How might we help Millennials & Gen Z

1.
Meet expectations
when giving gifts?

2.
Brainstorm
suitable gifts for others?

3.
Save time & effort
planning gifts?

B²Gift

Utilitarian App for Reducing Mental Load related to Gift Giving during Birthdays (Proof of Concept)

UX Designer, UX Researcher
Prototype, Presentation
Feb 2023 - Apr 2023
Figma, Photoshop

Role:
Deliverables:
Time Frame:
Tools:

Gift giving can invoke happiness,
but it can also invoke stress.

Research Findings

Based off findings from user research and competitor research, I narrowed the project scope to reducing the burden of gift-giving during birthdays and determined the most common users of a direct competitor to be aged between 18 - 34 years old.

Motivations for Gift-Giving

  1. Make the gift recipient feel happy

  2. Make the gift recipient feel better

  3. Love & Affection

  4. Appreciation

  5. Reciprocation

  6. Pressure to meet expectations

Pain Points of Gift-Giving

  1. Ideating & Brainstorming

  2. Taking too much time planning

  3. Not being able to anticipate the gift recipient's response

Methods for Planning Gifts

  1. Noting down the gift recipient's preferences, interests, needs, stage in life

  2. Searching online

  3. Keeping a running list of "hit" gifts

  4. Sharing a wish list

Personas

Feature Exploration

Lo-Fidelity Wireframes

After conducting competitor research,
I compiled a shortlist of potential features for B²Gift:

Profile

discloses preferences, interests, & needs,
helping users better meet expectations

Gift Wish List

serves as a gift registry,
saving users the time & effort
needed to come up with gift ideas

Birthday Calendar

provides reminders for upcoming birthdays,
helping users determine
how much time is needed to plan

Gift History

track gifts given & received,
allowing users to pinpoint
the most well-received types of gifts

Task Flow

Usability Test Results

  • Task Success Rate: 100% (met success metric of 75%)

  • Avg. Time on Task: 9 minutes (did not meet success metric of 2 minutes)

  • Participants: 5 individuals (aged between 22 - 34 years old)

Design Patterns & Branding

Because birthdays are recurring celebratory events that often involve multiple parties,
I determined that designing a peer-to-peer application would be an effective approach to the problems defined through the user interviews I conducted with 5 individuals aged between 22 and 34 years old
(the core demographic of a direct competitor).

Therefore, I referenced design patterns common in social media platforms such as Twitter and Youtube.

Lo-Fidelity Wireframe

During usability testing, participants expressed their delight in
seeing pill buttons and progress bars throughout their user journey.

Pill Buttons

increase readability &
approachability!

←

Hi-Fidelity Wireframe

Progress Bars

encourage users to
continue taking actions!

←

Hi-Fidelity Wireframe

In order to ease the stress of gift giving, I focused B²Gift’s branding around cheerful, celebratory feelings.

I used primary colors, sans serif typeface (NTR), and pop art imagery.

And to help users to feel bold and confident in their decision making, I used boldfaced font for the logomark.

Color Palette

Logomark

Typography

Graphics

Feedback & Major Learnings

01

Usability Test Participants enjoyed being provided visual feedback for confirmations and multiple choices!

However, too many options can also burden rather than lighten users’ mental load.

02

Color and graphics are high impact opportunities for delight.