When we develop an application at SevenLab, we occasionally work together with Koos Service Design. Koos' office is on the same floor as ours, which makes working together very easy. We asked Erik van Zoelen, UX designer at Koos, some questions about the process of application development and design. Among other things, we talked about Edualdo, an online platform where teachers can exchange knowledge about education.

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What steps do you take when starting a new app design project?

E: Actually, at Koos we always try to combine our UX with Service Design. In many cases, the starting point of a new app is a week-long design sprint in which we work with the client to establish assumptions, generate ideas and ultimately create a clickable demo that we test with the end user. In this process, we make extensive use of Service Design methods such as customer journey mapping, storyboarding and various brainstorming techniques. At the end of the week, we have a prototype that we validate with the end user through a user test.

Which programmes do you use for that?

E: For app design we at Koos mainly use Sketch, but in the case of Edualdo We used Figma. We had heard many good stories about it and saw this as a good opportunity to test out the benefits (collaboration by stakeholders in the same file). We often use Marvel for prototyping because it allows us to easily create a clickable demo.

About Edualdo

How did the app design of Edualdo come about?

E: The new design of the Edualdo website came out of a design sprint that took place from 4 to 12 June 2019. In the sprint, we considered the addition of primary school teachers to the Edualdo platform and the design implications that would arise from this. The main question of the sprint was how could we ensure that users would only see questions that they find interesting? In the end, the filter function of the site was thoroughly overhauled and the landing page for new users was redesigned. The prototype was tested with five teachers and then developed into a complete redesign in the following weeks.

How do you give a demo to the customer?

E: In our case, a customer demo is often a combination of a Keynote presentation and a Marvel prototype. In the presentation, various screens are handled including the justification for the design choices made, while the customer can click through the Marvel demo to experience the new design for himself.

Feedback & testing

How does the feedback process work?

E: For the Edualdo project, we used Figma a lot to make comments. We indicated when a new version of the design was ready for review, after this employees of Edualdo could post comments on different elements of the design. In this way, communication staff from Edualdo could, for example, check and improve all the texts. Besides this digital feedback, there have been a number of live demos with Menno of Edualdo in which he could directly give his feedback on the design.

How does the testing and prototyping of an app work?

E: Before we test an app, we always set up the assumptions we want to validate. Then we make an interview guide that serves as a structure during the user test. Often we have a livestream of the test so clients can watch without having to be present at the user test. During the test, we try to elicit as natural a reaction as possible from the user and make sure that we do not steer them. If they cannot perform a task properly, we do not help them but try to find out why they cannot understand it. Often, 5 user tests are enough to gather 80% of insights. These are then processed and translated into a new design.

Want to know more about app design or service design? Please contact Bas via the e-mailor give us a call.