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Key Lime Interactive

Develop a tool that helps Key Lime Interactive employees stay connected

Project Scope

  • Stakeholders: Key Lime employees (Executives, Managers, UX Researchers) 
  • Timeframe: 4 months
  • My Role: UX Researcher/Designer
  • Team: Ben Habegger, Sowmyashree Bharathan, Damaris Adeniji, Daphnee Delisha, Seoyeon Li
  • Methods: Secondary research & Primary Research, Low-fidelity Mockups, User Testing, Final Iteration & Designs 
  • Tools: Miro, Figma, Canva, Zoom, Google Meet

Problem Statement

Productivity-Centric Remote Tools

Remote tools in the pandemic prioritize productivity, leaving a gap in fostering community and employee connection.

Human Connection Deficiency
 

Key Lime Interactive notes a deficiency in addressing the human aspect of remote work. 

Need for Comprehensive Remote Solutions

The current tool landscape lacks balance, necessitating solutions that blend productivity with community-building for remote teams.

Solution

1. We created a remote collaboration environment where coworkers could connect with each other.

2. In the remote work environment, there are different rooms for various groups of individual employees.

3. This fosters the connection that was previously lacking among KeyLime Interactive's remote employees

My Role

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Role

UX Designer, Researcher, Comparative Analysis,  Ideation, Sketches,  Interviews, Prioritization Matrix, Workshop, Wireframes, low fidelity, User Testing, Prototyping

 

Methodology

Secondary Research

To gain a deeper understanding of remote work and its impact on employees, our team employed various research techniques including a literature review, comparative analysis, and social listening (monitoring online expressions relevant to our problem space). *The comparative analysis section is highlighted later in the document due to its relevance to our final designs*

We made questions to answer to guide us through our solution journey 

To gain a better understanding of our problem space, we did research of literature reivew and social listening (what social media is saying about connection within remote work settings)

Literature Review

we found that building community and engaging that community is integral to hybrid or remote-based businesses. (Harvard Business Review).

According to the Pew Research Center, “...roughly six-in-ten U.S. workers who say their jobs can mainly be done from home, (59%) are working from home all or most of the time.
 

Social Listening

Reddit users voiced that they, “...kinda miss seeing facial expressions”, as well as, “creating connections as an introvert is hard”, and, “Try and test out different kinds of remote team activities, which can be little and short interactions (no business focus). 

Twitter users took to the emphasis we put on different aspects of remote work, with user Andrew Swiler expressing his frustration with the focus being on results and work rather than personal connection.

Interview

To understand firsthand how Key Lime employees experience connection in the remote workspace, we conducted interviews with 8 employees. Our team was able to gain a broad yet targeted look into the KLI experience as our users ranged from UX Researchers to Managers at different stages in their careers and time working at KLI.

Interview Goal

1. Understand the current state of remote connection at Key Lime Interactive and identify the related user needs for KLI workers

2. Explore existing, and wanted, software & services used by KLI

3. Identify pain points in forming relationships with other colleagues

Interview Process

To facilitate our interview process, we created an interview screener. This screener serves the purpose of gathering demographic information about our stakeholders. In response to our screener, we received a total of 12 responses. This enabled us to categorize and select individuals to interview and engage in our workshop. This  allowed us to create meaningful questions aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of our problem space. 

A sample of a question that was asked in the screener

Persona

We have identified that different Key Lime employees want varying levels of connection; The majority of our interviewees voiced that connection was important to them in some capacity. As we continue to move forward it is important we design for a specific user in mind.

Meet Kayla

Kayla is a UX Researcher at Key Lime, and she is in meetings most of her work hours. Kayla feels like she's not very connected at work, and often feels isolated from working at home all the time.

Journey Map

We created a user journey map using our persona Kayla. Kayla serves at the base for our journey map, with specific quotes coming directly from our user interviews. The purpose of creating a user journey map was to help visualize pain points and identify where in a Key Lime employees workflow those problems arise.

Map Overview

  1. Kayla’s journey begins at the start of her work day, in a stand up meeting. Kayla feels un-engaged as meetings have become boring. The cameras on policy isn’t popular, and the lack of choice bothers her.

  2. Next, her client meetings follow. Kayla is mostly content in this stage as this is her job, and she expects this on a day-to-day basis. The biggest drawback to her meeting is that she is in them an astounding 60-70% of her work day.

  3. Moving into the later half of her day, Kayla begins to want connection. She is okay working heads down, but needs some interaction. Kayla expresses that, “she feels like she has been working heads down on her own little island”. This is good for focus, and she appreciates the time she gets to herself, but she feels a barrier in reaching out to a coworker to chat.

  4. As she finally reaches an opportunity for connection (Pre-Happy Hour), Kayla voices that, “It’s awkward to sit around on a call and force conversation”. 

  5. Lastly, Kayla is happy the work day is over.

Priority Matrix

Through our data analysis we formulated “How Might We” (HMW) questions to reframe problems found through Affinity Diagramming and Journey Mapping into opportunities, aiming to generate innovative solutions. We progressively refined our HMW’s based on feasibility and value, ultimately determining the significance of focusing on HMW’s that offer high impact with a moderate level of effort. 

The most feasible and valuable HMW was:

  • How might we mirror in-person (hallway) experiences to the digital space?

  • This HMW was identified through secondary and primary research data and was chosen due to its value, feasibility, and our interest in the scope.

  • We focused our workshop, ideation, and final designs on mirroring in-person connections to the digital space.
     

C-Suite Workshop

We had the opportunity to run a workshop with Key Lime Interactive’s C-Suite. Our main objectives for this workshop were to gain perspective from company leadership regarding remote work, create a space for idea generation, and leave with a solidified plan moving forward.

Participants: Company Chiefs, chairs, and/or Directors at KLI

Time: 1 Hour

Tools: Miro activities, Pencil & Paper

Activities

Mad, Sad, Glad

Time Duration: 10 minutes
Rule: Break-the-ice. What is everyone mad, sad, and glad about in relation to remote work? This should get participants thinking in the framework of our problem space.

Generated Materials​

  • Each participant, including our Purdue team, shared Mad, Sad, and Glad notes aligned with the context of remote working. Responses ranged from serious to lighthearted, providing insights into participants' feelings about remote work. Examples included concerns about communication and the freedom of not always wearing pants. This icebreaker set the tone for subsequent activities.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R

Time Duration: 20 minutes
Rule: S.C.A.M.P.E.R is an activity meant for idea generation. Each letter stands for a different way of thinking about our problem space. S is for Substitute (What would happen if we swapped X for Y?), C is for Combine (What would happen if we combined X and Y?), etc.

Generated Materials​

  • Participants brainstormed ideas for both remote and in-person work contexts, exploring substitutions and eliminations. Creative suggestions included virtual study halls for collaborative work and an AI-powered scheduler adaptation. The goal was to generate diverse and innovative ideas.

Crazy 6's

Time Duration: 10 minutes
Rule: Crazy 6’s is a way for us to get ideas onto paper. The goal is to create 6 sketches in about 6 minutes. Following our idea generation with S.C.A.M.P.E.R, Crazy 6’s allows for creativity to flow.
 

Featured Sketch

  1. Virtual Study Hall via Google Meet or some other video conferencing platform

  2. Virtual Coffee Chats

  3.  Virtual Physical Activities like Tai Chi or walks

  4.  In-person meet-ups with colleagues who live near you

  5. In-person or virtual Happy Hours w/ peers

  6. The creation of a book club where folks can meet up regularly to discuss

Low-Fidelity Mockups

With the success of our workshop and data analysis, our team moved forward to continue ideation and create low-fidelity mockups. These mockups were generated from our guiding HMW, how might we mirror in-person experiences to the digital space. 

As a team, we compared our ideation sketches to one another, pinpointing features and unique areas of value each of our designs provided. We then created one consensus design that aims at providing the most value, while staying feasible.

​

  • Calendar Integration: The ability to integrate calendars into screens.

  • Activity Room / Collaboration Room: A designated space for collaborative activities.

  • Opt-in / Opt-out: The option for users to choose their participation status.

  • QOTD (Question of the Day): A daily posed question for user engagement.

  • Notification Stream linking to Google Workspaces: A stream of notifications connected to Google Workspaces for seamless communication.

Features

This design offers a more comprehensive virtual office space while accounting for user status, calendar & bulletin board features, and provides connection to KLI’s  Google Workspace.

User Testing

To evaluate the understandability and effectiveness of our designs, our team conducted user testing with three KLI employees. This process allowed us to assess how easily our designs are understood and how well they function in real-world scenarios. Through this testing, we gather valuable insights from the users, enabling us to refine and enhance our designs for optimal usability and effectiveness. 

Insights

Takeaways

  • While only having the opportunity to test with three employees (time constraints), â…” users found at least some value in our service, and would incorporate this into their day-to-day workflow.

  • Measuring value can be difficult due to feedback like that of user 3 in contrast with users 1 and 2. Perceived value varies from user to user. It is important to keep in mind we are designing for a user like “Kayla”.​

Comparative Analysis

Our team had looked into these applications early on and subsequently revisited them when we realized it was valuable for us to do a more comprehensive dive into competing virtual office platforms

Kumospace

Kumospace aims to replicate the look of an office to offer users a resemblance of the in-person working experience.

Gather

Gather can be used for Meetings, Co-working, Game nights, Parties, and Webinars.

Takeaways

  • Virtual office spaces act as a central hub for the facilitation of connection that provides a visual appeal, and a natural, unforced way for companies to host events.

  • Although Kumospace and Gather are great solutions for connection and remote work, they don’t work in the context of Key Lime’s work environment.

Final Design

Our final designs take from all prior secondary research, primary research, data analysis, workshops, and user feedback. 

Usability Testing Changes

After conducting usability testing, our team reflected on our design and determined essential modifications that were needed including:

  • An icon labeled "You" to highlight the user's character within the interface.
    Allowing rooms to define user status.

  • Change in color scheme and other visual aspects.

  • Notification UI.

  • Switching the terminology from "ping" to "poke" due to some confusion it caused.
    Added logo signifiers for rooms instead of text.

1. Main Screen

The platform's starting point displays user icons with color-coded statuses (green for available, yellow for busy, red for do-not-disturb). Linked to Google Workspaces and calendars, these statuses update seamlessly with room changes. Icons for personal location and clear room signifiers enhance user communication.

3. Notifications

Notifications—pokes, messages, calls, or bulletin board events—trigger pop-ups with a direct link to Google Chats, Google Meets, or the bulletin board. Dismiss notifications by clicking the "x" or revisit through the bell icon on the top nav-bar.

2. Icon Hover State

Hovering over a user's icon reveals their status message: green for online, yellow for away, and red for do-not-disturb.

Additional functionalities include:

1. Poking: Indicating interest in chatting.
2. Chatting: Facilitating real-time conversations.
3. Video: Integrating Google Meet, Key Lime's primary video call platform.

4. Zoomed-In Room

Zoomed-in room view highlights our cafeteria. Entering a room changes your icon color (green or red). Inactivity turns it yellow. For instance, Kayla's icon turns green when in the cafeteria but switches to yellow after being inactive, signaling she's busy during lunch. This ensures uninterrupted breaks, visible on the dashboard for other employees.

5. Bulletin Board

KeyLime actively organizes networking events. To boost participation, we're introducing a bulletin board feature. Users can easily craft posters and RSVP for events using preset fonts and images. Notably, the board currently displays events like a Lego Building Event, a Yoga Class, and a Cat Showcase.

Clicking a poster enlarges it, revealing details. Add a new poster by clicking the plus icon. Selecting a poster highlights and enlarges it for better readability. This action unveils the RSVP button, enabling you to schedule the event in your Google calendar and navigate to a confirmation email.

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