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Re-imagining how to share things 'Tudu' during lockdown

Freelance

2021

Social Networking

Responsive Web App

Heuristic evaluation

Summary

The Tudu (to do) app, by Todo Toronto, was created for users to create and update lists of places they've visited or plan to visit, and add personal notes and ratings. Users can make each list public or private, then share their public lists with anyone they like, regardless of whether they have Tudu accounts.

I designed the app and managed its production and rollout activities. I’ll give you a general overview of the problem space and ideation process, but I’m only going to take you through some aspects of designing the responsive web app.

The Login screen, and the home page. In the middle, the user hasn't created any lists. On the right, the user has created lists.

To create a list, the user clicks the button at the top of the screen. On the right, is a list with no items.

To add a place to a list, to edit it, or to add photos, the user clicks on the hamburger menu.

Two profile views: on the left, the active user (Mike) views another user's profile. On the right, he's viewing his profile.

On the left is the notifications panel. On the right is the panel to share a place with a user of the app.

Context

The Tudu app is a child of the Marketing company @ToDoToronto: it was created as a one-stop shop for things to do in Toronto. Local influences were the primary audience of the app. The idea was that they would use the platform to create and share itineraries of activities and places to visit in the city. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit during the app's early days.

Design

The first thing I did with the research feedback was to pull out two of our personas — Joe-Anne and Mikhail — and update them to reflect the new needs.

On the other hand, we assumed that we wouldn't be locked down forever. Therefore, any updates for the product needed to be useful in a post-pandemic world as well.

Features of the final product

The first version of the Tudu app had 7 main features:

Adding places: we integrated a Google API which allows adding any place listed on Google, anywhere in the world! Users can also add as many places as they'd like to a list.
Marking places as “visited” or if it’s an eatery (our system will recognize it) as “had takeout” because visiting a restaurant and only having takeout from it are two different experiences.
Filtering and sorting tools to help users easily find places within a list i.e., places you haven’t yet visited or arranging your list by date added.
Personal notes and rating: users may add a custom note to any place added to a list i.e., to remind them of something they enjoyed or a friend's recommendation. You may also rate each place out of 5 stars.
Multiple lists: users may create more than one list and add the same place to multiple lists.
Public and private lists: users may set lists as private: only visible to them, even when they share their profile with friends.
Sharing your Tudu profile showing all the lists set to public.

Check-in

The Pilot

Travel diary