UX Design Case Study
The Many Crafts of COVID Lockdown
I know when the COVID-19 pandemic began I was overwhelmed with stress and time. To counteract this I turned to crafting, from knitting to beading I tried a little bit of everything and it helped with the the stress of the pandemic. But as things began to open up I began to craft less and less and not use crafting as a way to cope with my stress.
I wondered if I was the only one who had forgotten about crafting after the pandemic and if there was a way for us to return to this cathartic outlet.
Speaking to Busy Crafters
To start my research I interviewed 6 people who love to craft. My interviewees ranged from the ages of 21 - 54, 4 of which were women and 2 men. All interviewed iterated how much of a stress reliever crafting was for them and most of them expressed work or school as a reason why they no longer craft as much as they used to. Another important insight I gathered was 5 out of the 6 interviewees expressed the importance of community in their crafting habits.
With the information gathered after synthesizing the research using affinity mapping, I had identified the problem that my users were facing.
Time
“ I do cook when I get home, and I try and stay active, so like you kind of run out of time in your day.”
Stress Relief
“Crafting can become a form of therapy”
Community
“It’s hard solving problems on my own it’s much easier when someone is there to help”
Problem Statement:
Crafters who craft to support their mental health struggle to do so due to a lack of time and community with fellow crafters.
How “The Craft Of” Can Help
The goal of “The Craft Of” is to help people turn to crafting in times of stress with time-curated daily, weekly, and monthly crafts that are optimized for crafters who don’t always have the time to commit to long projects but also longer projects for those who want to experience a flow state. With social media like features where users can ask for help with projects and post the results of their daily, weekly, or monthly crafts, crafters can find the crafting community that is vital in the crafting process.
Designing an App for Crafters
Starting with sketches and paper prototypes and began to design the app. These sketches would be essential in getting feedback, user testing, and developing the design for the following stages.
Home Page
Through user research, I knew many crafters turn to video tutorials to initially learn a craft so when greeted in the app they are immediately shown a video for the craft curated for them along with the the materials needed and the written instructions. Users are also able to toggle along the top for the options of the different craft lengths.
Community Page
Knowing that community is a huge part of crafting and that crafters learn better when assisted by real people I knew I had to include an option for users to ask questions on crafts and help others out. I designed a social media messaging page for people to connect with other users.
User research also showed one of people’s favorite parts of crafting is the satisfaction with the final product so, I also designed a gallery page where users can show off their projects and view other user’s projects.
After receiving feedback on my paper prototypes, I created a user flow for a more seamless user experience. I also iterated on my design with a lo-fi prototype designed in Balsamiq.
Lo-Fi Prototype in Balsamiq
What’s Next?
Additional testing is necessary to continue the work on this product. I would like to conduct a usability test as well as an accessibility audit. I will also bring this into Figma to iterate the design there and create a design system for the interface.