Purple ant
or, how to make home insurance sexy
The problem
Develop a responsive mobile web platform for Purple Ant, a B2B2C company offering users the ability to make an ecosystem out of their home telematics devices and save money off of their insurance premiums by sharing the sensor data directly with their providers.
My Responsibilities
Though it was a team effort, there were somethings I worked independently on, or played a larger role in their execution.
Team schedule & to-do
Client meeting guides + decks
Website audit
Wireframe kit & style guide
Dashboard, device screen, alert screen, & data policy info screen concepting
Prototyping
Tools
Whiteboard
Miro
Sketch
InVision
Zoom
Prototype
Invision (only my screens)
CONTENTS
Research
Company research
User interviews (Summary)
Home insurance? I don’t know her
As NYC perma-renters, we had no experience or understanding of the home insurance industry. The brief was limiting and largely uninformative. We had to work quickly to understand the scope of the project - which included mining the CEO’s twitter feed and, yes, diving deep into his insurance podcast channel.
We found that Purple Ant had a foot in the home telematics industry - and this is where it the project became interesting to me. The lynchpin of the product is having users share their data with Purple Ant, and with their Insurance provider directly. How do users feel about data sharing? About giving consent and privacy policies?
So, what’s the deal with data sharing?
***Jerry Seinfeld voice***
In speaking with users about their feelings on data sharing, it was made crystal clear that there are two distinct trends: highly skeptical and painfully apathetic.
Representation of apathetic users breezing through consent agreements
The skeptics have a certain level of desire to understand what’s being taken from them, where it’s going and how it’s being used, and the repercussions this transaction may or may not have. Because of this interest, they don’t trust companies (especially newer ones) and don’t trust Big Data.
The apaths are so accustomed to blindly agreeing to pages-long policies they scroll through them fast enough to turn the jargon into a legalese animation. These users see their “consent” (and I say this in quotes because without understanding, consent is meaningless, bordering on dangerously exploitative) as a bump in the road to their instagram feed.
Both camps see compliance as inevitable in our data-driven world - in order to access certain tech, you need to create an account and sign a user agreement; if you don’t participate in said tech, it can effect your real life in one aspect or another. Take LinkedIn for example: in the design industry especially, you need an active account and network - you’ll miss out on jobs and opportunities if you don’t have one. But what about LinkedIn’s dark pattern history? One’s hands are tied to engage with a product we aren’t necessarily aligned with in an effort to make rent.
This became an ethics issue. This was how I got excited about a home insurance project.
Synthesis
Second User Interviews
Problem statement
Design principles
Affinity diagrams
Persona
sharing is caring… for your home!
Purple Ant’s intentions are good: they want users to value their product by mitigating damage to their homes, easing the insurance claims process, and saving them money. However, the product could not exist if users do not consent to sharing their data.
With user’s apathy and skepticism - how can we have them give ethical, meaningful consent? How can we help them understand the value of their data? How can we make them comfortable with their data operating transactionally? We had our problems.
That’s me! There I am!
Ideation
Divergent concepts
6-8-5 sketching
Paper prototypes
Concept testing
HELP US HELP YOU TRUST US
In our second round interviews we were looking for answers. We found that in terms of their data and allowing us into their home, users wanted transparency, simplicity, consideration, and autonomy. These became our design principles.
From here, we began ideation, sketching, and ended with paper prototypes to bring back to our users for a round of concept testing.
Annotated 6-8-5 sketching (click to expand)
Deliverables
Wireframe kit
Style Guide
Usability testing
Annotated wireframes
Future recommendations
So you agree? You think your data’s really valuable?
At the conclusion of our concept testing, we iterated and created a mid-fi wireframe kit and accompanying prototype for usability tests.
In our usability testing, questioned users’ understandings of the whos/ whats/ wheres/ whens/ whys of sharing their data with Purple Ant.
We received insights on opportunities for the product - which we were sure to present as future recommendations to our client - but in terms of our focus on meaningful consent? We nailed it!
“Simple and sleek” FAQ Page (click to expand)
Users loved the “simple” and “sleek” breakdown of Purple Ant’s data policy (left). They understood what was being taken, how it was being used to benefit them, and their data’s value.
PROTOTYPE
Click for Mid-fidelity prototype (Invision)
The final handoff included annotating our wireframe screens (why do I love this so?), these were made to ease the transition for the designers and/or engineers who will pick up where we left off.
Annotated wireframes (click to expand)
Style guide (click to expand)
In our final client meeting, we created a priority matrix with our stakeholder to help them create a hierarchy of importance of our recommendations in moving forward with the development of this product. Below, you can view the summary document: