My Role
Industry Research
User research
Personas + Storyboarding
Information Architecture
UX Copywriting
Wireframing + Prototyping
Usability testing
Challenges
Broadening Rational Alchemy's market coverage through the creation of a mobile app required an extensive amount of research; both to understand the nuanced process of interpreting tarot cards, and the challenges users face when practicing tarot.
Lingering in the research phase helped me to discover what users need from a tarot app and provided the best chance of creating a product that provides the value necessary to keep users engaged.
Process Overview
User Flow
Lo-Fi Wireframes
Iteration
Interface Design
Mid-fi Wireframes
Iteration
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Affinity Mapping
Iteration
Expert Interview
After conducting preliminary subject matter research, I contacted a professional tarot card reader for an interview. I asked questions about tarot readings, tarot education, and resources available for tarot readers at different stages of experience.
"To help memorize the cards, I took notes on every single reading. I would refer back to them later when something reminded me and I’d think: that’s what that was!”
"If you could choose a keyword or meaning and follow up on that by pulling three more cards, it would help people put the story together."
"The meanings of the cards are somewhat finite, but you can also build your own associations with them."
Competitor Analysis
Examining competitor products provides insight into user expectations, as well as areas where user needs are not currently being met. I spent time playing with popular tarot apps and reading reviews to see how others are responding to them. I also examined a few indirect competitors like educational apps and astrology apps.
"Learning to read tarot feels like a lot of time and work and I don't know how to prioritize it."
"Doing readings for other people is really stressful because I have to look things up on like three different websites."
"I feel successful when I feel confident and enjoyment makes me feel confident."
"It's easier to remember the card meanings when I personally relate to them."
"I have looked at all the tarot apps and what is out there is not what I personally am looking for."
User Interviews
I looked for interview participants with an interest in tarot, but varying levels of experience. I kept an open mind and guided conversations toward:
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Discovering how and when users read tarot cards
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Understanding how users approach learning a new subject or skill
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Determining where existing educational and/or new age products succeed or fail in meeting user needs
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Discovering points of friction in reading, or learning to read tarot cards
Empathy Map
To gain a deeper understanding of how users think and feel, I sorted their comments into an empathy map.
Problem Definition
Cross-referencing notes and reference materials is causing frustration for users as they try to learn and interpret tarot cards. In order to help them build a more consistent practice, they need a product that eases this frustration .
User Personas
After analyzing data collected in the interviews, I synthesized my findings into a set of three user personas. Their motivations, struggles, and personalities will guide my design decisions.
User Journey Map
Mapping my personas' journey while using a physical deck of tarot cards helps to uncover where a mobile app might help them better meet their needs. Here it became clear that the app needed to do three things: give tarot readings, act as tarot reference guide, and motivate users to stay engaged.
Storyboards
To gain a better understanding of users' emotional and environmental circumstances when using the product, I imagined a typical use case for each persona in the form of an illustrated storyboard. This also helped to refine how certain features, like a daily reading and keyword exercise, could help users stay motivated and continue developing their skills.
Sammy gets a tarot reading on her morning commute.
Anna incorporates tarot into her mindfulness practice.
Lily learns about tarot while they kill time at work.
User Flow
Keeping the needs and goals of my personas in mind, I created a user flow that branches out at any decision points in a typical interaction with the product. User flows are a useful tool to illustrate how people can progress through the design and identify what screens should be designed first.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
I created a set of low fidelity wireframes to illustrate the interactions laid out in the user flow. I looked to my personas when deciding where features would go and how they would work. For example, Sammy will have the ability to skip over the keyword exercise and see her daily reading. There will be a reward system present at multiple points to help keep Anna motivated. Lily will be able to search a tarot database and add notes to their readings.
Interface Design
Given the visual nature of tarot cards, I knew my design would need to be centered on some amazing illustrations. From a graphic artist named Chikovnaya, I purchased a beautiful set of PNG illustrations that I could layer into different configurations. My remaining interface design choices were made to compliment these illustrations.
Usability Testing
After applying the interface design to my wireframes, I created a clickable prototype and assembled a new set of potential users to take it for a test drive. I then sorted their reactions by affinity to look for patterns.
Findings + Conclusions
The overall response to the product was very positive. All users were able to complete their goals. There was particular excitement about certain features; such as the auto-generated interpretations of the daily reading and the keyword tracking and note taking features.
Many users experienced friction selecting cards for the daily reading and finding the confidence to choose keywords in the keyword exercise. There was also a lot of confusion surrounding the levels in the journey.
“Including imagery and dividing the information up like this will help me remember what I read.”
“This feels like getting a reading from a professional, which is what I’m looking for in a tarot app.”
“I assume this is not geared towards the tarot neophyte?”
“I think I need a beginner mode that shows me the basics of tarot.”
“I live for daily activities like this.”
Refined Badges/Rewards
Many users were confused by the system of levels the app encouraged them to attain. They wondered what would happen when they reached each level, and felt that the feature distracted from the app's primary functions.
I addressed this by minimizing the feature's presence on the home screen, rebranding the levels as badges, and adding more information about how to earn them.
Redesigned Card Wheel
In my first iteration, cards were chosen from a card wheel that users could spin left and right. As it spun, the center card would pop up to invite users to select it. This interaction frustrated many users, who felt it seemed like the app was choosing a card for them when they should be choosing a card themselves.
To help users feel more control over card selection, I added a shuffle animation and redesigned the card wheel to allow selection of any card visible as they spin left and right.
Keyword Instructions
Some users were intimidated by the instructions in the keyword exercise. They felt they lacked sufficient tarot knowledge to formulate a response.
I rewrote the copy on these screens to feel less prescriptive and suggest to users that any response is appropriate. For users still experiencing anxiety, I added in info icon inviting them to flip the card over and see its traditional keyword meanings.
![[Mockup] iPhone 14.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5bb921_6c86a1f9796740df85664f1454b19828~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_309,h_610,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5BMockup%5D%20iPhone%2014.jpg)
Sharing
I knew that sharing would be an important feature, but was unsure how users would prefer to see it incorporated. I limited references to sharing in my initial prototype and invited users to discuss sharing while they interacted with it.
Users were familiar with taking screenshoots to share image-heavy content in other apps. To help them do that in this product, an overlay is triggered when they take a screenshot.
I also included a share icon on the individual card pages in the database, as many users mentioned that they would like a way to share these lengthier screens.
Looking Ahead
I would like to do further usability testing to measure the success of my final iteration. Then I would move on to a similar iterative process to design the remaining features in the minimum viable product.
Insight gained during usability testing will aid in generating the app's settings. I would also explore different options for the spreads tab on the database screen. Users expressed interest in browsing spreads by genre and logging additional readings with spreads aside from the daily reading.
It is clear that users will likely need an onboarding flow that introduces them to tarot basics and the app's functionality. I also think it would be a good idea to explore what type of notifications could be employed to keep users engaged.
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