The Purpose
Hillsborough, New Jersey is the perfect combination of suburban living and countryside privacy. Rated as one of the best places to live in the state, the township takes great pride in its reputation and active constituents.
To keep new and current Hillsborough residents informed of community happenings, I created BoroConnect. Intended to be used in tandem with the township website, BoroConnect combines the ease of social media with content that residents at any age or experience level can benefit from.
Below is my journey from basic wireframe to digital Invision prototype.
The Hillsborough companion app serves the following functions…
- Deliver the latest township updates and news
- Promote community culture through photo/video and events
- Provide emergency alerts
- Allow residents to find useful information about township services and local businesses
- Showcase featured stories
For these audiences…
Parents of K-12 graders
Always on the go, these users need updates about their town that are useful and easy to access. Having the app will alert them of potential events or activities to get their kids involved in, while also helping the local economy.
New Residents
In order to start comfortably living in Hillsborough, incoming residents need to easily find forms and information. Important sections like childcare, healthcare, and real estate will help integrate new community members.
And here are their needs…
- Parents can remain engaged in community happenings
- Residents can easily find updates and recent news
- Local businesses are represented and contacted in-app
- Parents can view school, municipal, and road closures
- Residents are able to see seasonal activity calendars
- New residents can locate forms, schedules, and town history
- Provide locals with different options for transportation
The Process
After assessing target audiences and their needs, I began to set up the framework for the app. The below depicts BoroConnect’s information architecture, as well as user stories, scenarios, and flows.
User Testing
Once the initial framework was established, I created paper prototypes for user testing. During testing, participants were challenged to complete a series of 3 tasks:
- Task 1: Create a new account and turn on push notifications
- Task 2: Book an appointment with the Library Tutoring Center
- Task 3: Write a review for a local healthcare provider
These tasks would reveal if users found it possible to complete simple and complex actions within the app. If you’d like to try it for yourself, check out the digitized paper prototype of BoroConnect here.
The Final Product
After conducting testing and discovering where the kinks were, I revised my design to increase ease of use and user confidence. It was then time to develop the high-fidelity prototype.
To create my prototype, I utilized Illustrator & InVision. I chose these software options as I’ve used them before in academic/professional settings and they are intuitive for me. Through this process, BoroConnect truly come to life! View the high-fidelity screens here & the InVision prototype here. Watch the video below for a comprehensive walkthrough of the app.
Alex Piwtoratsky. 