MailBuddy
Mobile app for all your shipment and delivery needs.
Why is shipping and delivering packages complicated for UC Berkeley Students?
Shipping packages can time consuming and inconvenient. The process has many steps including: printing labels, collecting materials, and going to a mailing center.
For Berkeley students, the process of shipping or returning packages can feel like it’s not worth it. Students often don’t have easy access to materials or information on where to go. Additionally, students struggle finding time to complete the necessary steps to ship a package.
User Research Insights
My team interviewed 9 UC Berkeley students, four live on campus and five live off campus. We gathered their feedback from the following key questions:
- How would you describe shipping mail as a student at Berkeley?
- How accessible are the materials and locations needed to ship a package?
- Have you ever wanted to ship a package but decided not to because of obstacles?
- Can you walk me through your steps from your last shipping experience?
Quotes from the interviews:
"It is hard for me to access a printer to create shipping labels."
"I found it inconvenient to have to walk packages all the way to the post office to be shipped out."
"It's a hassle trying to purchase all the materials needed to ship something out, and becomes another inconvenient expense out of my pocket."
User Persona
Meg | Senior at UC Berkeley | 21 years old
Meg is a full time student at UC Berkeley. She is creating a small business in her apartment and sends packages weekly. She is frustrated with her mail services and wishes that this process could be easier and more reliable, so she can keep her business up and running efficiently. She expects efficient ways to print many labels and to be able to ship out many packages as fast as possible.
Core Needs/Goals:
- Create shipping labels easily
- Send out packages efficiently
- Have a reliable location to send/receive packages through
- Maximize her small business' ability to send out orders
Motivations:
- Price
- Reliability
- Convenience
Ideation: Convergent Thinking
1. Delivery Service App: an app for the Berkeley area that all delivery companies can use to alert students of where to drop off their packages. They can also provide pre-paid labels that will be printed before arrival at the select location.
2. Campus Resources: the campus provides a one stop location for students to access all of their shipping needs. This location will send out and pick up from all mail delivery services.
3. DoorDash Package Shipments: students can access an app that runs like DoorDash for them to schedule a driver to come and pick up their package to drop off and print the shipping label for. These drivers will take packages to select drop off locations and sign for the person shipping them out.
4. Drop Boxes: students can access drop boxes that are spread all around the campus and Berkeley that allow students easier access to a drop off location. They can also request through the drop box for the label to be printed once they get to the shipment center.
5. Earning Rewards for Shipments: Students can collect a stamp card after they ship a package which will tally up to free items at the post office, or local restaurants that chip in to the idea.
I then narrowed down this list, to my top two contenders. These were the Delivery Service App and Earning Rewards for Shipments. For each of these ideas, I created a low-fidelity prototype.
Low-Fidelity Prototyping
For my low-fidelity prototypes, I constructed simple sketches on my iPad which resembled the Home Screen of the app and the stamp card for earning rewards.
Mid-Fidelity Prototyping
I decided to move forward with the Delivery Service App ideation and designed a mid-fidelity prototype for this concept. Below I have pasted my sketches of my design.
Updated Mid-Fidelity Prototype After Feedback:
Usability Testing:
After having multiple people interact with my mid-fidelity prototype, I received useful feedback from the goals and tasks I assigned all participants the following usability test:
Goals:
- Student will be able to create a shipping label
- Find shipping location
- Schedule a shipment of their package.
Tasks:
Tasks:
Use the app to complete the full process of shipping a package without having to make multiple trips to shipping centers and printing centers.
Feedback:
- How can I create an account with MailBuddy
- What happens when I press on information within settings, help, ship, etc.?
Influential Quotes:
Influential Quotes:
- “I feel like I would use this app a lot. It definitely will save me money from those times I simply refuse to go return a package.”
- “I would love to see someone actually make this app!”
- “It has all I need in one location which is super nice. I love not having to go to a thousand
different places to get one thing done.”
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Intro to MailBuddy- create an account or login
The Home Page- expectations for each button on the first page
Explore the full prototype on Figma:
Thank you for reading!
