Project Overview

My team conceived Errandly as part of a mobile app development competition sponsored by Capital One, where the challenge was to build an app from scratch over a 15 week period (6 sprints).
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Errandly simplifies the lives of busy college students by providing a marketplace for students to post and fulfill errands. Whether you need someone to help you move into your dorm, petsit your cat over winter break, or help with any other task, Errandly connects you with trusted peers who are ready to assist.

My Contributions

I took on various hats in the design and development of our app. I was primarily responsible for designing the UX/UI flow, visual identity, and branding.

I also contributed to the code development of Errandly's features in SwiftUI, polishing the views and logic, and I designed various marketing artifacts: a cel-animated commercial (see above video) and brand poster (see at the end of case study) conveying our application features.

Post Errand Requests

Users can describe what they need to get done by posting a new errand to the marketplace. They are able to share extra details or requirements, mark a preferred date that the errand needs to be finished by, and offer transactions for your errand runner.

To help other students find their errand request, users also have the option of adding their location and/or subject tags to their post.

Run Errands for Other Students

Get compensated for lending a helping hand. In the marketplace, users can find various errands from local students, and view errand details to pick up errands that match your schedule and resources.

Sort and Filter Errands

Search, filter, and sort for available errands. Users can order by time and due date, or look for specific errands based on title or tags.

Users can also sort errands by the distance the errands are away from them, simply by optionally enabling the app to use their iPhone location.

Other Features Include:

Secure Payments through Apple Pay

A simple and efficient transaction system for users to receive compensation for helping with an errand, or to pay an errand runner through Apple Pay.

Message Users with iMessage Redirection

Connect with other students through text. User can find those who are ready to assist or seeking help, and stay connected throughout the process.

Customize Profile & Check Errand Histories

Log in with your Google account and keep track of your history: which errands you’ve posted and picked up, which are in progress or complete.

For college students, it can be difficult adjusting to and balancing adulting and college. This graphic shows the details of our problem space and the interviews we did with real students.

With these insights, we developed hi-fi wireframes:

Using a new set of hi-fi wireframes, we built an interactive prototype which you can explore here
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We tested the interactive prototype with 4 potential users, using 12 different feedback points to adjust the first development version of our app. We also adjusted Errandly's visual identity, and added profile indicators to personalize the community experience.

In the same week, we began testing our APIs and setting up our backend database. In Firebase, we created 2 collections, errands and users, and populated those collections with sample data fields. To the right is an example of an errand in the database:

Based on our changes, Errandly connects student communities to a central app in order to ease the burden of running college errands.

5. Design System

5. Reflections

⛳ Agile project-making

This was my first time developing within the mindset and scope of an iOS mobile app, so building Errandly from idea to conception was a new and exciting avenue for me. Using agile methodology and working in sprints and clear timelines helped my team so much in organizing our time.

💻 Practiced full-stack development

Before this project, I was unconfident in my programming, and thought it might be better for me to stick to designing. However, in building out our app with Swift, I learned how to problem-solve and debug when encountering issues, and ultimately deliver interfaces of enough quality so that we could submit Errandly to the Apple App Store. I now understand firsthand the designer vs. developer memes that are created, and I can appreciate the work of both roles much better.

🤹 Cross-functional teamwork is rewarding

I was also reminded of the fruitfulness of working in a diverse group; I believe my team was able to really come together and we could leverage all of our differing backgrounds (with teammates who had more CS-heavy or PM-heavy skills) in a way that balanced our strengths together very well.

Errandly

Errandly is a mobile marketplace for college students to post and fulfill daily errands with their peers.

Project Overview

Other Features Include:

Secure Payments through Apple Pay

Message Users with iMessage Redirection

Customize Profile & Check Errand Histories

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