Overview
In this student project, my teammates and I set out to improve the user experience of Poste Italiana's mobile app. The project involved conducting a usability analysis, testing information hierarchy, and ideating and prototyping a final version of the redesigned app. Our goal was to create a more intuitive and user-friendly app that would provide a better experience for Poste Italiana's customers. Throughout this case study, I will discuss our decision-making process and detail the final solutions we implemented.
Expertise
UX Research, UI Design
Platforms
Android
Year
2022
Duration
1.5 month
Software used
Figma
See it live
TL;DR
The main outcome of this case study is the redesign of Poste Italiana's mobile app. Based on usability analysis and testing, several key improvements were made, including an enhanced search field with features such as paste, scan, recent searches, and previews. Users were also given the ability to prioritize selected menu items or stick to sensible defaults. Additionally, the interface was simplified and moved down to reduce clutter and follow industry standards. Continue reading to see the full process.
Contextual Search
Improved search box with features like paste, scan, recent searches, previews + more
Customisation
Users could prioritise selected menu items or stick to sensible defaults.
Accessibility
Light and dark mode, material-based design system, sufficient font sizes, contrast/readable colour scheme and more
Navigation
Simplified, customisable and easy to understand
About The Client
Poste Italiane is Italy's national postal operator, offering a range of services including mail, courier, finance, insurance and banking. During the redesign process, it was important to maintain Poste Italiane's brand identity while improving the overall user experience and making the app structure more manageable for the numerous services it offers.
Financial services
Poste Italiane is also a leader in the payment and mobile sectors and offers financial and insurance services throughout Italy.
Numerous touchpoints
Their services have multiple touch points, including physical locations with human staff, totem kiosks, their website and mobile app, providing a range of options for accessing their services.
Website & App
Poste's user base is constantly growing as more of its services become digitised, with the company now offering both a website and app.
State of digitalization
Poste envisions a sustainable digital future and wants to be a pioneer in providing digital access to everyone.
Process
The following section will dissect the individual steps of the redesign process. First, we needed to define the approach to redesign the entire application, which included redefining the Information Architecture and general flow of the app. We created rough wireframes to capture some outliers that we didn’t think about in the IA, which we validated with testing. Once the wireframes and IA were finalized, we moved on to look and feel and explored two visual versions. The final step was prototyping, where we validated the final design.
methodology visualisation
Heuristic Analysis
The interface of the existing website and app were analysed to identify areas for improvement and redesign. The analysis focused on identifying usability issues based on established design principles. This was done to improve the user experience and ensure that the interface was easy to use and understand.
Key Insights
The graph provides a summary of the heuristics that were violated during the usability analysis, including the frequency of the violations and the related problem clusters for each heuristic. It offers a visual representation of the most common issues and areas for improvement in the original Poste Italiane app and website. Four main problems were identified based on the heuristic evaluation, and appropriate solutions were planned to address them.
heuristic evaluation syntheesized
1.
Problem: Desired actions are nested and hard to locate. Solution: Present most relevant actions, prioritized. Let people set their favorites.
2.
Problem: Inconsistencies in the interface. Solution: Standardize interface elements and stick to the design system.
3.
Problem: Overflow of information on certain screens. Solution: Identify the information required by the user and prioritize it. Improve information architecture (IA) by restructuring the app's content and using insights from testing to ensure the most relevant information is presented to users.
4.
Problem: Complex tasks lack guidance and assistance for the user. Solution: Implement a step-by-step guidance approach and add interactive helpers to improve the user's experience and understanding of the task at hand.
Users Tests
The following graphs analysed the existing user flows inside the app and tracked users' frustrations. Our team decided to focus on both novice and experienced users, particularly those who are using the Poste Italiane (PT) application for the first time, such as foreigners who require PT's services for documentation purposes like residence permits and health insurance. We also included a regular user to understand any issues that may arise over time. We chose the most significant tasks based on user feedback, prioritizing users' needs to stay connected with the PT application and website.
Comparative benchmarking
In this section, a comparative benchmarking analysis has been conducted between Poste Italiane and its competitor Swiss Post. The focus was to identify areas where Swiss Post's app performed better than Poste Italiane's app, particularly in the homepage, navigation, and send screen - which is one of the primary functions of a postal service.
Swiss Post app is easier to understand at a glance than PT.
Clear visual categories help users to navigate easily.
The app has big buttons for accessibility and ease of use.
Meanings of the buttons are straightforward and clear, unlike Poste Italiane's app, where users struggle to understand the buttons.
All important postal services are accessible immediately when the user opens the Swiss Post app.
Fewer functions available through the Swiss Post menu, improving utility.
Only less frequently used features of the app are hidden here, reducing clutter.
The login button is very visible and easy to identify.
Due to the limited number of links, the menu is not scrollable, making it easy to read.
Links with subcategories are quickly recognized because of the arrow next to them.
Fewer functions available through the Swiss Post menu, improving utility.
Only less frequently used features of the app are hidden here, reducing clutter.
The login button is very visible and easy to identify.
Due to the limited number of links, the menu is not scrollable, making it easy to read.
Links with subcategories are quickly recognized because of the arrow next to them.
Defining information architecture
Defining the Information Architecture was a crucial step in improving the Poste Italiane application. The existing architecture was complex and over-nested, making it challenging for users to locate the desired functionalities. The Open Card Sorting method allowed us to simplify the categorization process, and we understood the importance of customization. The Closed Card Sorting method helped us filter out the most important functionalities and rename them to more recognizable navigation elements. Finally, the Tree Testing method solidified our choices and helped us with Reorganization and Classification of the app's features.
