Pixel Saga – Case Study

Capstone Two – Pixel Saga

Transforming the wonders of comics into digital form.

Overview

The love of comics is now something passed down from one generation to the next. With the wave of streaming services, we see that more young people want to have the same ease with reading comics as they do with movies and music. This is where Pixel Saga comes into play.

Starting with the idea of it being free to use, a lot of young adults are expected to use it to read comics. But only so much can be done when it’s not gaining revenue. That in mind, I created a membership option for users to have a better experience with and more comics to offer.

Through my research and testing, I found what really speaks to those who read comics. I designed screens that I know would be intuitive and easy to use. I achieved all of this with the help of my mentor, Ashley.

Pixel Saga Prototype

There are still some people out there who believe comic books are nothing more than, well, comic books. But the true cognoscenti know graphic novels are – at their best – an amazing blend of art literature and the theater of the mind.

John Ridley

Personas

Based on the competitive and secondary research I did, I created two personas; a returning free user and a new subscriber.

Some insights I made:

  • Those who are between the ages of 18-24 don’t want to spend an arm and a leg for content when there are so many other subscription platforms
  • There are going to be those are not going to be subscribing to the service

User Journey

Once I had the personas down, I moved what the user flow would look like. I knew that I wanted to have a choice of memberships that the user can get, that way there would be some discounts depending on how many people were using the app.

I needed to make sure that the returning free users could also be able to upgrade as well.

Low Fidelity Design Sketches

Each screen I broke down, I wanted to make sure that I all the information I needed and the user needed where on the screens. Even if most of them were just place holders, it helped me know what I needed in the future.

With these sketches, I could start to test out my designs before moving to the high fidelity designs.

Information I needed to add:

  • Details of the basic membership
  • Sections on the homepage for free and paid members

Guerilla User Testing

Before I started designing my hi-fi screens, I tested out my sketches with 3 users.

User Feedback

  • On the free user homepage, the upgrade button needs to move up to the top so it is not over top of the ad
  • A selection of what type of payment (i.e. PayPal)
  • Put in more information for the different memberships. What do each of them do?

High Fidelity UI Design

Once I tested out all usability mistakes, I started designing the final screens in Figma.

The brand style of the app was bold, smart, and hip so I wanted to ensure that the logo and color scheme reflected that.

Design decisions:

  • I chose to go with a darker style that is easier on the eyes. A darker UI also brought out the comic art better as well.
  • The color scheme I chose went really well together and it made my work flow way faster

I love reaching out and seeing what others think of the design.

Usability Testing

With my designs and prototype finished, I reached out to 5 users to test it out. There were a few that pointed out the flaws of the sign up process and how it was shown. All 5 of the users did say that they would get the app and the membership.

Small Feedback:

  • Watch where the ads and pop-ups go on the screen
  • Gray out the areas where free users cannot access
  • Making sure the user knows that they can sign up or cancel at anytime
  • Adding some genre sections

In Review

Seeing that there are so many subscription based media out there, it can be hard to stand out from the rest. What has to be kept in mind is the experience and how fun things can be used. If they are easy and fun, then most likely people will come back for that same experience.

If I were to go back and add more screens, I would focus on the design flow of comic genres and how the comics are displayed to be read.

Comic book and manga readers are simple; they are excited for the next chapter. They are always on the edge of their seat waiting for more.