Squadron
AI-powered Productivity App - Case Study
This was the fifth project in Ironhack Berlin’s bootcamp, performed individually for one week.
- UX/UI Design, Product Design
- Figma
- November 2024
You can also read the Medium article here.
The Brief
Objective
For this project in particular, we received a brief with a pre-existing User Persona and Research Insights.
The brief reads as follows:
Develop a prototype for an AI-driven personal assistant that helps users manage their time and schedule effectively. The assistant should use AI to predict task priorities, offer personalized recommendations, and employ Conversational UX to allow users to interact through voice commands for seamless time management.
User Persona & Problem Statement
After the research, we crafted a User Persona to further empathize with our potential audience.
John Park
Project Manager, 39 years
- Tech-Savviness: Moderate
- Location: Urban, primarily works from home
Bio
John is a project manager overseeing multiple teams and deadlines, often juggling a packed schedule with little room for error. He frequently uses productivity tools but struggles to keep track of priorities and feels overwhelmed by the amount of information he has to process daily. John is looking for a smart solution that can help him organize tasks, prioritize effectively, and remind him of critical deadlines without needing to constantly check multiple apps.
Bio
John is a project manager overseeing multiple teams and deadlines, often juggling a packed schedule with little room for error. He frequently uses productivity tools but struggles to keep track of priorities and feels overwhelmed by the amount of information he has to process daily. John is looking for a smart solution that can help him organize tasks, prioritize effectively, and remind him of critical deadlines without needing to constantly check multiple apps.
Needs & Goals 
- Assistance with prioritizing tasks based on deadlines and project importance.
- A hands-free way to manage his schedule through voice commands.
- Timely notifications about upcoming tasks and deadlines to prevent surprises.
- Integration with his existing calendar and task management tools to maintain continuity.
Frustrations 💥
- Difficulty in prioritizing tasks across different projects and deadlines.
- Getting overwhelmed by notifications that are not always relevant or timely.
- Switching between different apps and tools, which takes time and adds complexity.
Existing Research Insights
Value in Task Prioritization
Users appreciate when the assistant proactively suggests which tasks should be prioritized based on deadlines and project significance. This helps them stay focused on the most important tasks.
Preference for Hands-Free Interaction
Users often prefer voice commands to manage tasks when on the go or when multitasking. This allows them to set reminders, add tasks, or check schedules without needing to stop what they are doing.
Relevance of Notifications
Users want notifications that are contextually relevant, such as reminders only for high-priority deadlines or urgent tasks, rather than frequent generic reminders.
Integration with Existing Productivity Tools
Users value a time management solution that integrates seamlessly with the tools they already use, such as Google Calendar or Microsoft To-Do, to avoid duplicating effort.
The Approach
Having in mind the time constraints and the pre-existing research insights, I decided to move forward ideating a solution with a Hypothesis-based approach.
Hypothesis
People tend to personify computer-based solutions when seeking a solution to a problem.
Therefore, users value AI assistant tools that feel human, mimicking a team interaction.
At this point, we can say that the solution should be:
Easy to Assimilate
People intuitively solve issues and complex tasks by working among peers or leading a team.
User-Friendly above Practical
There is already a huge pool of digital solutions that offer practicality and performance. But are they user-friendly enough to appeal to the end user?
Low to Medium Tech-Savviness Oriented
An expert user is invested in sorting out the best solutions for their productivity needs. For the sake of this project, we should focus on the User Persona‘s existing skillset.
Ideation
I decided to come up with a creative approach:
If users value a personified AI solution for productivity, let’s offer them an AI team of Personas instead!
Naturally, a team would consist of specialized individuals focusing on a set of tasks each. This would mean that, instead of “summoning” a very powerful AI and asking it for help with our to-do’s, they could manage a team of skilled and reliable AI “squad members” to help them with a myriad of tasks!
Sitemap
Your AI Team 🤖
- View Team Members
- Open Chat
- Link to Apps
- Voice Commands
- Add/ Remove Team Member
Overview 🏠
- Search Bar
- Reminders
- WIDGETS
- Calendar
- Current Tasks
- Email Overview
Profile 👤
- Settings
- Preferences
- Notifications
- Privacy
- Manage linked Accounts
- Manage AI permissions
- Sign Out
- Delete Account
The Solution
Prototype
I created an iOs App prototype to test it among people who could relate to John, our previously mentioned User Persona. As a touch of originality, I decided to give the prototype the name “Squadron”.
You can view the Figma prototype here.
Overview Page
The initial screen, set up with quick start reminders and widgets.
- Reminders: your Squad Members will give you a heads-up on suggested actions, based on their field and user’s previous input.
- Calendar widget: The user can visualize, at a glance, how their schedule is looking like. Adaptable between daily/ weekly/ monthly.
- Emails widget: a quick visualization of different email accounts, labeled for different purposes.
Squad Page
Visualize your current Squad Members.
- Add or remove Squad Members.
- Scroll and explore possible interactions with your Squad.
- Read small messages as your Squad’s quotes.
Squad Chat Page
Directly interact with your Squad Member in a chat.
- Write them about your tasks and to-do’s.
- The Squad Member will detect any task they can help you with and offer assistance.
- Permission prompts to assure permissions are authorized before continuing.
Profile Page
Review the settings and permissions.
- Linked Accounts: review which accounts are being integrated in the app.
- Squad Permissions: review which Squad Member has which permission.
Concept Testing
I tested the prototype with users that could relate to John Park, the previously mentioned User Persona.
Angelo
Corporate Banking, 34 years
- Tech-Savviness: Moderate
- Location: Urban, home-office
- The prototype doesn’t feel very serious nor improvised – but it makes sense to me.
- I understand I can create specific bots for specific tasks.
- I like the calendar widget.
- Finances is mostly about data tracking. Therefore, it would work for me.
- I think I would add an AI lifestyle assistant too.
Vered
Project Management, 32 years
- Tech-Savviness: High
- Location: Urban, Office
- The name makes a lot of sense to me, but feels masculine/ military.
- I like the idea of AI avatars.
- The UI is easy to understand.
- I would like to see if I could arrange different bots to work on a single project simultaneously.
The Takeaways
Key Learnings
Keeping in mind that this is a project with educational purposes, I can say I learned a lot regarding the value of empathizing with the user, time management and adaptability skills.
- Empathy is key: empathizing with the user is fundamental when designing an experience.
- Time management: I learnt a lot about how to be faster at prototyping in this project.
- Fail fast, take notes, repeat: good UX Design comes from testing, we need to learn from mistakes to improve the user experience.
Conclusion
It was very exciting to prototype the solution, working in a high-pressure scenario due to the deadline.
I feel that it is necessary for us as UX/UI Designers to be mindful about time constraints and requisites to best apply our design potential and satisfy the user’s and stakeholder’s needs.
Although this is just an educational project, I think this would take more relevance in a work-related situation.
All in all, I was glad that my classmates and the teacher liked the outcome and the presentation I did in class. I am also happy the way I concisely presented the project and connected with the audience.
