InformationPlay

Converting a popular business book to a helpful and engaging motivational tool.

ROLE
Visere was responsible for the interaction design strategy and development for the project. As part of the Visere team, my focus was on the information architecture, interaction design, and testing of the app.

PROBLEM
Developed by SYPartners, UNSTUCK is a book focused on helping companies improve they’re teams and business. The iPad app was created to extend the UNSTUCK approach and tools to a wider audience. The app was designed to diagnose a problem or stuck moment, and then provide insights and tools for getting unstuck.

PROCESS
The project started with the team focusing on defining the design principles and mental models for how a user might walk through the diagnostic and tools. Several rounds of concepts were developed as a team before a single direction was selected.

Since the project team was divided between two cities, most of the early documentation was designed for brainstorming and decision making. There was lots of content to sift through and shape into interactive experiences. Animated wireframes were created to show the user experience, and capture and manage comments and content changes.

The tools were designed to get users to address they’re problems in ways that resulted in solutions or plans. Each tool was unique, but the team defined patterns and a framework that would support maximum reuse of design and code in order to meet the deadline and provide a common identity across tools.

RESULTS
The initial release of UNSTUCK was met with positive reviews by both users and the press. The app takes a step-by-step approach through the diagnosis of the user’s problem, along the way providing perspective and insights to make the experience informative as well as revealing. Tools balance the need to go deep into a problem, yet keep the user engaged enough to complete it. The app interface was designed to easily scale to support new content and tools for future releases.

DEMO
See the app demo on Vimeo