Problem Statement
The goal of this project was to create a design that facilitates the scheduling of services between a consumer (the hirer) and a supplier (the hiree). Suppliers should have the ability to offer and post services, while consumers can schedule and book these services. The way in which scheduling occured was up to the designers. The design process is explained below, followed by the resulting design.
Design Process
Team members created designs individually and convened with the group in order to consolidate design ideas. The team then created a mock-up of the design. In-class design reviews were conducted and subsequent feedback was utilized in order to revamp the design. Final designs are shown below, and all were created in the design tool Mockplus.
Concept of Operations
This design is centered around the idea of having access to a supplier's schedule, only when access is requested and granted. Two potential cases may arise for users when locating a new service. These two instances are outlined below.
Design Overview
The home page operates as a news feed for the user where they can scroll through their upcoming weeks of appointments. Any supplier that the consumer has favorited will show up on this news feed, when the button is checked, so that consumers can quickly book them without needing to go through a full search.
If the consumer wants to search for a new supplier or service they are navigated to this page after clicking the blue button at the bottom of the home page. They have the option to just enter a query in the search bar, or if they have a specific date in mind they can perform a more specific search. To protect the privacy of the suppliers, the general times of "morning," "afternoon," and "evening" are provided.
Searching will yield the above search results that can be sorted by name (A-Z), price (low to high), and rating (high to low). One can edit their search dates/times through the edit button or change their search criteria in the search bar. The return to my schedule button provides an easy escape back to the consumer's home page.
Once a particular person's service is selected, a consumer is guided to the following page. This information page provides the same information as the previous page, but with additional information and the ability for actually requesting service. Additional information includes a more detailed job description and reviews. These were incorporated so that a user can determine if the current selection meets their needs and see if previous consumers enjoyed their service, respectively. If a consumer decides that they may want this new service, they can utilize the buttons to communicate with the provider. The message button incorporates the ablity to connect the consumer to the supplier via the soon-to-be chat functionality in order to recieve more information about the job. Request schedule will allow consumers to ask suppliers for access to their schedule. By pressing that button, the screen on the top right pops up and prompts the user to put in information about themselves and how they heard about the service. Providing the adequate amount of information about oneself can help build trust between consumer and supplier in order to allow a supplier to feel comfortable in sharing their schedule. However, someone who has already been favorited by the consumer (designated by yellow star on their photo) will have different button options-message, reschedule, and rebook. The message button has the same functionality as before--guidance to chat. Reschedule allows a consumer to reschedule a current scheduled service to another time and rebook allows a consumer to schedule a new time with the supplier altogether. Lastly, the "Return to my Schedule" button and "Return to Search Results" button allow for easy navigation to previous pages.
The supplier home page is very similar to that of the consumer home page (scrolling, looks, and calendar wise). In this scenario, already confirmed bookings as well as requested bookings are visible on the home page. From the home screen, suppliers can confirm requested bookings. Suppliers also have the ability to create a new listing of their services from this page.
Suppliers will recieve schedule requests and service requests within this messages tab. They can click for more information and confirm/deny the requests. The message tab incorporates a chat feature within the applcation. Consumers will also recieve notifications upon the response of a supplier to requests.
A supplier can click the yellow button at the bottom of the home screen and is directed to create a new service listing. They have the option to enter a title and a short description. When they click on the "Date" box a calendar pop-up appears that mimics the calendar seen on the home screen. If the click on the "Time" box a pop-up appears which allows the user to slide and expand the bar to select the time range they desire. There is also the option to add a specific cost for the listing. If the supplier chooses to make the listing public, the specific times they listed will be searchable. If they select "Share with Favorites" it will show up on the home page of anyone who has that supplier listed as a favorite which allows a consumer to quickly book them in the future.
