The idea of 84 POST was sparked from a friend's words…
“One day I was cleaning my room, I randomly found some old letters from my best friends, I started to miss the feeling of spending time and writing letters to each other.”
In today's fast-paced society, the art of letter writing has become less common, overshadowed by the convenience of technology. However, the limitations of technology also bring about a unique form of enjoyment. We are passionate about cutting-edge technology yet also find beauty in the nostalgia of traditional experiences. Important things always take time. Information that takes time to deliver often carries more significance than instant text messages.
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Target Audience
84 Post was designed for a special group of people who value communication through writing and sending letters in this era of instant messaging., such as Close friends, Schoolmates and Couples. After the mini program was launched, it turns out that 70%+ users are at the age between 20 and 25.
How Does 84 Post work?
There is English caption, so make sure you turn on the CC :)
1. WRITING & SENDING LETTER
- Write a virtual letter with selected paper and envelope
- Filling out sender & receiver contact information
- Choose a mailing method and pay
- Send out the virtual mail
2. TRACKING & WAITING
- After sent out the letter, the mail will start"travel". The time will be estimated based on the distance between two locations and weather (We use AMAP api to calculate)
- Then both of you enjoy the waiting
- Also, you can track your mail anytime, just like tracking a mail in the reality
3. Picking Up by Receiver
- The receiver will get a text message when the mail arrived (receive pickup code and location included)
- The receiver needs to arrive near the pickup area
- Enter pickup code in 84 POST to get the virtual mail
Why does this idea work better as a WeChat mini-program than as an app?
1. Writing letters is not something people will do on daily basis. Therefore, a mini program will be more suitable for our product concept as it's concept of grab and go.
2. We wanted to take the advantage of the properties of mini-program: low-cost & rapid iterative
Challenge 1
How might we balance the Real World Experience & Digital Experience?
1. Defining "Mailing methods"
84 POST offers three mailing methods. To define the differences, our team sat down to discuss the limitations and advantages of each method. Here's a comparison of the different types of mailing methods.
84 POST Real World Experience
- No matter what type of mailing methods, the recipients will have to arrived near the pickup address physically to pickup the letters.
- Different possibilities of losing letters based on weather between the two addresses
vs.
84 POST Digital Experience
- Typing replaces hand-writing (could be both good and bad thing)
- SMS notifications to the recipients when the letter is arrived
2. Wireframe Iteration
We iterated our wireframe based on the user feedback after it was launched.
Here are some comparisons between the version 1 and version 2:
Main Page
In our first version wireframe, we had a tab bar on the bottom of the screen that allows user to switch from writing letter, pickup letters and my profile anytime they want. The reason why we take out the tab bar is because we observed that people rarely use the tab bar when they are writing the letters.
Writing Letters
The "Done" button was originally placed at the very bottom of the screen. However, we learned that the user cannot see the button directly since the screen is scrollable.Therefore, we placed the button to the top of the page. So it is more obvious for people to see.
Choosing Mailing Methods
As we all know, people never read product instructions. This is also the reason why many people expressed their confusion when they first use 84 POST.
So how can we make the information more accessible when they need them. To help the first time users better understand the differences of the three mailing methods, we provide many explanation on the interface when they need them.
3. Final Wireframe
WE paid attention to details
Progress Bar
To make sure the users know where they are in the writing & sending process, we included a progress bar on the top of the interface.
Shake to Delete Letters
Memories are valuable. We wanted to prevent user delete their letters by accident. Therefore, the delete buttons will only appear after the users shake their phone.
Challenge 2
Design a visual style that is just right for "virtual mailing."
Icons
We believe that interface shouldn't be aesthetic only, it should also serve the function and concept. Our UI designer Marcus developed a visual style that creates a skeuomorphism vibe and corresponds to the experiences of writing letters.
Papers & Stamps
We also designed various kinds of letter papers and stamps together for users to choose for different writing purposes.
This is how we transferred one of the Chinese people's childhood memories into stamps
USER feedback
1. When we were doing user testing, many users expressed their desire to reply the sender when they received a letter. Therefore, this might be a possible direction to iterate for our next steps.
2. Right now, the "feeling of writing a letter" is kind of lacking. We are still trying to explore more ways to make the experience richer.
3. Through this experience, I have gained knowledge on how to communicate effectively with various stakeholders within a product team, specifically developers and visual designers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
1. When we were doing user testing, many users expressed their desire to reply the sender when they received a letter. Therefore, this might be a possible direction to iterate for our next steps.
2. Right now, the "feeling of writing a letter" is kind of lacking. We are still trying to explore more ways to make the experience richer.
3. Through this experience, I have gained knowledge on how to communicate effectively with various stakeholders within a product team, specifically developers and visual designers.
📮 May your voice carries more weight.