Project Summary:

Problem: 

We Sparkle in a public benefit corporation connecting BIPOC women and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs with AI tools to help them build their small businesses.  Enter Sparkle Assistant, an online scheduling tool designed to help this user group.  There is currently a lack of clarity as to what the Sparkle Assistant can do for potential customers.  As WeSparkle prepares for its phase two launch, they have also identified a new user group with a new set of needs.

Solution:

Revise the current Spark Assistant website, while highlighting We Sparkle’s mission for good.  Evaluate the clarity of Sparkle Assistant’s features and provide improvements to the user experience.

Results:

In this project, we redesigned the Spark Assistant website to provide more clarity and created a client dashboard to improve the user experience.

The Challenge:

• Understand the users and the challenges the user is facing in running a small business.

• Learn what comparable applications are doing in the space, what features are being leveraged, and what features we could potentially leverage in a new design.

• Understand how users are interacting with online scheduling tools, the current user path, the pain points, and the areas of opportunity.

• Redesign the Spark Assistant website to add clarity to the question: what is different about Sparkle Assistant?

The Approach:

Secondary Research, Competitive Analysis:

To gain insights on what comparable applications are doing in the space, what features are being leveraged, and what features I could potentially leverage in a new design.

Content Audit, Cognitive Walkthrough, Heuristic Evaluation: 

To evaluate the current product website and user experience, to gain insights on the current user’s path, the pain points, and the areas of opportunity.

Interviews:

To learn more about users and the digital tools they are using.  To assess how users perceive the Sparkle Assistant and its value proposition.

Kano Analysis: 

To test proposed features for the product website and client dashboard.

Prototyping:

To illustrate resign of the user path based on the recommendations of the research participants.

Usability Testing:

To gain insights on the pain points and areas of opportunity for the prototype.

Interactive Prototyping & Presentation:

To communicate my findings and recommendations for the project.

The Results:

• A redesigned product website to help users understand what’s different about Sparkle Assistant.

• A new “how it works page” that highlights features of Sparkle Assistant through videos and an easy-to-read bullet-point list.

• A new “about page” that defines the target audience and We Sparkle’s mission for good.

• A client dashboard that is both functional and flexible to meet the needs of the client.

Final Thoughts:

7 out of 7 research participants said they care about the businesses they are partnering with and how they are giving back.  We wanted to highlight that in our redesign of the website and client dashboard.  We Sparkle’s mission for good is unique and we wanted to celebrate it!