ICA Features Update

case study | features update

research, information architecture, visual design, wireframing, prototyping

CLIENT

ICA

TIMELINE

2 weeks

TOOLS

figma, figjam, google slides, trello, canva

overview

ICA is a law-enforcement command within the Ministry of Home Affairs. ICA is accountable directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Government of Singapore. They oversee most immigration and identification related matters in Singapore. They have three service centres which cater to Citizens, Permanent Residents and finally Visitors.

The ICA is looking to improve their website and simplify their users’ experiences when using it. As Singapore is moving towards a digital future, the ICA will be frequented a lot more by people who may not be tech savvy and should be as simple as possible.

We focused extensively on both market & user research through gathering insights directly from users to understand the their perspective and needs. Through above methods we were able to come up with a high-fidelity prototype that can effectively solve the frustrations our users without bias and assumptions.

This is a 2 weeks design sprint with my teammates Poh Li & Benjamin.

current design

discover & research

Through data analysis and market research we were able to find out that 76% of the traffic comes from Singapore with the remaining percentage split between India, Malaysia, the US and others in 2021. Majority of the people visits the website to apply or renew their passport with submitted the SG Arrival Card being the second most visited reason. With that said from our research we created a high-fidelity prototype to better enhance the online experience of our users and addressed their pain points.

design process & methods used

key insights

Conducted a total of 10 interviews for the initial stage for synthesizing data.

personas

problem 1

Alex needs to find a way to travel to Georgia so that he can meet the girl of his dreams in person.

how might we

help Alex get his passport renewed so that he can travel overseas so that he can meet Sally.

problem 2

Sally needs to find a way to come to Singapore so that she can build a new life here with Alex.

how might we

assist Sally in finding all the information she needs to get her entry visa to come to Singapore with Alex.

As UX designer, it is our goal to try to make the customer’s journey a delightful one. As you can see here the customers’ happiness level gradually goes down overtime. What can we do to ensure it remains consistently satisfied or have an upward slope trend?

journey mapping

comparative analysis

Since the ICA’s website is a Government body, it has no direct competitors as all their users have to use this platform to perform the required tasks. But we were able to identify some similar government bodies from elsewhere to conduct in depth comparative analysis.

old site map

We’ve closely reviewed and tested the old site map and came up with a better hierarchy for simpler usage.

proposed site map

after we synthesize all the data we’ve came up with some key insights. From there we have identify some of the key pain points that needed to be done. And from there we have drafted up some rough sketches to support our case.

Key parts to take note

  • Redesigning CTA

  • Chat function to make it more lively or interactive

  • Navigation bars

  • Formatting and hierarchies of the page

  • Information accordion / consolidations

  • Colors

Sketch

redesigning

All in all, we came up with 3 different design directions and from here we later picked the one that best solves all the pain points.

design a

  • Dropdown menu

  • Goes directly to the page

  • Autofill

  • Live agent chat

design b

  • 4 main buttons

  • Simplified  navigation

  • Live agent chat

  • Minimise the amount of things you need to look at

design c

  • Following the current flow but simplified 

  • More visually appealing

  • See CTA at a glance

  • Live agent chat

wireframing

after we have all the structures all set up and ready to go, we decided on design c which hit most of the needs started wireframing the prototype.

we decided on a few key points to work on

  • professional

  • positive and inviting images

  • clean and high contrast

  • flat design for modern feel

  • 3 colors

  • Minimal

prototype

Here you will see a snapshot of the first version of the hi-fidelity mockup. After this we conducted a usability testing with 5 users to gain some insights on what can be further improved.

Iterations

Here we have put together the 3 main key takeaways from users. And with that we iterated our prototype to meet our user’s need better. We did a total of 2 major iterations.

Here are the tasks we had the users go through

task 1: apply/renew passport

task 2: apply for visitor visa (needs visa)

task 3: apply for visitor visa (does not need visa), sg arrival card

task 4: check for covid regulation

task 5: search function

final design

Here is a comparison of all the changes we’ve made. You will also find the link to our prototype to view the final mockup.

outcome & reflection

Overall this was a great experience. A few key takeaways.

  1. Learning to not make assumptions. This is why we test and test, get out there and talk to people, you will be surprise by what you'll learn.

  2. Working under time constraint. If we had more time I would wish that we could have done more research and understand and touch upon more pain points of the ICA website. Instead we do not have too much time and worked under a sprint environment.

  3. Great process to practice the new skills we learn into real life examples. This redesign project is a great process for us to start. Our team focused on breaking down the many components of the site into small pieces and step by step analyze them to see what could be done better.

  4. It also gave us the opportunity to work on a topic that we are so constraint in style but at the same time trying to find ways to make it better without straying away from the intention and tone of the site.

  5. This also teaches us to use data to back up our findings. This is highly important and a new skill we learned from this project.

  6. Overall it was a great experiences to be able to collaborate with others on a project like this. Collective mind is better than going on your own. I had a great experience learning from my teammates and working together on this.