THE IDEA
A niche social media app that provides not only entertainment but spurs curiosity. With the rising amount of supernatural occurances being reported by citizens aswell as government agencies it is now time to capitalize on such a wonderful idea. The main objective was to design an entertaining and modern app that has not been capitalized on. There is non-stop talk about alien activity throughout the government, news agencies, military, and people all around the world. Alien Tracker members will have the honor of posting images or videos to provide evidence of any possible encounters. New users and members will be able to see recent post activity in their general location.
People everywhere have seen strange occurrences but do not have a platform that embraces this new age. Introducing Alien Tracker, the Alien tracking app that everyone has been waiting for. Users sign up, post strange activity, and watch other strange occurances from around the globe. Alien Tracker is the app that is going to shake the entertainment & social media industry.
BUSINESS READY
In order to make this business idea a reality, the app needed some form of income from users. Users will agree to post and share content, pictures, videos tagged with data. The huge kicker for this app is the huge potential for user location data here. The solution to our users problem is too simple - we provide a platform for alien/supernatural encounters that can't be explained. This is a cross of entertainment, curiousity, horror, reality, and controversy! Do you believe in aliens?
PUSH PAPERWORK
The Alien Tracker App needed a user experience that is boldly obvious and direct to avoid any possible confusion. It is safe to assume that the majority of users will be tech savy but that does not excuse a complicated product.
From what our group could see in our research any and all competitor websites lacked organization or meaning. Any other competition I could think of was social media megastars such as Facebook. But social media is at a stale point and I believe people are looking for an alternative especially after some reports of sensorship and monopoly.
Laying out usability testing was important for the group so we knew what we were diving into. We set up ten questions to interview classmates, friends, loved ones, even possibly a cusrious alien. Organization of the facilitator was important, and being able to watch the user go through the app gave good insight on what improvements needed to be met.
The desire for modern design experience is important. Technology is something that most potential Alien Tracker users handle with ease due to belonging to other social media platforms.
We came up with ten questions to utilize during our interviews that helped provide anwsers to our initial questions. The range of potential subject was from a basic to expert computer/device user.
Users heavy on social media were a big chunk of our target demographic as these members tend to share data. After testing we were sure to record all data and users thoughts about the experience.
We were very aware of potential errors that could have arisen but found that our design and experience did fit
what we intended on providing.
We started with a set of main features that were prevolent to the success of the app. These features were then broken down into sections so we could see
what page/database organization was required.
To start the design process it was important for us to put together a quick wireframe in accompany with the app experience to get a visual. The goal here was to start forming pages inside of Figma to give a better visualization of the workspace at large. A lot of the elements seen in the wireframes below were replaced with improved elements after more user testing. Due to high expections of modern design we did ensure that users would be able to memorize locations of main features. We were then able to come up with the primary, secondary, and tertiary features to save on development time if appropriate.
A quick survey using SurveyMonkey was sent out via email to friends and family. Lastly, being able to have usability studies really gave our group great insight on what needed to be implimented or removed from our project. I was able to provide a great amount of qualitative data from from watching testers fumble throught the app in person. As expected there was plenty of in-depth feedback that we ended up using.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
The final design allows users to explore their inner curosity. Users can easily register without the hassle of re-entering unnesssary fields.
Time is important so users are given a minimum of four navigation icons to memorize. Users are given the ability to log out if nessesary, but that will be found in settings.
Being logged into the app is mandatory to use it at this time. The entertainment guarantee is good enough for users to want to forfeit an email address. An advanced map feature allows users to search by zip code, country, or by type of post activity.
Users will be notified of activity in their area to reel them back into the app.
