Case study
Reworking a sign in/sign up using the principles of UX writing
PROBLEM
Handshake is a fictional payment app that freelancers and small business owners use to connect, track progress and make payments that is part of the UXCC course.
I studied the persona information I had on both user types, Kelly and Tom, and got to know what they had particular difficulty with. In the research, I noticed both Kelly and Tom had difficulty with anything involving lengthy administration and paperwork. Kelly, the freelancer, also said they were concerned about providing quotations and receiving fair payment on-time. Tom, the business owner’s main pain points were tracking progress and making sure their freelancers updated them on the workload.
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PROCESS
After studying personas and the research. I took specific note of the pain points and noticed that the app should make the user’s goals easier and simplify the administrative side of their work. Looking at the prototype, I noticed a lot of elements were missing, including some UI features such as being able to update information and other essential legal notices.
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After looking at the research, I created a style guide with detailed examples. I needed to create a voice for the content and I wanted Handshake to sound trustworthy, informative and enthusiastic. I also thought about when the tone needed to change in the user journey, and thought the confirmation message needed to be particularly positive and motivating. I had many ideas, and wanted to make sure the welcome page described the benefits, was helpful, and actionable.
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I made sure to look at the microcopy and hint text, as a lot of the original text wasn't clear and didn't follow best practices for label form fields especially.
SOLUTION
The information architecture is clearly structured, making it simple to navigate.
An sign-in/sign-up page that has its own voice, but also is motivating.
The design changes I made mean that the cognitive load is reduced and that the page is simple, clear and easy for the user to achieve their goal.
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The welcome screen was originally unfinished and not fit for purpose, I added a lot of benefits but actually saw that I was overcrowding the welcome page and the user could be overwhelmed with a lot of information, so simplified the content in the final version.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
I learned a lot while completing this welcome screen, mostly the importance of the right information for the right user at the right time, a hugely important concept for content designers.
I saw that having too much content was as harmful as much too little, and that form fields and label texts should be used mindfully to give as much detail as possible so the user know what is expected of them.
In a real-world context, I would be interested in seeing both my team’s feedback before launch, as well as user feedback and post-launch analytics to see if there are any points that need improvement.