My Role
I was in charge of the creative on this project starting from defining the IA and restructuring the content of the Forums. I identified the missing UX fundamentals and went into wireframing and prototyping while working with product owners. I also worked alongside a UI designer who focused on the Android app after I established the UX and design elements.
The Challenge
There was a need to separate the Forums section from the main Red Flag Deals app - this is because a large amount of our users solely visit Forums from the main app, and the majority of our traffic generates from this area. From a business point of view, there was no way to develop Forums further if it didn’t expand to it’s own separate app. The challenge here is to do this without changing a lot of the structure to avoid confusion for our very sensitive users. The transition from using mobile responsive view to app is already a huge change in behaviour, so we needed create a scalable system and be careful not to introduce too much in the first phase.
Another task on hand was on the UI front - because this is a brand new app and was during a visual brand refresh, a new cohesive UI had to be developed simultaneously for both iOS and Android.
The Approach
The Forum section needed to be expanded into its own individual app, so we brought out the content with the highest traffic. The primary goal of this project is to focus on the features - we pulled out the Hot Deals section, which appeals most to our audience, into it’s own space and tailored the journeys from there.
The Process
Preliminary sketches were incredibly helpful to further explore the IA and help build the project out in iterations.
We had a number of lo-fi prototypes for user testing to understand the type of content our audience would like to see on the new home feed.
Icons for forum categories
The Outcome
The simplistic design with the basis of iOS and material design usage created cohesion for both our native users.
Works much better on my device than the official app, I also enjoy the ability to view multiple pages without switching pages.
Love it! Been waiting for it cause it's easier to read than the one before with the small text. Love the notifications.
Finally an app for the forums! Looks very promising.
Great interface and nice to see the time of posting.
This app is currently still the works as we continue to transition native screens with every iteration. Each phase will include new features that have been designed and considered for future sprints.