Web Design
June 1, 2020

VRZ CHAMP – Verzuz TV voting platform

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This project was for a company called Kamari consulting. Kamari consulting contacted the company I work for to create a voting platform targeted at the Verzuz TV Instagram battle. The client came to us with a finished design they felt would be a good MVP. Unfortunately, the design the client presented to us was not based on research neither did it follow concrete visual design principles. I was tasked with coming up with a better and user-friendly design.

Task

A voting platform to settling arguments about the Verzuz TV Instagram battles the right way.

  • Strategy

    Design Thinking

  • Design

    Product design

  • Client

    Security Finance

  • Tools

    Moleskin Flow, Figma, Ant Design

  • Role

    Product designer

  • Tags

    Product design, UX Strategy

Problems to be solved

  • The client wanted a platform that allowed users to see and vote on battles that were carried out on Instagram.
  • Since battles were live and once ended couldn’t be rewatched, we had to come up with a way of letting users rewatch battles so they do not rely on memory alone.

Desired outcome

Cov-id 19 was in full swing and Instagram battles were an increasing way of entertaining people stuck at home. Kamari consulting felt the need to create a platform where people can vote on the Verzuz TV battles.

Constraints

  • The MVP was considered more important than the User experience
  • Lack of stakeholder support on UX process
  • User experience was seen as visual design only
  • No time allocated for Field study or concrete user research

Approach

Time was very short and UX was not factored in the process so I had to make massive tradeoffs in the design process. I was given 3 days to showcase my rework of the proposal via a high fidelity prototype. I had to use what I had to bootstrap the process. The client provided a description of potential users and a prototype they felt was ready for production.

To begin, I set a 3-day deadline for the following deliverables

  • 1 persona (user research)
  • Sitemap (User flow – sort of)
  • Low fidelity prototype
  • Design system
  • High fidelity prototype

Solutions

I presented most of the proposed solution to the client and the product owner on the client’s team as a high-fidelity prototype. Unfortunately, the client was unfamiliar with the UX process, so the pitch’s success relied heavily on how the prototype solved and addressed business needs.

Before After

Clean interface

The proposed interface was lacking aesthetically. However, I strived to make the interface as clean and easy to use as possible with the bit of time I had.

Real-time viewing of votes

Votes cast needed to be seen in real-time. I added a color-coded bar chart to ensure an easy-to-understand view of votes.

Round anticipation

Because the battles were live and the number of rounds was often hard to keep track of. The platform included a round number count. Also, whenever a round was started the system preempted the next round so the user is aware of the upcoming round.

Removal of confusing features

Often times there are features that do nothing but confuse users. One notable feature request on this platform was to implement a button that allows the user to signify a tie. I felt this was a confusing feature but I did not quantitive evidence to prove my claim. In the short time I had, I put a short survey on my WhatsApp status which got 11 responses. 10 out of 11 users said they don’t see the need for a “Tie” button. After presenting this to the client, the feature was dropped.

Before After

Hindsight - What I learned

Design is a funny word, Some people think design is how it looks But of course, if you dig deeper,it’s really how it works – Steve Jobs

The importance of User research is extremely important and for this project, there was inadequate stakeholder buy-in for field studies. A lack of UX buy-in is difficult to navigate but proper communication helps bridge that gap. The project is currently live and even though there are iterative enhancements I would love to implement, the business my forge on.

Practicing Agile/Lean UX is easier said than done. Time is still needed to achieve concrete goals. The time for this project was very short but things worked out in the end and the site is live with hundreds of visitors each day.

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