Project Duration:
July 2023 – August 2023
Open source gaming app that funnels donations and in-game purchases towards
a fund dedicated to the implementation of Universal Basic Income.
Suffice to say, income inequality destabilizes society.
However, I see most of the challenges for this project stemming from financial aspects
(i.e. business model, marketing, etc.)
Focus our appetites for gaming and gambling into
a solution for poverty and all its implications.
Interviews
Paper and digital wireframes
Low & high-fidelity prototypes
Usability studies
Accessibility design
Iterating on designs
I interviewed gammers and charity-givers from various walks of life.
Virtually every gamer expressed concerns about whether their time and money are being well-spent.
More and more, people are questioning the value of their free time.
“The Pilanthroteens, as they have become known, have grown up in a connected,
tumultuous world where dire issues are reported on news feeds 24 hours a day.
They have a super-charged awareness of their responsibility to make a difference in the world.”
“By the year 2020, it is predicted that 32% of people between
the ages of 16-19 will be actively donating to nonprofits.”
Mathew is a charitable donor who needs a more practical solution to poverty because
the more he sees the world, the more he sees the need.
Jinney is a mobile gamer that wants her time and money
to help improve society for her daughter.
I used the Competitive Audit to develop a roadmap when designing the overall layout of the OOBI gaming app.
The game itself will be a clone of something popular and enduring, like Candy Crush, Tetris, Solitaire, etc.
The pivotal aspect of this gaming app will be the associated U.B.I fund.
HMWs yielded some great results.
My favorite is the idea to take the U.B.I. funding journey and break it down into tiers along the way.
Benchmarks such as eliminating child poverty, or even region-wide U.B.I. plans.
OOBI will be open source and likely non-profit.
Reaching the U.B.I. goal will take many years, the effort will rely on the goodwill of good people.
To that end, keeping the overall design flow simple and familiar will ease the burden for technicians and moderators.
Study type:
Unmoderated usability study
Location:
United States, remote
Participants:
5 participants
Length:
30 minutes
Based on the insights from the usability study, I decided to move
the ‘New Game’ link to the home screen and styled it to be more prominent.
During the usability study users played two games and encountered a ‘Level Complete!’ screen.
One screen rewarded them, the other graded their play.
4 out of 5 users prefered to be rewarded, as opposed to graded.
The high-fidelity prototype focused on developing the graphic styles of the
low-fidelity prototype and playing with the depth of field in the overall design.
Level AAA conformance for baseline design standards –
font size, color contrast, subtitles, buttons clearly labeled,
focus indicator, etc.
Precise and distinguishable haptic sensations linked to
general gameplay, plus, a Simon Says mode for blind users.
I prefer to design the sitemap as early in the process as possible to ensure continuity across devices.
Bold designs help transfer the user experience seamlessly between devices.
“Oh, I see it now.”
Although the Simon Says gaming option for visually impaired users did not come
directly from the usability studies, it did come about as a result of contemplating
the data and insights from those studies.
Continue to refine design to meet Level AAA accessibility standards.
Work on ‘Shop’ design solution, it’s a bit sparse and sterile.
Thank you for your time and your attention. I truly appreciate it.
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.theshadowmark.com/uxportfolio/