Key Lime Interactive
Overview
Key Lime Interactive (KLI) is a user experience and customer experience research strategy, and design services agency. Their focus is on helping companies take a human-first approach to build better brand experiences, products, and services. Being a remote company, KLI noticed that despite the emergence of tools during the pandemic to aid remote working, most of these tools emphasized productivity rather than fostering a sense of community and connection among employees.
This project is exploratory based and the main objective is to develop a mid-fidelity design, with a focus on enhancing the Key Lime employee experience, specifically in promoting connectivity among remote workers.
Role
UX Researcher
Time
Aug - Dec 2023
(4 months)
Collaborators
Ben Habegger
Sowmyashree Bharathan
Damaris Adeniji
Daphnee Delisha
Method & Tool
Method: User Interviews, Affinity Diagramming, Journey Mapping, Comparative Analysis, Prototyping, User Testing
Tool: Figma, Miro, Canva
Timeline
Design Process
01
Research
Questions to Answer
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What are trends and statistics saying about remote work, and how can we parallel those insights to Key Lime's work environment?
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How have other companies or solutions approached connection in their context(s), and what can we take from them?
Article / Literature Review
We began our research by looking at how employees are affected by remote work by looking at peer-reviewed articles and literature. The goal of this research is to comprehensively investigate the impact of remote working environments on employee productivity, satisfaction, and well-being. By utilizing statistical analysis, we identified key trends and patterns.
Insights
Comparative Analysis
The goal of analyzing other applications and services in this domain is to understand how different companies tackle the issue of connection; Through this, we hope to gauge what works, and what doesn’t, and understand how it may apply to Key Lime’s context.
Kumospace
Kumospace is a free virtual office and events platform that allows users to host virtual events. It's used by organizations worldwide to host virtual events, including Happy hours, Virtual games, Virtual conferences, and Major conferences.
Kumospace aims to replicate the look of an office to offer users a resemblance of the in-person working experience.
Gather
Gather is a video-calling app that helps remote teams build a virtual office. It allows multiple people to have separate conversations at the same time. The app provides a customizable 2D map that can accommodate up to 500 users.
Gather can be used for Meetings, Co-working, Game nights, Parties, and Webinars.
Secondary Research Summary
02
Interview
We conducted interviews with 8+ Key Lime employees to gain insights into the current state of remote connection among their employees. Additionally, we wanted to identify the specific user requirements of KLI workers to look in-depth into the software and services they are currently using and pinpoint any challenges they are facing when establishing connections with their colleagues.
Below is a sample of a question that was asked in the screener.
03
Affinity Diagramming
Following our interviews, it was important to us to synthesize the data so we used the affinity diagramming technique to find patterns in responses.
As a team, we conducted two rounds of affinity diagramming. We categorized the interview data into groups, aligning them based on similarities and connections. Subsequently, we assigned a header to each section to encapsulate the overarching theme to help us clearly define the major topics.
Insights
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Employees experience forced connection of KeyLime events
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Employees feel a sense of isolation in the remote work environment
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Importance of organic connections with minimal effort
Priority Matrix
From the data analysis, we formulated “How Might We” questions to reframe problems into opportunities, aiming to generate innovative solutions. We then proceeded to develop a prioritization matrix using the HMW questions. This approach facilitated a comprehensive assessment and ranking of potential solutions.
We progressively refined our HMW’s based on feasibility and value, ultimately determining the significance of focusing on HMW’s that offer high impact with a moderate level of effort.
The three most crucial HMW questions. This involves:
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How might we mirror in-person (hallway) experiences to the digital space?
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How might we take the effort away from the individual, and still organically produce connection?
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How might we make new employees feel welcome in a remote environment?
04
User Journey
Following our affinity diagramming activity, our team created a user journey map. A user journey map would help us visualize the data found from interviews and our subsequent affinity diagramming. The map follows a persona Key Lime employee, Kayla, and is a generality of our findings. This map helped us pair quotes, emotions, and touchpoints together.
Insights
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Overall engagement and interaction is low throughout the work day
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Low points tend to fall during client meetings and solo work
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Work events like Pre-Happy hour are poorly timed and often fall when employees are just trying to go home
05
C-Suite Workshop
Our team had the opportunity to workshop with Key Lime Interactive’s C-Suite. Our main objectives for this workshop were to gain perspective from company leadership, create a space for idea generation, and to leave with a solidified plan moving forward.
Participants: chiefs, chairs, and/or directors at KLI (4 participants) | Time: 1 Hour
Post-Worshop Analysis
The workshop provided good insights into the perspective of Key Lime leadership, and we now have actionable feedback to continue the project with a forward trajectory and growth mindset. If we could do our same workshop over again, I think we would have loved to have more time, and more importantly, account for time lost to transitioning, explaining, and sharing.
06
Prototyping
Low-Fi Mockups
Value
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Shared spaces provide a solution that can integrate within Key Lime’s current Google Workspace ecosystem.
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These spaces bridge the gap between in-person connection and communication to the digital space.
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Allows for unforced ways to connect with fellow Key Lime employees.
Consensus Low-Fidelity Design
Features
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Calendar Integration: The ability to integrate calendars into screens.
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Activity Room / Collaboration Room: A designated space for collaborative activities.
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Opt-in / Opt-out: The option for users to choose their participation status.
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QOTD (Question of the Day): A daily posed question for user engagement.
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Notification Stream linking to Google Workspaces: A stream of notifications connected to Google Workspaces for seamless communication.
07
User Testing
Goals
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Comprehension and Interpretation: Assessing how users understand the displayed information, especially in terms of visual representation and navigation
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Functionality and Usability: Evaluating the ease of performing tasks like contacting individuals and navigating rooms, alongside assessing the value of features like poking, RSVPs, and bulletin boards in a work context
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User Expectation and Satisfaction: Gathering insights into how well the service aligns with users’ workflow and whether it fulfills their need
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Feedback and Improvement: Identifying any issues or areas of improvement based on user feedback
08
Final Design
Usability Testing Changes
