Printt: a digital printing app

Overview

Printt was an online platform that provided printing solutions for students. The service was initially targeted at providing free printing for students through advertising. Reflecting on business growth, the startup wishes to expand the market towards the general public in 2020. My role was to redesign Printt’s app to match the new business and user requirements while working together with developers in implementing what was technically feasible. I was involved in the end-to-end process from testing to launch.

Define

Business requirements & user target

The previous business model offered free printing for students through sponsored vouchers and deals at the bottom of the printed documents. There were two services: Nearby printing and Delivery. Nearby was a self-serve printing where students could print documents at a nearby printer location (student accommodations). Delivery, as the name suggests, shipped documents directly to customers.

The new requirements are:

• A complete remodel from free printing to paid printing scheme

• Nearby printing is renamed to Printt Now and will be available in public locations such as Post Offices and shops

• Delivery will have the convenience of express shipping

• Adding Click & Collect service that allows people to print and pick up their documents at nearby stores. It will also come with more detailed printing options, such as paper types and binding

The user target is not only students anymore but also the general public.

Research

Testing the previous app design to identify usability issues through informal interviews with 5 Kingston University students. Overall, participants understood the two main services and had no major issues in using the app. They also found the app to be quite intuitive and straightforward. However, there were some minor technical problems.

Wireframes

Testing

My role at Printt was to advocate the importance of user experience design. This means, communicating the importance of validating design decisions. Being the sole designer in the company, it was not an easy task. Involving the team to participate in the interviews helped to convince the value of the process.

Three (3) rounds of informal tests were performed with 5 participants for each. Though Delivery and Click & Collect flows were quite straightforward for users, Printt Now was not as easy. People struggled to grasp the idea of scanning a printer to release a print job. Our assumption is that the concept of scan-to-print is still relatively new. Some of the most popular questions asked were “Where is the printer?”, and “Do I need to download a QR scanner app?“ After a few iteration processes, we managed to have a 100% success rate for the Printt Now flow.

Prototype

Printt went for a complete rebranding, thanks to Fin London had helped to design the new brand identity and marketing strategy. The new logo reflects sustainability and user-friendliness. We also decided to “humanize” the brand using personalized illustrations throughout the app. The purpose was to create an enjoyable printing experience. “Cold” or “frustrating” are often associated with the printing experience. The dog was the first thought that came to mind when thinking about joy or happiness. Therefore we created a dog mascot that everyone would love.

Students get access to student benefits such as discounts and limited free pages. To differentiate between student and non-student users, we added an identity verification process. The first step is to upload a student ID card and then wait to be verified. We did a couple of iterations after testing the prototype with 5 students. The problem was the lack of understanding of why someone needed to do a verification process in the first place. As much as this can be solved via the design interface, Printt will also try to communicate it through advertising and marketing campaigns.

Learnings

Reflecting on the project, there are a few things I’d done differently:

• Validate often: test early and frequently

• Data-driven: measure usability quantitatively using data analytics

• Communicate better: communicate design rationale through empathy toward users and also team members