Chris Luu joined our UX Project with ThanksBox.co. On this project Chris embarked on a 9 week journey to learn the fundamentals of User Experience design while working on a live client project.
Who are ThanksBox?
ThanksBox.co are a UK startup that have seen phenomenal growth since launching in 2015. With a goal to improve the working lives of 1 million people by December 2020, their vision is to help organisations create exceptional places to work.
The project UX design brief objective
The project brief objective set out for each student was to enhance the user experience of the Thanksbox.co platform to improve their customer’s employee engagement. Read on to follow Chris Luu's journey to solve this UX design challenge and what he learnt through the process.
Week 1
In week 1’s workshop, the team of students got together to introduce themselves and get to know each other. All workshops are facilitated by Harness Project mentors who are senior industry practitioners in their field.
Week 2
In week 2, the team got to meet their client stakeholder who was involved throughout the project. Steve Wikeley, Product Designer of ThanksBox.co was on the video workshop to greet the students and answers questions on the project brief he had set for them. This workshop was a great opportunity for Chris and the other students to practice their interview techniques and dive deeper into the project brief.
This was a critical part of the design thinking process where students were trained to let go of any preconceptions and approach the brief and design challenge with curious minds.
Weeks 3 - 6
In weeks 3-5, the students completed research with customers and formed research reports based on the insights they uncovered. After completing a series of 1-on-1 interviews to understand the motivations, pain points and beliefs of the ThanksBox target audience, Chris put together draft Personas named Jennifer & Robbie. Personas are a unified or stereotypical view of a particular audience segment. Chris saw that there were at least 2 distinct segments reflected in Jennifer and Robbie.
Weeks 7 - 9
After extensive research and discovery, Chris moved into the solution design phase for this project in weeks 7-9.
Students were provided a free 3-month subscription to UXPin to begin their wireframe and prototyping designs. Here Chris shares his in progress wire-frame with the rest of the student group and mentor to receive feedback.
Week 9
In week 9, Chris and the rest of the student group are given 15 minutes to pitch their research-based UX designed solution to their client Steve Wikeley from ThanksBox. Below is a snippet during an intermission where Chris’ mentor Yummii provided him feedback on his presentation progress.
Graduation
After 9 weeks of solid effort the team celebrate! The rewards of completing their first UX project is palpable and they now have a great foundation to move forward into the world of user experience design.
Outcome
At the conclusion of the project, Chris was assessed for the skills he demonstrated during the 9 week project. These were certified and co-signed by Harness Projects and ThanksBox.co to acknowledge the great work he achieved on the project.
Follow Chris’ footsteps and check out our upcoming Career Launcher projects
