Choreista App
I led the design process for a comprehensive mobile application that matches teens with odd jobs in their communities. The first Android prototype launched July 2021.
Tools & Tasks: Figma, OptimalSort, UX research, personas, journey mapping, information architecture, prototyping
Company: Cosmos Innovation
Role: Lead UX Designer
Duration: 6 months
Problem Statement
“How can younger teens find safe, flexible jobs within their neighborhoods?”
Hunting for jobs as an adolescent can be tough. The Choreista mobile app offers an easier approach to finding paid work opportunities. Using an algorithm that matches users with specified criteria, teens and homeowners are connected to fill local odd job vacancies. Utilizing Figma to design a comprehensive prototype, I partnered with a diverse team of developers to bring the project to life.
Design Challenges
Our design team faced several unique challenges that influenced the final prototype:
User Safety
The number one priority is user safety. Choreista’s users will include young teens aged 13+ with parent permission. How can our design team integrate a thorough safety check and screening during the onboarding process?
Diverse Job Interests
From babysitting to lawn care, Choreista will offer a wide range of odd jobs to attract a broad user base. How can our design team effectively categorize jobs to streamline searches and personalize home feeds?
Personas
Our team identified the two main user profiles that will be interacting with the app. I took the initiative to develop the personas in order to address each profile’s distinct needs and key tasks.
User Profiles
The Choreista user experience is designed for two different profiles:
Chore·own·er
noun a homeowner looking to hire chore help.
Chore·ist·a
noun an adolescent looking to be paid to do chores.
The Choreowner: Jose
Jose’s priority as a Choreowner is to create his first job post.
The Choreista: Rose
As a Choreista, Rose is looking to apply for her first job.
Journey Maps
Our team identified key tasks, such as applying for or posting chores, to design streamlined interactions. The goal is to embody a simplified, human-centered approach to the job hunting experience.
The Choreowner: Jose
Jose’s goal is to easily create a chore post.
The Choreista: Rose
Rose aims to quickly apply for a chore.
Information Architecture
A wide user base means a broad range of professional skills and interests. Our team brainstormed 6 chore categories to sort different job posts and streamline the browsing experience. To test the effectiveness of our structure and taxonomy, I led the research phase by conducting an open card sort with 11 participants.
Open Card Sort
Utilizing OptimalSort, I created an open card sort with 22 different job titles (each job could only be sorted once). The participants were asked to sort each title into a best-fitting chore category that they created. My goal was to understand how users view an effective structure when interacting with a varied amount of content.
Participants took a median time of 9:42 minutes to complete the test
Participants created 48 total chore categories with a median of 4 categories each
Digital/media cards proved the highest proportion of groupings with 91% agreement
Each chore category included an average of 5 job cards
The Results
After carefully analyzing the results, it became clear that diverse user perspectives create a wide range of chore categories and job groupings. However, common data patterns, revealed by UX research, highlight the universal need for a straightforward content organization and product taxonomy. These patterns confirmed the following:
Digital Jobs Win Strongest Grouping
This dendrogram graph highlights digital jobs as the strongest card groupings compared to other chore categories (best merge method).
Varied Clusters & Outliers
This similarity matrix graph reveals top category groupings and outliers, showing that the data is fairly spread out (dark blue represents higher concentration of pairings).
“Common data patterns, revealed by UX research, highlight the universal need for a straightforward content organization and product taxonomy.”
The Prototype
After months of iteration and prototyping, our team launched the first version of the Choreista app. There are a few key features we’re excited to share:
Fun and easy browsing
Browse through a personalized home feed and chore categories to find new and interesting posts that match your criteria.
Quickly save and apply to chores
Interested by not ready to apply? Quickly save a chore to your dashboard and come back later to submit your application.
Keep track of your chores
Easily keep track of your open posts or accepted chores in one convenient location.
Check out the live Choreista prototype
Next Steps: Usability Testing
Since the first version of Choreista launched, we’ve asked ourselves, “is our product successful and well received by users?” If our team were granted the time and resources to further investigate, we would explore the following focus areas:
SUS Score & Live Walkthrough
The Choreista app experience involves several key tasks, such as searching for and applying to jobs. Our goal would be to determine if these tasks can be successfully navigated by conducting a SUS score test. I would also organize a live walk through to directly observe user interactions.
Closed Card Sort
Our team recognizes the value of information architecture. To narrow the results from the open card sort test, I would conduct a closed card sort by selecting the strongest chore categories and ask participants to sort titles into each category.
Conclusion
Partnering with Cosmos Innovation to bring the Choreista app to life greatly challenged my design thinking and creative problem solving. I gained countless insights that I can apply to my next project:
Lessons Learned
1. Due to strict time and budget constraints, I adapted by prioritizing critical steps in the design process. I grasped the value of highlighting non-negotiable processes and creating a structured timeline to stay on track.
2. I actively practiced clear communication with fellow team members and the client. I learned that asking clarifying questions early on and talking through my processes saves precious time and energy.
3. After launching the app, I discovered that having the strong impulse to improve my designs is a normal sign of growth. As I reflect on my work, I continue to analyze how I can further streamline the interface and enhance the overall user experience.