Overview
Minimal is an application inspired by Minimalism and “Danshari” lifestyle in Japan. Minimalism is a lifestyle focuses on simplicity. By getting rid of unused and rarely used items and learning how to arrange the room, minimalism allows young people to have a more spacious and airy living space in the middle of an expensive city. The follower of this lifestyle makes as few decisions as possible and only decides on important issues that require lots of thought and reasoning. They also live scientifically and have a stable schedule.
I'm inspired because as a creative person, I don't have much time to waste on trivial matters like what to eat and wear every day. My creative work requires a great deal of energy.
In this sense, this application was designed to support users who live a minimalist lifestyle by supporting them in living in a simple way, consistent with their lifestyle, and use their energy in the right manner.
Emphasize
Understand the user's behavior is essential for any application. I created an empathy map where I imagined myself as a user having problem with materialism and from there, brainstorming and noted down any idea, thoughts, says, actions and feelings to clarify the user pain points and motivations.
.png)
Design Solution
The design process firstly come from visual elements. They must represent spirit, meaning of minimalism.
Mood board
I started off with a mood board with many related photos that could inspire the design on the way. Then a branding style guide is created based on the mood board combining with the understanding from empathy map. It includes colors palette, font choices, logo variations and icons.
.png)
Style Guide
The main typeface is Poppins, and the paragraph typeface is Lato. This is a simple sans-serif font that can be downloaded from Google Fonts library. A simple design, determining the minimalism, calming the user with its minimalist feel. A cement gray, dark yellow, mint green and soil yellow color palette is aligned with the brand identity. The colors in the interface represent a natural mood.
.png)
Wireframes design
Initially, I tried to simplify navigation as much as possible to eliminate confusion. By focusing on MINIMALISM, the app will not be complex by any means. All through the whole user flow, the spirit is still well-matched to the brand identity.
.png)
Mock-up design version 1.0
The first mock-up combine all main points from wireframes + style guide and user flow process.
the menu bar is the most important component to the user because it allows navigation of the app without hesitation and confusion. They can switch from any feature page they want.
Task management feature displays high priority tasks with red color to warn user about the deadline.
Sleeping management feature helps user to manager their sleeping time and quality.
However, to make sure the UI and UX match user demands, I decided to test it out with 5 selected users to see how they think and progress the application.
.png)
Mock-up design version 2.0
Feedback from users suggested that the menu navigation bar was too crowded, which caused confusion.
In addition, some said they needed more detailed support from any feature that helps them live a minimalist lifestyle.
⇒ In response to feedbacks, I designed the second version of the menu navigation bar and improved usability and accessibility.
The menu bar items reduced from 6 to 4 only → eliminated confusion.
The bedroom manager feature provide additional step for user to control the amount of items they want to keep in their room.
Working routine management has extra step to set up timer helping user to stay focus on their tasks.
.png)
PrototypeFinal thoughts
In the end of the day, the application is just a practice of myself to improve and get a sense of how an app should be designed in a way that pleased and solved user problems. There are a lot more space to improve from this version.
I am still debating and planing to do more testing on this final version to get more valued feedback in order to make adjustments for this app.
I still feel the impact of that experience on my career today. Furthermore, I gained a deeper understanding of user interface and became more acquainted with product creation. It was beyond my expectations how much effort and sacrifice goes into creating a new product. A product is only truly alive once it has made its way into the world and become "alive."