GR2 - Designs
Scenario
Sarah has just received a summer internship offer from a company in downtown New York, and begins to make arrangements for the summer. Though she is excited, Sarah realizes that she has never before been to the city and is wary about being alone and finding a place to live. She needs a roommate but none of her closest friends will be in the city; she hopes to at least find a roommate who goes to MIT. A friend of hers tells her about TravelTech, indicating that it is a great website to find a roommate and an initial circle of friends. Sarah is intrigued and decides to take a look.
After creating a TravelTech account, Sarah begins to browse the website. She first uses the interface to see which of her fellow students will be traveling to New York in the upcoming summer. She then narrows her search to those in her year who will be downtown. Sarah then creates a Travel Group containing the results of her search and sends them a brief message, introducing herself and briefly elaborating on her New York plans. Lastly, she visits the bulletin page and posts an advertisement for roommates.
Storyboard Designs
Design #1
Home Page: This is the page that is presented to the Sarah upon creating an account / logging in. The website is organized by tabs for ease of navigation. The "log out" link is always accessible in the corner of every page.
The picture below shows the "Map" tab.
On the Map page, Sarah can view other users' travel plans and can also search the map for friends or by location. The search results will be displayed in a list and will also show up on the map itself. Selecting one of the search results in the list or on the map will show that person's personal information as an overlaid box (shown below).
Profile Page: This tab will display the Sarah's own information (name, school, class year, location) along with travel plans and travel networks. On this page, Sarah can edit her information along with travel plans and networks. Sarah can also create travel networks on this page; selecting the "Create" link will display an overlay where she can enter the group's information and members. Sarah can also send a group email to a certain network by selecting the "message" link next to a network name. Pictures are shown below.
Bulletin Page: This tab will show the user bulletin page. Here, Sarah will be able to advertise for a roommate by selecting the "Add Post" button, which will display an overlaid box where she can enter the details of her advertisement (shown below). Selecting a specific posting will display an overlaid box with details about the posting. Sarah can also reply to other users' postings by selecting the "reply" button, which will allow her to send a message to the user in a manner similar to sending group messages. The only function of this page is to advertise for a roommate; Sarah will only be able to enter relevant information regarding what kind of roommate she is looking for, how many roommates she would like, etc.
Pros of Design #1: This design allows for ease of navigation between the pages. The use of overlaid boxes rather than separate windows or tabs will minimize the number of open windows, which increases efficiency. Many features of this design are also easily editable, providing extra safety, so that if the user enters incorrect information then he/she can easily change it.
Cons of Design #1: Learnability may not be very high, as it may be difficult for the user to figure out where each of the features are located (ie, travel networks are created from the profile page). The use of overlaid boxes for several actions might also result in some confusion to the user. Furthermore, although the Bulletin page only allows the user to post for roommates, it still has the potential to turn into a forum-style page; this would be an undesirable side effect.
Design #2
Home Page: After creating an account and logging in, Sarah will be directed to this simple page, where she will be presented with the choice of adding a trip or searching the current trips that have already been inputted by other students. Each of the pages on the site contain a navigation toolbar with three links: Home, Edit, and Logout. The "Home" link redirects here.
Add Trip: When Sarah selects the "Add Trip" button, this new page will be displayed where she can enter her personal information and the details of her upcoming trip. After clicking the "submit" button, Sarah will then be directed to the "Edit My Info" page. The "advertising" function has been incorporated into this page; if Sarah would like to search for a roommate, for example, she can post this in the comments section so that others can see that see is searching for a roommate.
My Info: The "edit my info" link at the top redirects here. Here, Sarah can view all of the trips that she has previously entered into the system, and she can also change, delete, or add trips. A list of Sarah's current travel groups is also displayed, and Sarah can create, edit, message, or delete travel groups as well. (The "message group" button is missing from the design below.)
Search: Sarah can search other students' trips by way of name or location. After submitting a search query, Sarah is redirected to the "Results" page.
Results: This page displays all results from Sarah's search in a list and on the map. She can navigate the map by clicking and dragging, scrolling, etc. If she selects a particular student, that student's personal information will be displayed on the page as well.
Pros of Design #2: This design's advantages lie in its simplicity; many unnecessary pages are cut out, allowing for ease of navigation and increased efficiency along with easy learnability. User-inputted information is easily editable, which provides more safety.
Cons of Design #2: Since the design is so minimal, users might be underwhelmed by the lack of many possible desired features (such as a bulletin page to advertise for roommates).
Design #3
Home/Profile Page: Upon logging in, Sarah immediately sees the bulletin page, full of other students' advertisements. Her profile information and travel plans are visible on the left of the screen. The bulletin updates every five minutes. Please see attached PDF.
GR2-3.pdf
Design #4
Home Page: Sarah is immediately shown a "pick a location" page for the purposes of both searching locations and adding a new trip.