MY ROLE
As a passion project I worked on in my spare time, I was the sole creator on Tome. Working on research and data collecting, testing, creating wireframes, prototyping, iterating, and UI design allowed me to try my hand at multiple aspects of design, trying new techniques and learning along the way.
Early requirements and user stories.
Brainstorming content of Inventory screens.
REQUIREMENTS
Requirements for the product were brainstormed in MindNode, then catalogued in Trello and set up as user stories. Everything a user would want in a character management app when into that board. These requirements were gathered from interviews with players, browsing D&D forums, and competitive analysis of other D&D character sheet apps currently on the market.
at the heart of all this research was the player's desire for a lot of information in a way that was readily available.
Persona for Tome development.
Journey map detailing friction points and emotional states before Tome.
PERSONAS AND EMPATHY MAPPING
A persona was created to represent a possible user, and from there, I created a journey map to identify current pain points when playing a game of D&D and an empathy map to thoroughly understand more about this person. Because of the nature of this app, the persona I created had another person of her own - the character that she would play in D&D, and, in a way, this character took on a persona of her own. Keeping Sarah Cochran (and her character) in mind while designing led to more informed decisions.
Early navigation exploration sketches and notes.
EARLY NAVIGATION EXPLORATIONS
From early on, I knew that navigation would be a very important decision to make. With so much information available in the app, finding a way to filter the large amount of data to only what the user needed at the time that they need it was going to be a big task. A lot of time was spent exploring navigation methods and ways of displaying information until I was happy. Early prototyping of these navigation methods allowed me to put the "app" into people's hands quickly so I could observe how they moved through the app to find information. This rapid prototyping allowed me to test, observe, and iterate quickly.
Prototype showing sign in screen.
PROTOTYPING AND TESTING
Using Invision's prototyping tools, I was able to get a prototype of the app up and running early on in the process. As the designs developed further, I kept the prototype up-to-date, handing it to anyone who would look at it. Taking advantage of the many D&D groups in town, I found people who would be willing to take a few moments to look through the app, and listened carefully to their feedback and desires for features.
Example screens of Tome.