Portfolio 〉Approachable Complexity
Re-imagining Repeats: Exposing the power of a feature while making it more user-friendly
Product:
OmniFocus - A power "Get Things Done" To-Do app for Mac & iOSUsers:
Current power users who need for flexibility with repeating tasks, new users who may be overwhelmed with complex functions at firstGoal:
Redesign the "repeat tasks" functionality to be both more user friendly for new users, and support more complex custom repeats for 'Power Users'
Design Challenge
Setting up a repeating task in OmniFocus is one of the apps most powerful features. In this "To Do" app, users have the ability not only to have a task show up again after it's completed - they can also select custom time frame for that reappearance like "The 2nd Saturday of the Month" or have the task reappear at a set interval, whether it was checked off previously, or not.
For OmniFocus 3, one of the design goals was to make the interface of the repeats feature less intimidating to new users, while surfacing the flexibility of the feature. The new interface needed to accommodate existing functionality as well new options.
Process, Findings & Insights
- Reviewed existing user feedback and older proposed solutions around this functionality
- Crafted wireframes of a proposed solution and met with engineering and product to refine concepts
- Worked with team to create lo-fi paper protypes to test concepts before investing engineering time
- Made revisions based on user test sessions
I started by going over the existing UI, looking closely at some previous proposed design revisions for this feature, and reading over user feedback. I gathered a complete list of possible repeat options that the interface needed to support, and examined what some other apps with similar needs were doing.
After sketching, and then moving into OmniGraffle to create some more detailed mockups of how a user might move through the interface, I met with several members of the OmniFocus team to discuss and iterate on my proposed solution.
Design document showing how each setting would reveal additional controls as needed.
When we felt confident in our direction I worked closely with the Test team to create paper prototypes from my mockups, and ran a handful of user observation sessions to evaluate our design, before any code had been written.
A user observation session script, and paper prototypes of the new interface
Our sessions with users both validated my general design direction, and provided insights into where the design could be strengthened. I made additional changes to the layout and wording, in reaction to these sessions, and the designs were implemented by the development team.
Solution & Outcomes
- A more approachable repeat function was easier to understand for new users
- Increased power and functionality was progressively revealed to power users as needed
The resulting design progressively reveals functionality as needed, while surfacing enough detail up front to provide users with the context they need to understand each control.
This brought even more flexibility to OmniFocus' many "power users" while at the same time helping to onboard new users in a more approachable way.
iOS Before and After the redesign - settings were made less intimidating by presenting easier choices first
Why I Liked This Project
I enjoyed this project, not only for the complexity and opportunity to re-imagine the standard date picker interface options out there, but also for the chance to work with the Test team to paper prototype and check our designs during user observation sessions.