Work
About
PictureHum photography mobile app
Overview
Background
With almost 20 years in the photography industry, Abigail Mullens, a mom of two young children, realized families wanted a personal connection to their photographer, as well as a more simple solution for transparent pricing and booking and in 2019, PictureHum was born. The website, which launched in three west coast cities, brought a solution to connect great vetted and high quality photographers to local families. Looking to grow the businesses reach, PictureHum wanted a mobil application that could connect to even more families and photographers.
Team
Individual project
Objective
Finding a local family photographer is both stressful and time consuming. Parents will often search individual photographers websites and social media or depend on recommendations from family and friends. Even after this long process, users wonder if their selection is the right fit for their family. I was tasked to help design a mobile app that makes finding and booking a local photographer, transparent, quick and stress free.
Timeline
3 week sprint
Process
Goals
• Uncover users current process in finding a local family photographer
• Discover what features will make the booking process easier
• Find out what the priorities and pain points are for the families booking photographers
• Find out what the priorities and pain points for photographers finding new clients
User Research
I targetted 5 participants that would help me gain insights to the current process of finding and booking photographers. I wanted to understand the pain points from both sides of the booking process- The family member searching for a photographer and the photographer.
Participants looking for a photographer, generally agreed that most of their time was spent browsing individual photographers then comparing various packages offered by each photographer.
Participants who are photographers, expressed that finding clients was difficult and time consuming.
“ I had no clue where to start looking for a photographer. I felt overwhelmed visiting individual websites and trying to understand pricing.”
- Elise, Potential customer
“ I was spending more time on advertising and social media, than out photographing clients.”
- Truc, Family photographer
Competitive Analysis
I then conducted a competitive analysis to better understand my competitors strengths and weaknesses. I found that currently, PictureHum has no direct competitors.
I analyzed aspects such as: • Usability Problems • Gaps in the Market • Over all app experience
Many of the apps optimized for booking a photographer as soon as possible, rather than optimizing for the experience that would be shared with the photographer.
I analyzed aspects such as: • Usability Problems • Gaps in the Market • Over all app experience
Many of the apps optimized for booking a photographer as soon as possible, rather than optimizing for the experience that would be shared with the photographer.
Pain Points
Top Shot
- Not enough photographer information
- No location recommendations
- Inefficient, forces users to create a proposal with little to no knowledge of the market
Photo Sesh
- Not sure how to book the photographer
- No ability to communicate with the photographer
- Prioritizes time of shoot vs. quality of shoot
Capture
- No ability to choose photographer
- Prioritizes time of shoot vs. quality of shoot
- Does not give the user flexibility
Snappr
- Puts Photographer as last priority
- No ability to communicate with the photographer
- One type of pricing fits all, prices not tailored to photographers ability
Persona
The insights I gained from my interviews and competitive analysis helped inform the persona of Sarah. The majority of users were inexperienced with booking photographer and valued their time and the personality of their photographer being compatible with their family’s.
Age:
Education:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:
Goals
- To create new and memorable moments with my young children
- To be efficient with the photographer and get the most out of our session
- To get beautiful shots of my family
Frustrations
- “It’s difficult for me to tell a photographers personality and if they’d be a good fit for my family.”
- “I have to give myself and family extra time when meeting the photographer because we are unable to find the meeting spot.”
Bio
Sarah is a new stay at home mom, who just left her 9-5 job to spend more time with her kids. Once or twice a year Sarah likes to get professional photos taken of her family. She loves the idea of capturing moments she can remember with her young kids. It is important to Sarah that her photographers personality matches well with her family so she can get the most value out of her session.
Journey Map
The journey map allowed me to better understand the Sarah’s emotions and what actions and feelings she had at each stage of booking a photographer.
Experience Insights
Through the research findings, development of the user persona and user journey, I began to identify insights and experiences that would achieve the users wants and needs and clearly guide the product.
Ideation
User Flow
A user flow was created for the persona of Sarah. I wanted to understand how she might move through the application from when she first opened it, filled in her information, found a photographer, and ultimately booked a session.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
The initial wireframes were informed by the user flow. Each click through brought the user closer to browsing and booking a photographer, while allowing for autonomy and guidance through out the process.
User Testing & Iteration
After completing the usability study on the lo-fi prototype, I went through my feedback and iterated my design. Many users found the booking processes confusing. The booking call-to-action was hidden away at the bottom of the avalibility tab, where users had a hard time finding it. This was the area I decided to focus my redesign on.
Before
Users were confused when they reached the availability tab.
The other tabs provided information, while availability asked for a call to action. The tabs didn’t speak the same language.
The “book” button was at the bottom of the page and hard to find.
After
With the feedback I recieved, I updated the user flow and adjusted the tabs so that they all provided information, rather than asked the user to take action.
A booking button was added to the top of the page, so users could easily find it.
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Once clicked, availability was provided to the user to then search for the date they want.
Branding & Style Guide
The branding style focused on creating a calm, inviting and family friendly feel. I wanted users to feel positively as they completed, what is usually a stressful process. The logo brought a more “mature” feel to the family application.
Logo
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Color Palette
Primary Color
#E1AFAF
Accent Color
#EBCBC9
Primary Color
#000000
Primary Color
#CDCDCD
Primary Color
#FFFFFF
Typography
Header
Montserrat, medium, 20pt
Subheader
Montserrat, medium, 14pt
Body Text
Montserrat, regular, 12pt
Buttons
Hi-Fi Design
Final User Flow
View the Prototype
Next Steps
Iterate and Test Again
My next step is testing the hi-fidelity prototype and iterating again based on feedback. I would like to add additional features, such as the user flow after photos have been taken.
Determine Photographer User Flow
Due to the time constraints of this project, I was only able to create the screens for the priority user flow I developed. Another important user is the photographer. How they interact with the app is important for its success.