SOCIAL COMMUNITIES
This project was created out of the requirement for users to have a place to create, share, and discuss content on a moderated platform. It included a membership list, community invitations, forums, ratings, and moderator tools. The requirement also called for a place to manage and view social communities.
USER RESEARCH SUMMARY
The user research for this project was largely based around organization of information and iconography. Through the use of A/B testing and usability lab studies, I sought to answer questions such as: Does nested text in a forum constitute a reply to an end user? Is it preferable to see most recent posts first, or to move through a post history oldest to newest? Do users understand a flag as a globally recognized moderation icon?
COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
The community management page was deigned to allow users an at a glance experience to discern what communities they are members of or own. A search function is display foremost to browse through a large number of communities quickly. Each community card was designed with the most relevant information first (title and type).
COMMUNITY LANDING PAGE
The community landing page was designed for a more detailed view of a specific community. The user is presented with a customize-able banner image, with the community description, join/leave/invite button, and community rating prominently displayed. Users can move through the various tabs to view blogs, files, etc.
PROJECT LESSONS LEARNED
This project was an interesting lesson in forum formatting and globally recognized iconography. Users had a difficult time in choosing between a forum with an email format (most recent first) and a forum with a more context based format (oldest first). Users recognize flags as flagging a post but are are unsure of if the flag is for moderation or for something else. Tooltips alleviated the latter pain point.