VINEYARD
Vineyard is a mobile app designed to help college students stay productive and connected.
lead product designer
fall 2024
gt ios club
CONTEXT
Background
The Problem
College students often juggle classes, clubs, and part-time jobs without a simple way to stay accountable. In user interviews, students described feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated when progress wasn’t visible or when they lost track of deadlines. Existing tools a Apple Notes or generic to-do apps didn’t provide a sense of community or reward, leaving students disengaged.
My Role
As Lead Product Designer, I managed the full design process from research to high-fidelity prototypes. I conducted user research, defined user flows, created wireframes, and worked closely with developers to ensure feasibility.
PROCESS
Project Timeline
UNDERSTAND & DEFINE
Research
User Interviews
I chose user interviews to better understand students’ motivations and pain points around productivity, and designed open-ended questions to uncover their daily habits, challenges, and expectations in a way that surveys alone couldn’t capture.
"What would help you keep track of your daily tasks effectively?”
“How do you usually stay motivated to complete tasks?
“What’s the most important information you’d want to see when tracking your progress?”
“What prevents you from staying productive?”
Secondary Research
According to the American Society of Training and Development, 65% of people achieve goals after making them public, and this rises to 95% when accountability partners are involved .This validated the focus on peer-driven motivation.
Interview Insights
75% said they lose motivation when tracking progress alone.
60% wanted a way to see what friends were accomplishing.
All participants said existing task apps felt “too serious” or “too boring.”
Key Takeaways
Users crave social accountability to maintain motivation.
Productivity tools should feel fun, rewarding, and communal, not rigid or isolating.
Visual and social cues can boost consistency and engagement over time.
Design Goals
Based on these insights, I defined the following design goals
Make productivity feel rewarding and social, not like a chore.
Provide instant visibility into both personal and group progress.
Encourage accountability and motivation through peer features and shared milestones.
EXPLORATION & IDEATION
Brainstorming
User Flow
This is the initial flow we came up with to map how students would navigate between core features: starting from a central dashboard for tasks, moving into group spaces for accountability, and ending with a profile area for rewards and personal progress.
Paper Prototyping
PROTOTYPE & TEST
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Based on my research, I created an initial layout that emphasized quick visibility of daily tasks and peer activity, since students consistently expressed a need for a single-page view that balanced personal productivity with social accountability.
“It would really help if I could easily see my tasks in one page”
“Seeing what my friends did would encourage me to do work as well”
“I wish there was a simple way to track my progress”
“I would feel accountable if I saw what my friends are doing”
“I want to feel rewarded for staying productive"
“It'd be great if I could see it [my progress] in a way that feels meaningful and motivates me to keep going"
Usability Tests
Key Objectives
To validate our low-fidelity prototypes, I conducted usability tests with 6 college students. Testing sessions lasted 20–30 minutes and combined task-based scenarios with follow-up interviews.
Evaluate if students could quickly understand the dashboard and find their tasks.
Test whether the group features motivated accountability and collaboration.
Identify usability issues that might prevent consistent engagement.
Discovery
Students wanted more information displayed directly on the dashboard (task list + progress).
The group tab felt cluttered, and grape-vine progress indicators were confusing.
Several users expected a way to see both personal and group progress at a glance, not hidden in separate sections.
Profile tab was seen as less useful. Students preferred rewards integrated into the main dashboard.
VISUALS & REFINEMENT
Design Langauge
I built a grape-inspired visual language where users grow vines and earn wines as rewards, with a bold purple palette for identity and SF Pro Display for clarity and readability.
Color
Fonts
High Fidelity Prototype
Information on Dashboard
Added individual progress tracking
Displayed number of daily tasks at a glance
Introduced clear group progress comparisons
Group Tab Components
Removed unnecessary items for simplicity
Consolidated progress into a single view
Used color coding for quick comprehension
Color Indication for Progress
Defined progress ranges with distinct colors
Improved clarity of group and individual status
Reduced confusion from earlier visual metaphors
To-Do List Feature
Enabled flexible logging of recurring tasks
Introduced daily progress visualization
Streamlined entry to reduce friction
Profile Tab Changes
Gamified rewards with monthly “Wines”
Integrated rewards into the dashboard for visibility
Reduced redundancy with other features
CONCLUSION
Reflection and Final Thoughts
Highlights
Designed a clean, engaging productivity app with strong visual identity
Applied lean research methods under a tight timeline
Incorporated user feedback into multiple iterations
85% of testers preferred Vineyard’s dashboard over other products
Opportunities
Provide richer prototypes and stronger developer handoff
Improve communication and alignment with engineers
Increase testing cycles for deeper validation
Recruit more diverse participants for research
Conduct a competitive analysis to strengthen positioning