on. And it’s been a lot of fun being a part of such a small team. I work directly with the CEO and one developer, and that’s our product team! As the only designer, I have been responsible for:

• Taking the CEO’s idea for the app and refining it into the core user journey

• Analyzing potential user needs from our CEO’s 25 years of industry experience and research in interior design, remodeling, and construction

• Designing the information architecture of the entire app

• Creating and defining design choices for the UI (typography, color schemes, attribute styling, interactions, animations, etc.)

• Preparing the essential visual and written materials for a provisional patent application

Disclosure

I have not been specifically asked to sign an NDA for my work on this project. However, because I respect our CEO’s work and vision, I treat this project with the same confidentiality I would if I were under an NDA. (Likewise, I would give any prospective employer the same kind of respect.) Please contact me if you would like to learn more about this project in a one-on-one setting.

We are working on patenting several innovative and exciting e-commerce and AR features of the app. To avoid compromising our success in obtaining those patents, I have blurred sketches and altered some of the content in the images shown below so that a representation of my work is visible without disclosing potentially critical information.

Ideation Phase

For the initial concept exploration and development, my notes, ideas, user flows, etc. spanned 43 pages.

I spent a lot of time working through ideas on paper to so I could clearly communicate them to the CEO, and so that we could discuss which ideas to move forward with effectively without wasting precious and limited resources.

Prototyping

The next phase of our work was to create a simple, yet refined enough prototype to achieve several objectives:

• Visualize the core experience of the app concept

• Share proof of concept with potential investors to secure funding

• Get our designs in front of real users for testing and obtaining feedback

• Create sufficient visuals to secure provisional patents

Research & Current Learnings

Product Research

The next phase of my work in this project will be conducting user testing with the prototype.

Current Learnings

Working on this app has been a thrilling challenge. I had the opportunity to stretch my abilities to refine a strong but ambiguous concept into a clear vision of what we are pursuing as a team.

This has been my most significant mobile design experience to date. I have grown in my understanding of mobile design usability principles and best practices by studying iOS and Android industry standards, researching other well-designed mobile apps, and then applying those principles in my design work.

I have also gained exposure to the multifaceted responsibilities that come with working for a startup, as well as the obstacles that a new and growing business faces. It has given me a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices that startup founders make to bring their dreams to life.