thank god for apple's human interface guidelines!
but why does Apple Give users multiple ways to Accomplish their tasks?
Kicking off the design phase, I focused primarily on following existing guidance from Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines. This would ensure that I could maintain a cohesive pattern that is familiar to users through when designing a solution.
As I started to outline the user flows, I found myself drafting multiple flows to accomplish a single task. I knew Apple often has multiple avenues a user could take to accomplish their task (as opposed to just one), therefore, I decided to keep the multiple options of flows. I decided to test the flows with users during usability testing to see if I could find any patterns or evidence to support keeping multiple flows to accomplish these tasks.
Adding messages to an existing folder
View and manage folders
edit message history setting
Users were able to accomplish a majority of the tasks. Their ability to add messages to folders and create folders were successful with many finding the process seamless.
On top of the success rate, I did find a fairly even split between which user flow users would take to accomplish their task. Therefore, I decided to keep the various user flows in my final designs to give users options.
"That was SO COOL. I want that on my phone"
"I would definitely use this feature!"
It is better to include copy instruction vs letting people scramble to figure out flows themselves
After the usability testing phase, I implemented revisions based on user feedback. Since most users had trouble understanding the Message History settings, I re-designed the screens to provide better copy and instructions. Most users expressed stress and discomfort when it came to making permanent changes, such as deleting messages, so I wanted to ensure the proper wording and warnings were clearly displayed when interacting with this setting.
