MOULTRIE MOBILE
Throughout my summer at Moultrie Mobile, I worked on a UX research study for a core app feature, and prototyped camera sharing feature.
ROLE
UX Intern
CLIENT
Moultrie Mobile
DURATION
June 2023 - Aug 2023
SUMMARY
While working at Moultrie Mobile, I learned from fellow UX Designers and a Product Manager that there’s one issue that’s been bugging them for a while: the app's device settings page.
Moultrie Mobile offers a monthly subscription-based service, where users on a plan can remotely access photos and video from their cellular cameras through their phone app.
The app’s device settings page enables users to control camera behavior, such as adjusting PIR (Passive Infrared sensor) sensitivity, upload frequency, and photo detection delay.
Device settings is central to the app's user experience, frequently being the root cause of unfavorable App Store reviews that cite issues such as cameras draining battery, receiving too many photos, not seeing the photos after the camera takes them, etc.
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UPLOAD FREQUENCY CONFUSION
RESEARCH GOAL
I devised a research plan to assess users' understanding of camera settings and how these settings impact battery and image capture — aiming at identifying effective strategies to enhance the user experience and address any shortcomings in the camera settings page.
1
How users determine their camera settings
3
Uncover the pain points users ecnountered
2
Assess user's understanding of Settings terminologies
4
Assess the information architecture of the settings page according to user prioritization
METHOD & RESULT
We send out 500 emails to a selected list of existing users, specifically those who recently called customer service for settings problems. I created recruitment emails, the studies were conducted remotely through Microsoft Teams.
The study was a directed story telling session followed by semi-formal interview. Participants were asked to recount the last time they had trouble with device settings page. They were also asked to give their best definition for terminologies on the existing interface.
I conducted 10 directed storytelling sessions over two weeks.
65%
of participants had an inaccurate definition for terminologies like motion detection and PIR settings
70%
of participants would like recommended settings as a reference point to aid their decision-making.
60%
of participants can self-identify as wanting to optimize based on: minimize data usage
An overwhelming majority of participants mentioned trial and error as how they currently learned about what each setting does.
HOW CURRENT USERS
LEARN ABOUT SETTINGS
1
Trial and Error
"I learned how they work by just playing around with it and looking at the settings." -- P5
2
Moultrie Mobile Website
"I look at device manual and online resources to learn about how these work" -- P3
3
Youtube/other online resources
"I occasionally do a google search on features and how they work" -- P7
4
Device Manuals
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
FEATURE SUGGESTIONS
I pitched two feature suggestions to a room of product managers and senior developers.
#1. Incorporating tips to give user available information within the settings page. In addition, Moultrie Mobile website should include
season-based tips.
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#2 Created preset settings according to optimization preferences identified through the research.
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Leading the research process from start to finish was a fun and challenging experience.
Through talking with participants I learned core user's goals that helps me to put their thoughts in context of their larger goals, like monitoring property.
Considering naming conventions from the user's perspective is crucial.
Working with a relatively older user group, improving legibility and ensuring the ease of navigation are both important. I would anticipate the process of refining terminology continues to be a relevant problem, and the current naming convention of terminologies can be methodically assessed through Maze tests.
TAKEAWAYS
PROJECT II
CAMERA SHARING
SUMMARY
While working at Moultrie Mobile, I was responsible for prototyping camera sharing, a beta MVP feature. Users can select cameras and share that camera’s images with additional Moultrie Mobile users.
Sharing a camera’s images has been requested of Moultrie Mobile repeatedly for years. Competitors enable sharing in various forms.
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
We conducted a preliminary study to learn the reality of account sharing. Sharing gallery would lose its value if users were comfortable with simply their account and passwords with friends and family.
Result shows that sharing with friends can be a problem as Moultrie Mobile accounts often contain sensitive information such as bank cards.
We talked to 3 expert users and initiated a meeting with a room of developers to the feasibility of what could be achieved.
LO-FI WIREFRAMES
The task flow help us scope the project with MVP requirements in mind.
I was responsible for prototyping the gallery sharing flow (shown below), while another UX designer on the team was responsible for gallery view.
I then recreated icons and additional UI elements for the camera-sharing page to ensure all the new components were in line with the existing design system.
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After using a couple internal design jams to gather feedback and make revisions, I translated the screens to high-fidelity designs.
HIGH FIDELITY DESIGN
USER FIND CAMERA SHARING FEATURE ON ACCOUNT PAGE
USER CAN VIEW LIST AND ADD A NEW GUEST
ADD NEW GUEST - SHARED CAMERA SELECTION
SHARED CAMERA SELECTION
ADD NEW GUEST - ENTER GUEST EMAIL
SUCCESS
VIEW SHARED WITH ME
TAKEAWAYS
Anticipating the future use case of specific components can be challenging. Especially when new design concepts create new scenarios that might not align with the conventional or anticipated usage patterns. Oftentimes I would come to an idea and realize, oh that would be a new component that we don't yet have.
To address this, the practice of documenting edge case additions becomes important. Having documentation allows designers and developers to proactively prepare for unforeseen challenges.
DOCUMENTED THE SNACK BAR COMPONENT
