MoveIt — Jeff Baumann's Portfolio

Overview

Despite the continuing effects of a global pandemic, about 24 million Americans are predicted to move in 2023, per Forbes. Moving is an inherently stressful endeavor: it’s often expensive, time-consuming, and by nature it uproots the place you call “home”. MoveIt began with the eventual goal of making moving less of a hassle so the people moving can resume their lives in their new residence.

MoveIt aimed to simplify the moving process by providing users with pre-loaded but customizable checklists, a budgeting tool, and the ability to search for moving companies to assist with the move. The research and design process lasted about 13 weeks, from early May to the end of July 2023. I was the sole researcher and designer for this project.

These are the final wireframes for the MoveIt app I designed. Keep scrolling for more detail on how I got here.

Research

My initial hypothesis was that the costs of moving would be the biggest stressor for those moving. With the goal of unearthing the main problem people face when moving, I set about conducting competitive analysis of other web-based moving solutions as well as user interviews.

I interviewed 4 people remotely. Each had moved within the last 3 years. One of the big takeaways was stress–it was frequently used to describe the moving process. However, the biggest stressor for the respondents wasn’t necessarily financial: they were stressed by the planning and logistics aspects of the move. While most of the respondents had a general idea of what needed to be done for their move, few actually wrote down what needed to be done, and none of them consulted a pre-made checklist.

What resulted was the respondents feeling uneasy and distressed by all that they had to accomplish in what was often a small window of time. Given the feedback I got, my focus shifted. While I still aimed to help the people moving, I now knew they needed more help actually planning and organizing their move and less help budgeting for it.

From there, I conducted a card sort to see how users would group the words and concepts included in the solution. I asked respondents to group 42 cards into 4 categories: Planning, Moving, Finance, and Other. The card sort confirmed the takeaway from my interviews, as the Planning section had the most cards associated. It was clearly top of mind for my respondents. It also showed me that these categories are not rigid; there was plenty of overlap between the Planning and Moving categories.

Define

I took a largely linear approach when initially laying out the solution, though I did make tweaks based on feedback I received. Using the results of the card sort, I laid out my site map. I also created personas and user flows. The goal of the sitemap was to lay out an intuitive and efficient solution. I wanted to make moving easier and simpler, not harder.

Wireframes

The initial sketches saw a different variations on the task, including the potential to toggle between completed tasks and tasks that are due. I ultimately scrapped it for simplicity’s sake, to ensure the user could see their entire task list at once. The screens included are iterations of the mobile version of my project. Adding some additional design features along with the shades of lilac I chose as part of the MoveIt brand.

Branding

I created a logo along with a number of different sketches and wireframes of varying quality during this time period. For the color scheme and branding, I wanted to create a brand that was reassuring, almost calming. Again, the goal is to make moving less stressful, not more-so. The shades of lilac were intended to be soothing.

For the branding elements, you can see the multiple iterations the logo and color scheme took before I landed on the colors, font, and more that were to be used. A big, warm sans serif font was selected to continue the theme of calming, yet organized.

Testing

I conducted usability tests to see how users would respond to the wireframes presented. The feedback that I got from the 5 respondents was largely positive. I asked them to complete 3 tasks: create a new account, mark a checklist item as complete, and create a new checklist item. With little exception, each respondent was able to complete these quickly and without issue.

They appreciated how simple the solution was, they knew where to look for various items: it felt intuitive. There were also positive comments about the visual elements, like the colors chosen.

However, the feedback wasn’t all great. There were many comments about the need for descriptions for the home screen options. While they were able to complete the tasks, they were not as certain that other users could do the same.

I added descriptions, per their responses, as well as status on each task, to make sure the users understand what tasks are or are not pressing with just a glance.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m pleased with how MoveIt turned out. It received largely positive feedback, specifically for how easy it was to navigate, which was one of my goals. I did not want to overwhelm the user with options, given how nuanced and detailed each move can become. Some of the challenges I faced were as a result of my relative inexperience when starting the project. I had conducted research tests before, but never usability tests. I had experience designing solutions, but I had never been tasked with creating an entire solution from the ground up. It was daunting at first, but by breaking down each part of the project into manageable goals, I was able to complete it.

The process made me appreciate the research I had done, as it greatly informed my final product. Without the feedback I received throughout the research and design process, I would not have been able to create the intuitive solution I ended with. While I was not necessarily an expert in each aspect of the project when I began, using my abilities and the resources available to me, I was able to complete what I set out to do.