RŪTSU | ルーツ
Overview
My first UX Project.
Rūtsu (Japanese for Roots) is an interactive and engaging application, aimed to help young and second generation Japanese immigrants to stay in touch and learn more about their culture and heritage through gamification.
There are over 3.8 million Japanese immigrants in different parts of the world, approximately 1.5 million of them are in America alone. I have chosen this set of users for my project as, after several personal experiences and research, I have come to realize that the younger generation of Japanese immigrants do not know about their rich traditions and culture and second generation immigrants feel like they are losing touch with their roots. This often causes their parents to worry and even creates a communication barrier with elder relatives like grandparents. Further, after talking to several young Japanese immigrants, I noticed that they DO want to learn about their culture, but just cannot find a medium that they can stick with for long without getting bored.
Role & Responsibilities:
UX Researcher
UX Designer
Tools:
Adobe XD Illustrator Photoshop
Miro
Duration:
2 months, 2019
Team:
Individual Project
PROBLEM
“Second generation and young Japanese immigrants losing touch with their culture and heritage."
Solution Key Features
COMMUNITY
Interact with other users. This enhances the learning experience and makes it more practical and engaging.
LEARN
Two main learning categories - ‘CULTURE’ & ‘HISTORY’, so that the users can use the app according to their preferences. There are a series of games and quizzes that the user goes through in order to learn.
LEADERBOARD
Users can track their own and others progress. This makes the application motivating.
Overall Process
I followed a comprehensive research and design path in order to handle my design problem and to come up with an efficient solution.
User Research
Before conducting interviews, I set up two groups of target users. My primary target was a group of the younger generation Japanese immigrants who have very little or no knowledge of their cultural heritage. The other was a group was slightly older, second generation Japanese immigrants, who are losing with their cultural and traditions and those who want to communicate with their grandchildren but have a hard time catching up with them due to grandchildren's limited understanding.
"There are lots of Japanese families who leave only for a couple of years and they want to stay in touch with their heritage. They want to make sure their kids are learning to speak Japanese properly."
Runa Morioka
Grad Student
"Community engagement is a very essential aspect of culture. Unless people are connected to the community, they will never be able to properly understand a culture and its traditions."
Aiko Maeda
Grad Student
"From my experience the second generation Japanese immigrants that I know, they are really interested about Japanese culture and they want to learn more about it as well as the language."
Kentaro Toyama
Professor
Competitive Analysis
I carried a survey of other educational and motivational tools on the market. I researched 6 competitors who were either direct or indirect. Some had features I was considering for my design, but others were general motivation and organizational applications. In doing this, I learned what was good and what was bad about apps that could be similar to my own.
Press arrow for more
Library
Internet
Class
Videos
Television Shows
Discuss with Parents
Cultural Trips
Rūtsu App
Storyboards
In order to explore various solutions which could address the problem, I worked on storyboarding 8 solutions.
I received positive feedback from my instructors and peers. They helped me narrow down my solutions by suggesting an alternative approach or by merging 2 solutions.
Personas
The creation of personas helped me understand the requirements I needed to solve in my design solution. My users would vary in age and background. I also created an anti persona. The anti persona comprised of users who are not interested in learning about their culture and heritage.
Press arrow for more
Design Synthesis
QOC METHOD
In order to choose which features to implement, I used the QOC (Questions, Options, Criteria) method to help me understand the pros and cons of different options and the trade-offs amongst them. I identified the critical feature of my project and defined 3 different feature approaches with design rationales.
At the beginning, the system was just supposed to be a gamified educational platform for Japanese immigrants, but after user research, it was evident that for an overall cultural experience and to enhance learning, it is very important to have community engagement. Therefore, I went to analyze the various way sin which users can interact.
I finally chose to have have 'Social Wall Posts' and a 'Chat' feature for my system. Further, I went on to add a 'MEET UP' feature to enhance community engagement This 'Meet Up' feature plays the role of the 'WOW FACTOR' for my system.
Storymap
I created story maps for my personas, to allow me to better understand and relate to my users and then came up with a common path storymap.
.jpg)
Userflow
I created product roadmaps for my system to put get a clear idea of how all the different features I want would be connected. After a little iteration, I came up with the final user flow that seemed logical and fluid.
.jpg)
Paper Prototype
I made the use of Paper prototypes in order to understand whether the design solution I had envisioned was working or not. It helped me understand how the users would use the application. I conducted usability tests using my paper prototype. During the usability tests I got to know what my solution was missing and whether users were facing problem traversing.
Wireframes
After two rounds of user testing with paper prototypes, I got a better idea of what changes were needed to make the system more efficient and user-friendly. I then created a mid-fidelity prototype and carried out further user testing.
Added Google and Facebook log in buttons for faster and more convenient access.
Based on user feedback, added proper headings and commands for every page.
Based on user feedback, added MEET UP button on the main community page and made the ADD POST button into an icon for free space
Mid Fidelity Prototype
The functionality and interactions of the mid fidelity prototype were largely well received by the testers. In my High Fidelity prototype I made mainly made design changes and focused on keeping it minimal and modern. The color palette chosen is minimal yet vibrant. I went with 'Living Coral' as my main color for the application.
Added Log in button instead of just having it on the keyboard, as some users had difficulty figuring it out.
Transitioned to a minimal modern overall look.
Mid Fidelity Prototype
Reflections
Through this project, I was able to get a good grasp at major UX design & research tools and techniques. I learnt a lot, specially that it is really important to carry out usability testing in the early phases as it gives a good idea if we are headed in the correct direction with our design. Also, I learnt, it is important not to get too attached to your ideas and designs, because at times they may not work and you may have to change them drastically.
I believe this system has a lot of flexibility as well as scalability. It can used for multiple purposes, from learning about cultures of the world to learning how to cook. It is a low budget, environment friendly and an accessible method to learn, that keeps users motivated and engaged.
Surprises During Designing
While designing in the early stages, a lot of the basic aspects of the application were not taken into consideration. They were brought to attention during the user testing.
Disappointments During Designing
Imagination cannot always be put to practical implementation. Time constraint acted as a big limitation. With more time, I would work on high fidelity prototype and its usability testing and design refinement.