Creative Block Case Study

I did an honors project for my Design Process class, and was tasked to ideate on, wireframe, and design a user interface. The result was an app called “UNBLOCK,” like an Instagram / Pinterest for creatives to gather inspiration from. The goal was to solve the problem of creative block.

Project Type: Solo Honors Project (UI/UX)

Project Topic: My choice

Project Length: 2 Weeks

Software Used: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Miro

Deliverables: Design research, Defined scope and strategy, wireframe sketches, Logo and Tagline, 3 designed screens

CONCEPT

Creative Inspiration: There is not much in the creative community that is completely original.

Question: How do creatives find inspiration that influences their work?

Market opportunity: An app that appeals to those who seek digital inspiration for creative concepts.

BENCHMARKS (Key competitors)

CUSTOMER NEEDS

PRODUCT FEATURES

HOW THE PRODUCT MEETS THE NEEDS

VALUE PROPOSITION STATEMENT

The easy-to-navigate and fun app allows for creatives to get inspiration in their art or design niche. This could be to alleviate creative block, or just to gather tips and tricks from both local and established creatives. The app can be what the user wants it to be: surface level or deeper, catered to their niche or broad.

SKETCHES

WIREFRAME CONCEPT

NAVIGATIONAL DESIGN

PRODUCT NAME

UNBLOCK

This name was chosen because the purpose of the app is to alleviate creator’s block.

COLOR SCHEME

Energetic, inspiration, trustworthy, clean

LOGO

LOGOTYPE

Blocky, Slash through the O, Variations

INTERFACE DESIGN

Onboarding:

  • Playful

  • Colorful

  • Illustrations

  • Character illustrations by Sapiens Character Builder

Inside the app:

  • Still Colorful

  • Easy & familiar navigation

  • Iconography helps with navigation as well

ONBOARDING

INSIDE THE APP

Design display 1
Design Display 2
Design display 3
Onboarding page design
All set page design
Landing page design
Profile page design

REFLECTION

What did I learn?

  • More about UI/UX and what goes into it as a whole.

  • How to conduct research for a UI/UX case study.

  • Planning and research is everything. It is important to have a plan and a design process to follow in order to be successful. (No skipping steps)

  • How to design in a user focused way based on insights and research, not just about aesthetics.

What could have gone better?

  • More ideation and completely fleshed out ideas, especially in the sketching stage.

  • The research could have had more body through complete research with regular users of the benchmark apps.

  • A clickable prototype would have been nice to see, along with a web interface in addition to the mobile one.

  • The designs could be cleaner and more realistic, along with a simplified logo.

  • User testing could have provided even more insight to the project.

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