Overview

Successful mobile apps are all designed to benefit users. If a user is going to engage with an app repeatedly, the product needs to help them meet their goals and should offer a great deal of value. In order for an app to accomplish this, the creator of an app needs to take time to investigate their target audience so they can understand who their users are and what needs they have. For this assignment, you will analyze an app to determine what development choices were made in order to meet a user$$s needs.

Prompt

When selecting a mobile app to analyze for this assignment, think of apps you use often and understand well. This will allow you to form deeper connections with the topics we are tackling this week and may help you see something you use every day from a new perspective. However, if you wish, you may instead search online for an app you are less familiar with and try to make your assessment from a more objective, outside perspective. Note that in this case, it does not matter what platform $($Android$,$ Apple, or other$)$ the app you choose comes from.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

Describe the design and purpose of the app you selected. Begin by looking at the app overall and think about what primary task the app has been created to help users achieve. Identify the overarching goal you believe the app was created for. Also discuss the design elements that lead you to draw this conclusion. Think about what the app looks like and how that signifies to users what the app will enable them to do$.$

Identify the user needs that the app is designed to address. You should identify at least three needs the app helps users address. Each app$$s overall purpose, which you have already looked at$,$ is supported by smaller tasks a user can do within the app. For example, a maps app may have the overall goal of providing location information to a user. This might be supported by how it identifies local restaurants or offers directions from one address to another via varying pathways. Think about the following questions as you craft your response:

What users does this app serve?

What might a user want to accomplish with this app?

How does the app support those user goals?

Is the app trying to persuade a user to take an action?

What is the app$$s business objective?

Explain what specific features the app has tailored to meet its users$$ needs. After you have thought about the user needs that the app addresses, look at the design elements or features which were created to support them. Ask yourself, are there clear buttons that allow users to take actions? Does the screen$$s layout allow users to effectively navigate content? Think about all the smaller details that make up the app$$s interface and consider how those individual components operate in a way that is effective for users.

Discuss what user information would be helpful for an app developer to know before designing. The analysis you just completed relied on assumptions about who the user is$,$ but the app developer would need to have a much more detailed concept of the user based on research and data. If you were the one responsible for designing the app you selected, what information would you want to know about your users$$ goals, needs, and experiences?