Projects
Windows Mail, while user-friendly, has been identified to have significant limitations in features compared to competitors. Key areas for improvement include smart folder organization, email search capabilities, and integration of advanced features.
UX Researcher & Strategist: Identified user pain points, conducted competitive analysis, and guided the overall UX strategy.
Interaction Designer & Prototyping Lead: Designed intuitive interfaces and developed prototypes in Figma, refining based on feedback.
Usability Tester: Conducted usability tests and iterated designs to enhance user experience.
📭 Pain points
Feature Limitations: Users encounter a lack of advanced features, feeling constrained when compared to the more dynamic capabilities of alternative email clients.
Organization Inefficiencies: The absence of smart folders leads to a cluttered inbox, complicating the email management process and diminishing user efficiency.
Search Functionality Constraints: Current search functionalities fall short, presenting hurdles in locating specific emails or contacts, thus impeding user workflow.
Untapped Development Potential: There are numerous opportunities for innovation and enhancement that have not been fully explored, signaling potential for significant user experience improvements.
🏆 Competitive Analysis
🌟 Strategic Design Directions & Feature Implementations
Organized: Enhance email organization without complicating the user interface.
Simple: Maintain the simplicity and user-friendliness of the current design.
Clean: Keep a clean and uncluttered interface.
Helpful: Improve utility to aid user email management.
Convenient: Increase convenience, making the system more adaptive to user needs.
Efficient: Boost user efficiency in email management.
✨ Proposed Features
Smart Folders: Automatically categorize emails into folders based on user-defined rules. Include learning capabilities to improve sorting accuracy.
Importance Setting: Allow users to set importance levels for emails and contacts, making critical emails stand out.
Email Metrics Hub: Introduce metrics like daily efficiency scores and time estimates for tasks, supplemented by AI-driven suggestions.
📂 Smart Folders
Automatically sorts emails into designated folders according to user preferences, enhancing inbox organization.
Learn from user corrections to improve sorting accuracy, making email management smarter over time.
⚠️ Importance Setting
Highlights critical emails and contacts, ensuring important communications are promptly addressed.
Allows users to assign priority levels, aiding in the efficient organization and response to emails.
📊 Email Metrics Hub
Provides a daily efficiency score to guide users in optimizing email management practices.
Features goal setting and time estimates for tasks to streamline email prioritization and productivity.
🌍 Future Considerations
Look forward to an era where seamless cross-platform integration turns your email experience into a truly synchronized affair, transcending device boundaries.
Anticipate the integration of a wide array of third-party applications, creating a more robust and versatile Windows Mail environment that caters to all dimensions of professional and personal communication needs.
🔄 Project Reflection
This project was a journey of understanding and innovation. It challenged us to balance user needs with technical feasibility, leading to a suite of features that are as intuitive as they are powerful. Through iterative design and user feedback, we honed in on what truly matters to our users: a streamlined, efficient, and adaptable email experience. The lessons learned here about empathy in design and the value of user-centric thinking will inform and inspire our future work.