Enhancing a photo service

At comic conventions, getting a  photo op, or photo opportunity with one of your favorite celebrities is one of the highlights. I was able to work with a company that has enhanced the experience where a customer can pick up their colored 8x10 photograph within minutes after taking it.  I was asked to attend an event, in order to observe the employees in action, review the application and determine various ways they could improve their applications and two-way communication between the photographers, sales people and technicians.

User Research

Over the course of a two day event, I spent time observing and interviewing all the various team members. In addition, I spent time using the technician tool, sales tool, talking to customers before they took a photo and after when they picked it up, and listening to the communication between the teams on the two-way radios.

Sketches

During breaks from interviews, I sketched different ideas based on their issues and immediately got some feedback. This allowed me to toss out ideas right away and make iterations based on their feedback. 

Documenting user requirements

By the end of the two-day event, I had documented all of my sketches and notes into an online document, organized by usability findings, feature requests, user scenarios and an interactive prototype. 

Prototype

Finally, using Axure and screenshots of the existing system, I created an interactive prototype that I could test with the various team members and refine with their feedback. 

Results

The team members were very excited to show their work to the owners and developers of the application. They felt they were finally able to communicate what they were trying to express to the team. The business owners and developers were excited to have a list of enhancements vetted with their team in order to determine which features to move forward with.

And I got to meet a few celebrities and have a great weekend.