Test. Test. Test.
Whenever we were stuck on a design decision or an assumption, no amount of debating by ourselves seemed to help. Simply showing it to a third person or an unbiased potential user always cleared it out. That’s the beauty of UX. We design for users and users are everywhere, its simply a matter of approaching them and getting feedback. It took us a while to realize, however (hahaha).
Break down information
Whenever there is a complex concept or piece of information that seems almost impossible to simplify to present to the user, always break it down. Questioning our understanding by asking What is it? What does it mean? then using tools liked flow charts and mind maps to represent the information helped us make good architectural decisions and build a smooth system.
Don’t be afraid to try new tools
Microsoft’s Good Notes on the iPad is a great tool in early-stage wireframing. Although I was reluctant to try it as first because I was so used to doing it on pen and paper, I eventually realized its benefits. Thanks to its infinite canvas, I didn’t have to worry about having to squeeze in my task flows onto a single piece of paper. I could erase and re-draw as many times as I liked. I could re-size, copy-paste, delete elements from the wireframes as I pleased. It was the same process as with pen and paper but with total freedom, efficiency, and 10 times faster! Its collaboration features helped us immensely during the COVID lock down.
Bringing an idea to life is liberating
I had the idea for Rakugoi for several years now. Procuring the music licenses, setting up back end infra, scaling to multiple languages, it seemed like a mammoth task and I just told myself that it would be too complex. When I started learning design, I told my mentor about it and he said “Don’t worry about the complexities of implementation, just design it! Implementation comes later”. It felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulder and I thought “Oh yeah, that’s right. Let’s start with the design”.
That simple conversation led to undertaking this project on a subject I was very passionate about. It opened up many opportunities for me. I got a chance to present the App design to the director of The Japan Foundation in India, members of the Japanese Teacher’s association in Bangalore. I received great feedback and opportunities to collaborate and explore the use of music to teach Japanese to students. I look forward to the day Rakugoi is available for download on the app store.