100 participants were surveyed about their typical printing tendencies & frustrations.

5 interviews were conducted to gain further, more in-depth qualitative information.

The HP Tango Printer is small, sleek, and emphasizes the use of mobile printing from smart devices. Based on research findings, this printer's focus on convenience and mobility lines up with the average college students' printing habits and needs.
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User Personas

OOBE Testing

7 participants took part in an Out-of-Box-Experience test, where their actions were recorded and observed from the point they opened up the packaging to the moment they were able to successfully print.
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Overall, users found that the physical product had a clean design with a simple interface. The main problem areas occurred when the user began dealing with connection between the mobile device and the printer. The current system to connect through the network was extremely difficult in every user case during our testing sessions

User Journey Map

Tasks executed throughout the user journey were mapped out and grouped into 4 phases:‍‍‍

• PURCHASE: Initial acquisition of product, pickup, and transport
• OOBE: Printer opening, setup, and connection
• USE: Activities done in order to accomplish a successful print
• MAINTAIN: Replenishing of resources, troubleshooting, and technical maintenance

Three major user pain points:

• Connecting to a network: Using the mobile app to connect to the printer was found to be “hard”, “confusing”, and “annoying”.
• Sending a document to print: Navigating the mobile application was “complicated” and printing a document from a mobile device was found to be long-winded.
• Checking manuals for troubleshooting: Manuals for troubleshooting lead to a sense of “information overload” and many found the sheer amount instructions to be “overwhelming”

From the Out-of-Box-Experience tests and user journey mapping, it became evident that many of the underlying issues could be attributed to the HP Smart App. Our next step was to delve further into how we could address and mitigate these issues.

Current App Analysis

A thorough analysis of the app's current state was conducted to identify major usability issues and frustrations.

Home Action Tiles

• Overwhelming amount of options for the user to scan through when priority should be printing
  
• Not entirely clear how to add a printer

Errors & Alerts

• User has to tap an action tile just to receive an alert that the feature is unavailable
  
• No clear printer status indication

Find/Select Printer

• Drop down list has a large amount of options and is difficult to navigate
• No method to search or quickly find specific printer model
  

Wireframing & Paper Prototyping

During a rapid prototyping a workshop ran by Prudential Financial, our team was given 10 minutes to ideate and sketch redesign concepts for the HP Smart App.  

Our primary focus was on the mobile printing and scanning flow, as that was what we found users had the most issues with when testing. Based on our market research, printing and scanning are also the most widely needed and utilized functions of a printer.

High Fidelity Prototyping

Once we solidified the flow and user interactions for the printing process, the wireframes were translated into high fidelity screens using Figma.

Our team had a blast working on a real product for HP and overall, it was a great learning experience for all of us. Throughout the process, we conducted some extensive background and market research, took part in some awesome rapid-prototyping workshops in collaboration with Prudential Financial, and learned all about user journey mapping.

Main Takeaways

• Brand awareness is crucial.
• Know your target demographic.
• When hitting a creative block, sometimes going back to rapid paper and pencil prototyping can help get the ball rolling again.