Verizon Cloud

Project Overview

Verizon Cloud is a mobile app, a cloud backup solution for storing your content so you can access it on all your devices, developed by Verizon. I’ve designed a new feature — photo and video editing.

Problem Definition

How to provide an all-in-one solution for photos and videos?

Life is all about memories. Photos and videos we take everyday with our phone help us create them and have a power to freeze a moment in time. They are the closest thing we get to relive those moments whenever we want. There’s a clear connection and an emotional attachment to the content we create. Securely storing our photos and videos in a cloud so we can access them at all times is something most users expect to have as an option. But how can we unleash our creative side and do much more with our content without the need to use multiple apps?

Process

Design thinking

Given that the app already existed before I started working on the photo and video editing features, this was a much more straightforward process since I had more resources when doing both research (an established user base) and design (an existing design system).

Discovery

• User interviews

• Personas

• Journey mapping

• Competitive analysis

Ideation

• User flows

• Wireframes

• High-Fidelity design

Prototyping

• Prototyping

Testing

• Usability testing

• A/B testing

Implementation

• Final design

• Design handoff

Discovery

User interviews

When interviewing the existing app users, participants revealed that they would like to have an all-in-one solution for their content and more specifically — the ability to edit their photos and videos, all within one app so they don’t have to switch to another one in order to complete their workflow. Some of the participants questioned why the edit functionality wasn’t there from the start.

Persona

Defining a persona was a result of user interviews so this is where I described a typical or target user of the product, encompassing their needs, concerns, and goals when using the app.

Journey mapping

The journey map (built on the persona) put a strong focus on how users might interact with the product in a use case where they want to document, store, edit and share their content.

Competitive analysis

When doing a competitive analysis, it was important to encompass different types of products that users might want to use for their workflow. The two most common products are: cloud storage solutions and apps of mobile network operators. This is not taking into account native apps and social media apps that users might also use in this scenario.

Cloud products

Unsurprisingly, cloud storage is something that all competitors have yet most don’t offer photo/video editing options.

Mobile network operators

Few competitors provide cloud storage, and they often lack the photo and video editing capabilities as well as the all-in-one functionality that this product offers.

Ideation

How Might We

I created How Might We questions that helped us better align on user’s tasks and goals:

How might we provide an all-in-one solution for photos and videos?
How might we drive user engagement by motivating them to bring the best in their photos and videos?

User flow

The user flow pictured below is a result of insights from research and clearly defined jobs-to-be-done.

Wireframes

The creation of wireframes was done with a goal to provide powerful editing tools while keeping the overall simplicity of the app. The main concern was how to structure the navigation and interaction so it’s scalable for all editing tools, while trying to avoid mismatched mental models.

Testing

Usability and A/B testing

Findings clearly showed that users prefered Version B of the prototype, where the tab bar for photo editing features is always visible so they can navigate between multiple options more easily. Additional usability findings revealed that the text below the icons doesn’t add much value so I’ve created a new version, which was the final one.

Solution

Reliable all-in-one solution

Other than having the ability to store and backup the content so users can effortlessly access it at all times on different devices, users can now enhance it by editing their photos/videos with easy to use tools: Transform, Filters, Adjust, Stickers, Text, Markup, Sharpness, Black & White, Vignette.

Outcome

Final design

The final solution is a simple, clean and streamlined photo and video editing experience. Users can easily navigate between many editing tools while making enhancements that bring out the best in their content. The editing functionality works similarly for both photos and videos, with consistency in mind. The result is an experience that feels like a natural extension of the product.

This feature was designed for both iOS and Android users, closely following Human Interface and Material Design Guidelines. Pictured below is the iOS app experience.