A competitive analysis study of Google Contacts

I took on a project of identifying design opportunities for Google Contacts during my internship at Google.

I started off by talking to stakeholders to iron out the list of contact management tools I should evaluate.

After familiarization with the competitive/comparative tools,  I realized that I wanted to leverage critical user journeys to frame my analysis in a structural and systematic way. When I learnt that critical user journeys (CUJs) had not been systematically documented before, I talked to my manager and took on the side project of establishing CUJs in the contact management experience. I teamed up with UX designers to conduct heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthroughs. After several rounds of iteration, I was able to consolidate a list of  CUJs and shared it with the team.

The rest of this internship focused on identifying strategic and technical opportunities to improve Google Contacts. I synthesized data from market research, usability assessment, and stakeholder interviews into 10+ suggestions for the northstar project.

Overall, it was a fruitful internship. I was able to deliver compelling results within the given timeframe, and I’m proud of the fact that I found and solved the CUJ challenge independently. And I had the best avocado toast in my life from a breakfast food truck.

 

Some highlights of applied projects that I lead (also see resume for more info)

User-Centered Design of Automated Shopping Carts (course project)

Designed software and hardware prototypes of a self-checkout shopping cart.

Link to the detailed presentation

Portable Mug Rinsing Station (course project)

Utilized Wizard-of-Oz method to create a semi-functional rinsing station by connecting the rinsing tap to a tap instead of a direct source of water supply.

Evaluated the design of the station by observing users’ interaction with the system and interviewing users afterwards.

Link to the detailed presentation