I can help you with
1
UX Research
I have experience with every part of the design thinking process. As a planner, facilitator, testing moderator and designer.
2
User testing
My passion is getting close to the user through research. I excel at in-depth interviews and moderated usability testing.
3
Front-end
I have a course in Frontend development which lets me understand and communicate with devs skilled in HTML and CSS
4
Design
I can create Wireframes, Prototypes and import the designs into Webflow or Framer so they can go live, just like the site design you are looking at right now! I focus on user friendly designs that emphasises users and content!
Here is some of my work!
Design System
Case: Conservation International was left without a Design system. All the assets they had were on the current website. Our task was to re-create a design system they could use in the future.
Web Design
Case: Me and my team were living abroad as digital nomads. We did research on other nomads to design a web platform that would make their job searching process easier.
User Testing
Case: Conducted usability testing on the AirBnB site together with my teammate. We made some very interesting findings and suggested iterations to the site.
Who am I ?
Hello! Let's start with my name, Samuel.
I am a UX designer and aspiring web developer who is eager to find my feet in the business and build a strong professional reputation, by working for you! I just started learning Webflow and the website you are seeing is my first creation. So have mercy, more content is coming to the site soon!
I intend to build a career doing what I love, which is meeting and working with new people, thinking, talking -and off course designing easy, accessible, intuitive and fast products!
Education
Noroff
School of Technology
& Digital Media1 year UX Design
Noroff Accelerate3 monthsFront-end Developer Course
BI
Norwegian Business SchoolBachelorCreative Industries
ManagementUniversity of BergenBachelor Languages, literature
and linguistics
Noroff School of Technology & Digital Media, (1 year) - UX Design
Noroff Accelerate, 3 months - Front-end Developer Course
BI Norwegian Business School, Bachelor - Creative Industries Management
Universitetet i Bergen, Bachelor - Languages, literature and linguistics
Tools
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The Case
The company previously had an external UI/UX designer to design and create the website, but that person was no longer available, and all the design-related files and assets were lost. All that remained with the company, in terms of digital design assets and guidance, was already on its website.
Team Size: 2 people
Duration: 1 week
Tools used: Figma with plugins.
Contributions:
Used Figma to import content from the site. Contributed to categorizing content and developing guidelines.
Task:
Our task was to create a design system that would help future users by giving them access to a scalable resource so they could keep developing digital designs based on the Conservation International brand.
The design system should:
- match the existing brand
- communicate the brands values, language and identity
- show good visual design principles, such as layout and spacing grids
- show typography
- colour usage
- imagery, iconography and components
- show interactive states on the site.
The Process
- Our team started studying the Conservation International brand by studying all the information we could find on the site.
- Visual elements were pulled down from the website using Figma plugins.
- It was important that our system did not just become a library for elements on the site. We wanted visual guidelines that explained how those elements were to be used in a way that was consistent with the brand identity.
- We used the theory of Atomic design to break the system down into tokens and explained how to build everything from the ground up by forming the tokens into atoms, molecules and organisms.
- Our guide also explains which best practice design principles were used on the site and should be kept in mind for future design.
- The design document was created in Figma, frames and auto-layout were used to organise the content in a simple, readable and structured way.
Reflections
Breaking down the website made me reflect on how many different things are used in the process of creating and communicating a brand, and the importance of having a design system to share "silent" knowledge within an organization about how the company design is used to convey the brand. It also made me think about how it could be scaled up to create different elements in the future, by using the guidelines for the previous design.
Conservation International uses a few primary colours (blue and green) together with appropriate imagery to effectively explain their identity and mission. The secondary, contrasting colour on the website (red) are also used to great effect, by making the three call to action buttons stand out very noticeably.
The company effectively use imagery to create a sense of their vision, mission and brand identity. Below we can see how the website shows the ecosystem Conservation International is working to preserve. The same cards also show how hoover states work on the site. Moving the cursor over the card makes a "click to expand" button appear that leads the user to more information. A great example of progressive disclosure. The user is not overwhelmed with information right away but gets the possibility to discover more should they so wish.
A brand is one of the most valuable things a company can have. It allows you to distinguish yourself from competitors, build and maintain trust with your customers and keep them coming back. This trust is dependent on consistency, which makes the visual identity of a company so valuable. I can only imagine what would happen if Coca Cola changed their brand logo over night. Working with the system made me really want to participate in building future brands with design. In the future I also hope to work with other professionals in marketing, communications or illustration towards the same goal.
The Case
Digital Nomadism and remote working is a lifestyle trend rising rapidly. While living as digital nomads in Italy, we met other people pursuing a similar lifestyle and decided to start on a project related the job seeking process of such people. We were excited to see how we could improve their lives by connecting them with work opportunities.
Team Size: 2 people
Duration: 5 weeks
Tools used
Contributions:
Contributed to planning, competitor analysis, interview script development, recruited participants, conducted several interviews on teams, contributed to usability test, created the usability test report, made the stakeholder presentation, made visual audits, created exploratory paper sketches for the design. Contributed to developing the wireframes.
Design Thinking
Empathizing with users and defining the problem
The project timeframe meant we could allow ourselves to do extensive research.
We started with literature reviews and a competitive (SWOT) analysis on 9 different job sites. I conducted one-on-one interviews with experienced digital nomads which surfaced valuable information about the lifestyle challenges of the user group. We plotted everything into a data sheet and sent out a survey to see if we could support our initial findings with more quantitative data. After analysis and synthesis a clear image of how the typical user was struggling began to emerge. By using the 5 Why's, 4 Ws techniques and formulating user and business goals, the team came together to a problem statement. We had now found several problems we could work on and were ready to proceed to ideation.
User Goals Vs Business Goals
It was important for us to discover what motivated the user and how our solution could adress this in a way that would also benefit a business. Satisfied users would be more likely to convert, return, and recommend our product. We were happy to see our research uncovered some challenges that were very particular to our user group. By targeting these pain points, our business could stand out from competing actors in the market.
Problem Statement
Digital Nomads spend an unnecessary amount of time looking for work because the current platforms do not understand the particular job requirements they have to think about. Nomads also suffer from financial instability due to the often temporary nature of their work. If we could solve this problem, it would open up job opportunities for an increasing number of people who wish to work and live this way. It would improve the ability of working nomads to stay on their feet financially. It would also benefit businesses by giving them access to a large base of human capital from all over the world.
Persona
Ideating a solution
It was time to get creative in looking for a solution to the pain points and needs we had found in the define phase. We used brainstorming, scamper and mind mapping and competitor research to explore possible features and layouts for our solution. Each team member also conducted a visual audit of competitor sites and did sketches to explore design ideas. I always prefer to use sketches in the very early stages of a project. It lets the team agree on a direction for the design by getting rid of ideas that do not work as fast as possible.
An iterative process..
"Nothing is settled before everything is settled"
Information architecture, wireframe sketches, user flows.
All just mental models that allows one to imagine how the final solution will look like. I like to constantly iterate back and forth between these while consulting with the team to see if I missed anything. I put myself in the head of the user and try to imagine what would be the most easy and natural way for them to understand and categorize the value offerings found on the site. If I suddenly see a better solution out there. I will not hesitate going back to the drawing board. I believe in doing this right from the start, to stop small problems from becoming bigger ones. I also love feedback. Im a team player and take any negative feedback as an opportunity to learn.
Going through the steps
Here you can see the solution changing from the initial sketches to the first low-fi prototype, a high fi prototype and the mobile version of the site.
Prototyping and testing
Experience has taught me to test early and often. Nothing worse then wasting time on a hi-fidelity prototype that you are going to change anyway right?
Metrics
The metrics we used to measure the users were Completion rate, Completion time and Satisfaction rate.
Our user testing focused on these areas:
- Is the Nomad platform intuitive?
- Can users easily find and use the main features?
- Have users encountered any challenges while
completing tasks? - What aspects of the platform could be improved? Can we add any additional functionalities to enhance the user experience?
- Is the overall user experience of the platform positive?
For this project we used the Ballpark testing tool and managed to get 13 subjects to test the app. I usually prefer doing one-on-one testing, but with the project timeframe in mind, the team agreed that we could get more data from a larger number of test. We planned for two, but ended up doing three tests. After seeing the results of the second test, It felt right to also test the high-fidelity prototype with the latest iterations included. We were very satisfied with the final feedback.
The Solution
We knew from the start our web platform should give the user a clear indication of the value our web platform could offer. We decided to follow the mobile first approach to ensure responsiveness on smaller screens.
We arrived at the final solution by combining some of the features we had seen on other web sites to provide more features and make them accessible to the user as quickly as possible. The research we had done also allowed us to pinpoint very specific user needs like certain types of filter options that would allow them to arrive at suitable job listings as quickly as possible. Three prototype tests allowed us to explore even more improvements to the design. Testing both smaller changes and the design as a whole is a must in developing a functional and fast design.
Reflections
I felt like getting close to the users through the one-on-one interviews in the start of the project provided a lot of value for what came later. Through previous experience I have learned that if the research foundations of a project do not give you enough direction, then what comes later will be affected by that.
In this project we set aside more than a week to create the wireflows. It turned out to be a good idea as we kept making iterations both to the basic design and to the interactive features. Deadlines are a must for me as they allow me to plan and apply the right amount of energy and time to the things that are most important to the success of a project. If you rush things at the wrong moment, whether it's at the start or the end of the design thinking process, it's easy to end up with a sub-optimal result. You want to have faith in your research findings, belief in your problem statement, so that you know you are targeting the right issue. You also want to make as many mistakes as possible with low-fi wireframes so you do not waste time, but still have the time and patience to keep changing the prototype if the testing session shows possibility for improvement.
Case
We were very excited to be tasked with user testing the AirBnB site. Some of the most trafficked sites in the world, with whole teams dedicated to UX and UI can still have faults, which shows the true value of frequent testing. The more traffic the more it becomes important to root out problems. Even a relatively low error rate like 0.1% (one in every thousand users who visits the site) would means that one billion visits a day could translate into one million errors, every single day.
Team Members: 2 people
Duration: 1 Week
Tools used: Miro, Discord, teams, pen and paper.
Contributions:
Contributed to script development, pilot testing, recruitment, test planning, usability test report, stakeholder presentation.
Conducted moderated remote testing with all participants, made sketches with design iterations.
Purpose and scope
The user was presented with one task: finding accommodation for a two-night stay in California, adhering to a budget of 4000 NOK, locating an entire place with Wi-Fi and breakfast, and ensuring the option for free cancellation. By observing users as they perform, we wanted to evaluate their overall experience, pinpoint potential issues, and gather insights about the website's user experience.
Metrics
Completion Rate
We used completion rate as a metric to see if the user could navigate the website and accomplish their goals. Successfullycompleting a task without interruptions would indicate a positive user experience. Not sucessfully completing it it wouldmean the task, or the system around it was to complex or unclear.
Time on Task
We wanted to know something about the average time the user would spend to complete the task we had given them. By measuring the time each user spent on the task and asking a follow up question, we could understand more about whether the website lived up to the users expectations.
Satisfaction Rate
It was important for us to understand the general usability of the website. We decided to follow up the participants with questions and have them rate the overall experience to get some quantitative data that might affect how future design iterations could improve the website.
Test findings
By watching our users on video calls, we were able to intimately notice the behaviour they exhibited trying to complete the task. Two out of five users spent significant more time completing the task and we were able to uncover several problematic issues with the user experience.
Issue one - Selecting the type of accommodation
Several users were confused by having to choose "type of place" and "property type. Since they had already selected "cabin" from the carousel menu on the homepage, these filter made them doubt whether the "cabin" filter was still in effect.
Issue two - Specify budget
The users were confused by the pricing options that came up, since they had already specified two nights in the filter, they expected to see the full price for the entire stay. Instead they were shown price per night, which made them have to go back and use the filter again. Increasing their time on task.
Issue three - Cancellation option
The users were free to select the dates they wanted. Some of them chose dates a few days ahead, which causes free cancellation to dissapear from the property. They then became confused when looking for a place with free cancellation option because they were not able to find it using the filter.
Improving Accessability on filters
Filters should be prioritized and made more accessible to users. We consider placing commonly used filters at the top-left of the filter menu for easy access.
Personalized Display of Cancellation Option
The option for free cancellation should always be visible in the filters field, even when booking short notice. It should be accompanied by a clear message indicating that cancellation is not available for bookings made within a certain timeframe. This transparency ensures that users are aware of the limitations upfront. We think it would be good as well to implement an extra filter that allows the user to personalize the time frame needed for their cancellation.
Wireframe Iterations
The graphic which confused several test participants is removed.
Conclusion
Overall user satisfaction with the site was high, but two out five participants severely struggled and spent a considerable amount of time on task completion. After observing the test live and doing retrospective probing on the participants after the task had been completed, we uncovered several issues with the search bar and filter features. We suggested iterations to be made that could positively impact the user experience. Considering the high traffic on AirBnBs website, we could decrease the exit rate for thousands of users with similar goals to our participants.
Faq
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any other questions, you can contact me by email samuel.braastad@gmail.com
How much UX experience do you have?
During my time at the Noroff School of Technology and Digital Media I completed 15 UX projects. 13 of them together with my one team member. The site you are looking at now was also built by me.
What is you speciality?
As a UX Designer I don't feel like I can limit myself to one thing. I am experienced with all parts of the design thinking process. But I do think that am a great project champion because I never loose sight of the main objectives in a project and have the humility to always go back a step if that is what is needed. I am also highly skilled in communication and persuasion.
Are you sure you are the right guy for my project?
Tell you what, I am a super-easy guy to talk to. The most important thing for me is not that I get hired, but for you to feel like you have the right person for the project. Hit me up, let's get to know each other and find out. The first hour is free ;)
I'm an agency, what you can do for us?
I can jump in at any stage of the design thinking process! A pair of fresh eyes is often invaluable.