jesse beaman's portfolio
TRANSCRIPT
Hi, my name is Jesse Beaman. I’m an Interaction Designer in Austin, TX.
QT Housing App
A more efficient way for queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people to connect and share safe housing.
I led a team of 4 developers and 1 designer through a design process during Women Who Code’s 2nd Annual Diversity Hackathon.
We were awarded the Mark Dean Award for UX Design sponsored by IBM Design.
Research
Empathy mapping
We started the hackathon by sharing assumptions and unknowns. We analyzed how existing resources are leveraged to understand the painpoints of people trying to coordinate and share housing. We cleared up unanswered questions and assumptions with our sponsor user.
Through empathy mapping as a team, we were able to gain alignment around user needs, goals, and painpoints.
Empathy mapping revealed a large disparity in privilege even within the Queer and Trans community itself. Users searching for housing were more likely to be escaping a bad situation while posts offering rooms were more concerned with higher level needs like friendship.
Rapid Prototyping
We created storyboards to understand the situation as-is, then storyboarded ideal solutions.
The other designer and I translated the storyboards into wireframes.
After some quick feedback sessions, I used Sketch with InVision App to create a working prototype.
Solution
Our prototype represented a better way for queer and trans people to connect and share housing.
We carefully selected what information users must share to join the network.
We rejected profile images so that those who are less comfortable with their gender presentation aren’t at a social disadvantage.
We made sure that gender identity was respected by making pronouns and descriptions front-and-center.
WRKSHPYoung people are full of great ideas and, if enabled, might be able to tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges. Young aspiring entrepreneurs rarely get their ideas off the ground because of lack of infrastructure and social support.
I led a team of 3 designers through design thinking exercises to answer the question “How might we enable more young people to become social entrepreneurs?”
After making notes of our existing assumptions and unanswered questions, we targeted 3 user groups for interviews.
We spoke with young entrepreneurs to learn about their experiences, aspirations, and painpoints.
We spoke with adult entrepreneurs to learn about entrepreneurial culture and what they wish they had known.
We spoke to civic hackers at Open Austin to learn how groups of volunteers launch successful projects.
Interviews
Ideation
We used findings from our interviews to create insight statements and ideate around “How Might We” questions.
Young people need to be surrounded by a core group of other inspired young people who support each others endeavors.
New entrepreneurs need to start with what they can accomplish short term and be personally invested in the long term outcome.
Successful project teams have a passionate champion and an experienced project manager.
Rapid Prototyping
After identifying which ideas were most innovative and which were most likely to succeed, we used storyboarding and pen-and-paper to mix and match concepts.
Keeping the sketches low fidelity allowed us to quickly explore ideas and collect feedback while honing in on a solution.
Solution
WRKSHP is an online training system where young social entrepreneurs can connect, gain confidence, and succeed while launching their ideas.
While using the app, young entrepreneurs reach short team goals and gain certifications to boost their confidence.
WRKSHP encourages youth to participate in a weekend startup hackathon to work with seasoned mentors, craft a pitch deck, and gain experience pitching their ideas.
Slumberquest is an alarm clock app that leverages game design to help snoozers wake up.
This was solo exploration in product design. I started by asking myself, “Is there a better way to design an alarm clock?”
Slumberquest
Through interviews, I found that people snooze through their alarm and feel tired in the morning. Later domain research showed that this is a side effect of snoozing.
This suggested an opportunity to help snoozers have a better morning by helping them build the habit of waking up with their alarm.
Needs Finding
Ideation
Insights Initial Ideas
People suffer from sleep inertia when snoozing, making them more tired during the morning.
People wake up more easily when they have a hard deadline, like finishing a project before noon or picking up a friend from the airport.
Every person I spoke with reported checking facebook, email, or other social media before getting out of bed.
Initial ideas included using connected devices to start tasks for the day, or introducting daily goals into morning routines.
When I realized I had an opportunity to help users build healthy habits, I learned about habit setting and found inspiration in the Hook model.
Solution
Before going to sleep, players send their hero into a dungeon to quest overnight. In the morning, their character needs their help.
Snoozing is not an option. Players are instead woken up in the middle of a scenario. Players must react immediately to keep their hero safe.
The 2 minutes scenarios are created based on rewards of the tribe, the hunt, and the self. Combining all three types of rewards increases effectiveness in building habit.
By replacing an alarm with 2 minutes of high-risk engagement, players are less likely to fall back asleep.
Design
Slumberquest uses the same patterns that makes social media so addictive.
Sorting through loot and finding hidden treasure satisfies players’ need for the hunt.
Group play satisfies players’ need for the tribe.
Continued character growth and mastery of the game satisfies players’ need for the self.
Characters progress with repeated use, becoming stronger and more unique. Repeated investment in characters means the stakes are higher when players ignore the game starting.
Snoozers can start their day by defeating monsters and sleep inertia.
Thank [email protected]
Austin Community College, Expected May 2017AAS USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (IP)EDUCATION
Participant - First Annual VisCom UX HackathonFIRST PLACE AWARD
4.0 GPA - Honors ProgramPRESIDENT’S HONOR ROLL
Team Lead - Women Who Code Diversity HackathonMARK DEAN AWARD - BEST UX DESIGNAWARDS AND HONORS
Input and InteractionUser Experience: Research & PrototypingInformation DesignHuman-Centered Design: an IntroductionDesign Principles: an Introduction
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGOCOURSERA.ORG
Design Kit: The Course for Human Centered DesignIDEO.ORG/NOVOED
CERTIFICATIONS
Bloomfire, Winter Break Internship 2017
UX DESIGN INTERNAustin Community College, August 2016 - current
UX DESIGN TUTOR + LAB ASSISTANT
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
Preparing to graduate with an AAS in User Experience Design. Self motivated, resourceful, and industrious.Looking forward to solving big problems together.
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNERJesse Beaman
TOOLS
SKILLSDesign ThinkingInteraction DesignRapid PrototypingEthnographyStoryboardingJourneymappingUsability TestingHeuristic EvaluationHuman Centered Design
PenPaperSticky NotesSketch AppCraftInvision AppIllustratorAxure