Minimail

Overview

Minimail is a new productivity app that leverages generative AI to transform how you interact with your email inbox. It organizes your lengthy emails into bite-sized, actionable summaries and also intelligently transforms your most important information from emails into digestible info cards. Its intuitive design streamlines your email management, allowing you to focus on what truly matters. Minimail is the ultimate tool for staying organized and eliminating email overload.

In this project, I was responsible for conceptualizing the product idea, conducting research, designing the entire user experience and prototype, and creating a cohesive visual identity that resonates with our target users.
(An engineer and I are concentrating on the newsletter section of this project as an MVP, aiming to develop a working app and release it on the App Store within a year.)

**Work in progress ︎︎**

Why email?
Despite the emergence of numerous digital communication platforms, email still remains a principal means of communication. In the business world, it is used for exchanging vital information such as project updates, official decisions, and contract terms. Educational institutions rely on email for formal communications between professors and students, and it is also widely used by individuals for private conversations, event invitations, and information sharing.
However, the use of email has not significantly evolved with technological advancements, often requiring considerable time to manage effectively. It is this issue that inspired the initiation of the project.

1. Main Features︎︎︎
2. Research︎︎︎
3. Design Process︎︎︎
4. Branding︎︎︎
5. Key takeaways︎︎︎

Since this is a new type of email app for users, the Feature Guide and Quick Tour help users easily navigate the app. While users go through the onboarding process, the app imports and analyzes their email accounts. By incorporating brand colors and key UI elements, it enhances the perception of the product and build brand loyalty. Intuitive animations help users fully engage with the process.

Minimail automatically sorts all emails into four categories: Highlights, Calendar, News, and Orders. Info Cards display key information from each category, with uniquely designed layouts to present the information most clearly. Swiping up on an Info Card allows you to view a list of emails categorized under that category.

All urgent and important messages are automatically sorted into the Highlights category. The Info Card in Highlights display summaries of important messages, and you can view a list of action items and attachments all in one place.

All urgent and important messages are automatically sorted into the Highlights category. The Info Card in Highlights display summaries of important messages, and you can view a list of action items and attachments all in one place.

The News category automatically sorts subscribed newsletters by subject. The News Info Card not only provides summaries of the latest updates by subject and time frame, but also lists the top recurring keywords. Tapping on a keyword allows you to see a rundown of relevant news and related articles.

The Orders Info Card displays the expenditure details, promotions and delivery statuses of orders. By swiping up on the Order Info Card, you can see more detailed information without having to open each email.

By creating personalized folders with filters or adding bookmarks, users can manage their emails individually. Also, a quick swipe on an email's title enables immediate action.

Insights from desk research:

• [Validation of Topic Selection] A significant volume of emails is sent and received globally, with the numbers increasing annually. 
• [User Pain Point] On average, people spend five hours a day checking their emails. The more time spent managing emails, the more stress users experience. 
• [User Pain Point] Although emails are frequently used on mobile devices, most users find managing emails on mobile challenging.

Insights from observation research: 

• [User Pain Point] Users struggle with composing and managing emails on mobile devices
• [User Pain Point] Many users do not trust the summaries and organization provided by AI and want to double-check the results
• [User Pain Point] Users want to categorize and organize their emails but find it challenging to manage them regularly
• [Need for Feature Prioritization] Since almost everyone uses email daily, there is a wide range of desired features
  

Insights from competitive analysis: 

• [Challenges to Overcome] There are many traditional email clients that have had numerous users for decades.
  
• [Opportunity Areas] These clients have various features. However, most users are often unaware of them.
  
• [Opportunity Areas] Email apps that leverage AI primarily focus on the 'compose' feature, while the summarization or organization function is secondary.
  
• [Usability Improvements] Most email apps have similar inbox layouts that display emails in a list format.
  

• Growing Email Volume: Increasing global email traffic highlights the need for improved email management tools to meet user demands.
• Efficiency Challenges: Users spend excessive time managing emails, leading to stress and difficulty in ongoing management.
• Mobile Management Issues: Despite high mobile usage, many users find email management cumbersome on mobile devices, indicating a need for a better mobile experience.
• Management-focused Email App: Current email apps utilizing AI prioritize composition features. Developing email management apps focused on organization and summarization presents a new opportunity area.
• Feature Prioritization: Identifying and focusing on essential features is crucial, as email serves diverse purposes for users.
• Layout Innovations: Users are familiar with traditional inbox layouts but struggle to identify key areas. There is an opportunity to propose a new email app design that enhances usability.
• AI Trust Concerns: A significant number of users express skepticism towards AI-generated results. It should allow users to customize or review it


→ A new email management app that focuses on quick access to important information and automatic classification, while excluding the email writing feature

Based on observational research, I created a persona named Jane Cooper, and visualized the email app experience to understand user pain points and needs.

Based on the research insights, I quickly sketched ideas and conducted user tests with 7 participants (4 heavy users and 3 light users) from various fields.

Here are some findings from the user tests:

• Need to Identify Opportunity Areas: Many ideas were already available in traditional email clients.
• Focus on Summary Features: Users expressed a strong interest in the summarization feature.
• Need for Prioritization: Users had numerous feature requests
• Defining App Direction: The email app required many features, and considering the release timeline, it was difficult to implement all of them.
• Interest in Widget Screens: Users expressed interest in widget screens that differed from existing layouts.

I decided to remove the email composing feature and focus on summary and categorization to develop a productivity app that complements existing email applications.

At this phase, I refined the user flow and experience, conducting tests with 3 heavy users and 3 light users.

Here is the summary of the mid-fi user test:

• User Preference for Simplicity: Users favored simple screens. But they show divided preferences between minimal information and some essential details.
• Preference for Layouts by Information Type: Most users preferred layouts that varied according to the type of email information.
• Summary Function Feedback: Users liked the summary feature itself but noted that using gestures was somewhat cumbersome.
• Skepticism Towards Gen AI: Some users expressed a lack of trust in the outputs generated by AI.

I reviewed the details and optimized the user experience, conducting final checks on the interface and interactions through user testing and expert critique.

• Widget Screen Feedback: Users preferred widget views in Mid-fi testing, but many in Hi-fi testing raised concerns about their usefulness.
• Request for Clearly Distinguishable Layouts: There was a request for clearer distinctions in layouts based on the type of information.
• Need to Enhance Widget Customization Flow: There was a need to improve the process of customizing widgets.
• Feedback on Complexity of Read Mail Flow: Users noted that the flow for checking read, all, and saved emails was complicated.
• Interest in Small Animation: Users showed interest in minor animation.

Feedback from Hi-fi prototype user test highlighted the need for significant revisions focused on productivity. It leads me to closely review and improve the previous prototype.

After the 4th user test, I moved forward with the final design based on the second Info Cards version, which received the best feedback among the four drafts.

Here are the main points I considered while making the revisions:

• Improved Readability: Considering the app is used daily, I adjusted typography and switched to softer colors to enhance readability.
• Removal of Widget Screen: While the widget screen was intriguing, we decided to remove it, considering productivity.
• Highlighting Key Information: I modified the information hierarchy to help users concentrate on essential details.
• Cusomized Folder: A customized folder feature was added for users wanting to categorize their emails manually.
• Toggle Button for new/all emails: I implemented toggle buttons for easy switching between "View New Mail Only" and "View All Emails.”

The direction for visual design, user experience, and interaction is based on the brand essence: minimalism, simplicity, and seamlessness.

• Naming: The name "Minimail" combines "minimalism" and "mail."
  
• Logo: The logo integrates the letter 'M' and an envelope shape, intuitively representing the app's function.
  
• Color: Warm and soft color palettes are used to make the interface less intimidating and more engaging for everyday use.
  
• Typography: The typeface, Inter Display, is clean and readable. Bold and highlights are used to draw attention to key areas, with hierarchical typography aiding in quicker scanning and prioritization of content.
  
• Icons: Icons are simplified and geometric, aligning with the overall minimalist aesthetic.
  

After creating more than 400M frames in Figma, I completed the Minimail Design System Ver. 1(This will continue to be revised and developed︎). This design system was created to enhance consistency within the app and to help developers better understand the design specifications.

Key Learnings

• Importance of Clear Direction and Goal Setting: Establishing clear objectives is crucial due to the challenges of addressing diverse user needs.

• Value of Design Iteration: Continuous iteration is essential for refining the product.

• Ensuring Diversity in User Testing: Selecting a varied group of interviewees is vital to avoid biased feedback

Areas for Improvement

• Enhancing Newsletter Info Card: Incorporate more visuals, such as photos, to create a more engaging feed view.

• Refining the Search Feature: Develop a more detailed and intuitive search function utilizing Gen AI.

Next Steps

• Design Landing Page: Create a webpage to promote the app and build a waitlist.

• Expanding Around the Newsletter Feature: I concluded that the newsletter feature is a suitable enhancement for the current email app. Market research revealed that while other apps provide similar features, there are few that summarize newsletters. Thus, I aim to launch the MVP centered on this feature and subsequently broaden the range of functionalities.

Availy

Overview

Availy is a one-on-one English learning platform that matches students with qualified native-speaking tutors. The service, which operated under the name “Engall,” rebranded as “Availy” to further refine the direction of the service. It aimed to help people turn their dreams into realities by advancing their English skills.

As the sole designer on the team, I redesigned the entire product that reflects the feedback of existing users in line with the direction of rebranding. My role involved product direction, wireframing, UXUI design, establishing a design system, and prototyping. In addition, I worked side-by-side with the founder, operation manager, brand strategist, and engineers to create optimal user experiences.

한국어 버전은 아래 Related Project의 Availy KR을 확인해주세요︎

Related Project

User Feedback
 

Notable feedback is that many users have booked classes via mobile. The data shows that more than 70% of students use both mobile and desktop platforms. Students use the mobile web for booking, and the desktop web for class participation.

The other feedback concerns the inconvenience caused by the dispersion of the existing platform.

Existing Platform 

There were various problems, but the biggest problem was the inconvenience of scheduling and managing classes. Since Engall mainly provided service through the desktop web, the analysis focused on the desktop web.

Availy Tutor

Overview

Availy Tutor is an internal web/app platform designed to manage classes and the performance of Availy tutors.

As the sole product designer on the team, I designed the entire platform that centralizes key actions scattered across other platforms(i.e. Calendly, Notion, Google Docs, Gmail, etc.) and simplified user flow. Additionally, I worked closely with the founder, operation managers, and engineers to set the goals and scope of the project, taking time and quality into account.

Related Project

I conducted a total of six interviews. First, I interviewed 4 tutors to recognize user needs. In addition, I also interviewed two operation managers to learn about their opinions on how to improve overall efficiency.

Interviewees were full-time tutors in their 20s who also used other tutoring platforms, a part-time tutor/graduate student in his 30s, a retired digital nomad in his 50s who usually travels the world, and tech-savvy operation managers in their 20s.

I researched four other online 1:1 English education services.

Insights

• Dashboard-style modular blocks make it easy to see the performance at a glance and maximize space utilization.
  
• It is much more intuitive to show one class as one block on a weekly calendar combined with an hourly timeline.
  
• Showing what tutors must do and what they are most curious about on the home screen at once can help tutors manage classes effectively.
  
• Many education services include features like copy schedule, sync calendar app, tutor level system, substitute canceled classes, and more for efficiency.

I adapted the MoSCoW Method for prioritizing requirements within this time-boxed project.
Due to the lack of development manpower, especially front-end developers, it was impossible to implement a list of features based on interviews in a short period of time. So, I consulted with the project owner, operations managers, tutors, and developers to properly scope this project.

MoSCoW method︎︎︎

After prioritization, we set the desktop web as the main platform where tutors can use all functions, and the mobile app as the sub-platform where tutors receive important notifications, urgently modify schedules or check simple information.

In order to communicate quickly and receive various feedback, I drew lo-fi wireframes while brainstorming based on ideas and user concerns.

Availy Public Web

Overview

Availy 서비스의 홍보를 위한 데스크톱/모바일 웹사이트를 디자인하였습니다. 
로그인 이전/이후 동일하게 사용되던 기존 사이트를 비회원 홍보용/회원용 사이트로 분리하였고, 홍보용 사이트에서는 브랜드 룩앤필을 표현하면서 동시에 서비스가 가진 특징을 간단명료하게 정리하고 다양한 인터렉션을 통해 시선을 끌 수 있도록 디자인하였습니다.

To be updated ︎

Prototype Links

Kids' Lounge

Overview

The Shilla Seoul was geared toward business travelers and couples, but after the pandemic, its business model has changed to cater to families. So, I was commissioned to create a Kids Lounge for the new target group.
Working closely with the marketing team, I suggested the entire concept of the space. Inspired by the hotel's preexisting The Executive Lounge, I designed a similar facility for children. I designed the interior space and furniture and selected everything from books for kids to interior items and artwork for the lounge. During construction, I also managed the project and handled several subcontractors. 

서울신라호텔의 타겟 고객층은 비즈니스 고객과 커플을 중심으로 하였으나, 펜데믹 이후 패밀리 고객 위주로 비즈니스 모델을 변경하게 되면서 아이들을 위한 신규 시설이 필요하게 되었습니다. 이에 따라 아이들을 위한 키즈라운지를 제작할 것을 의뢰받았습니다.
관내 처음으로 설치되는 고정 키즈 시설이었기 때문에 앞으로 생겨날 다른 키즈 시설들의 기준점으로 사용되어질 것을 염두하였고, 기존의 신라호텔의 브랜드 아이덴티티에서 벗어나지 않되, 아이들을 위한 따뜻하고 밝은 공간이 되도록 전체 공간을 신중히 계획하였습니다. 또한, 마케팅팀과 긴밀히 협력하면서 공간의 전체 컨셉과 내부 프로그램을 제안했습니다. 호텔 23층에 위치한 The Executive Lounge에서 착안하여 어린이를 위한 라운지를 설계했습니다. 실내 공간과 가구를 디자인하고 아이들을 위한 책과 소품, 아트웍까지 모든 것을 디렉팅하였고, 시공기간동안 협력업체들과 소통하며 프로젝트를 관리하였습니다.