About Iliad
Iliad is the product of 9 years of design experience, and UX training through Google and Springboard. It was a solo project, researched, designed and illustrated in 4 weeks.
Design Thinking
Design thinking provided the structure for creating Iliad. While design thinking is a largely linear process in description, I like to allow cross-pollination of the stages where it helps, especially keeping empathy as a constant throughout the UX process.
Empathize
Research
I performed secondary research and conducted primary interviews on the topic of novel writing.

This research yielded insights into how difficult writing is for those getting started. Difficulty, time commitment, self-doubt and other factors all contribute to the sheer cliff that many see when thinking of writing a novel.
Empathize
Interviews
The interview process provided helpful anecdotes and experiences that informed the development of the problem statement, and the challenges faced by the personas developed later on in the design process.
Interview Highlights
Interviewee A
"I've wanted to start writing, but I always psych myself out of it before I get started, it seems too daunting for me."
Interviewee B
"I've tried writing a novel before, but it was really tough to keep track of it all and the eye strain from working on my laptop was giving me migraines."
Define
The Problem
Writing a novel is hard.
‍
Novel writing is a balancing act of planning and spontaneity. Creating and managing a plan for a novel, mitigating the distractions that pull prospective writers away from their work, and suffering through the frustrations that make writing unappealing all drive prospective writers away from their storytelling dreams.
Ideate
The Goal
Make novel writing easier.

Iliad’s goal is to empower writers with tools to increase productivity, alleviate struggles with planning, and to make writing more accessible. for everyone.

Based on my UX research I identified 3 areas of focus for Iliad.
Planning
Build contextual planning tools to help budding writers keep track of their novel and develop its components.
Focus
Enable writers to focus by eliminating distractions from their writing tool and reducing decision fatigue.
Accessibility
Reduce eye strain, and provide support for writers who need alternative ways to bring their story to life.
Empathize
Personas
Personas built on research results and brought alive with specific takeaways from the interview process provided a lens into the potential users who could bonus from Iliad's focal feature groups.
Aaron
Traits
Ambitious, Extroverted, Busy, Scattered, Stressed
Bio
Aaron is a budding writer who is juggling college and a part time job. He is very busy, but finds himself day dreaming of his future novel in between obligations. He has many ideas but worries writing is too much commitment.
Problem
Writing is too time consuming, and planning is too daunting.
Goal
Make writing more efficient, and make novel planning easy and intuitive.
Amy
Traits
Consistent, Introverted, Organized, Structured, Open-minded
Bio
Amy is an experienced writer who writes during the evening after her workday. She has a packed work schedule and mostly tries to write at night during her quiet time. She loves seeing things from different perspectives and trying new approaches to tackle old problems.
Problem
Writing on her schedule can leave her unfocused, writing at night is unfomcortable.
Goal
Remove distractions, reduce the impact of writing at night, and have new ways to visualize her work.
Ash
Traits
Resourceful, Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Open-minded
Bio
Ash is a visually-impaired practiced writer who writes during her free time in-between college classes. They have enough free time to make their writing goals a reality, and already has their first novel in progress.
Problem
Ash struggles with the interface complexity of word processors, and lack of accessibility features like dark mode and screen reading.
Goal
Ash needs a simple, accessible writing platform with features that let them write easily and comfortably.
Prototype
Lo-Fi Wireframes
The Lo-Fi Prototype informed decisions made towards readability and color implementation across the project, but more usability testing and feedback from fellow designers showed that too many colors was busy and could distract the user instead of helping them focus on their process.
Prototype
Lessons Learned
The Lo-Fi Prototype informed decisions made towards readability and color implementation across the project, but more usability testing and feedback from fellow designers showed that too many colors was busy and could distract the user instead of helping them focus on their process.
Thanks to UX research, user testing, and feedback at all stages of development, the Iliad UI and UX underwent extensive iteration during the concept development period. This is a selected slice of the iteration process from wireframe to final.
Prototype
The Redesign
Color Test 2 was the final step before the redesign. After testing and feedback, it was clear change was needed. The colors were distracting on their own, and the UI relied on iconography and assumption to enable its minimal footprint. This prompted a major redesign to remedy these problems, and tackle user problems encountered during research.
Test
Sibyl
Sibyl is Iliad’s third eye for budding writers. Sibyl helps visualize the user’s novel project, keeping tabs on characters, locations, and concepts (elements) in a relationship map and timeline. Sybil empowers budding authors to write confidently knowing they can turn to Sybil in need.

Sybil can reveal which elements the author has defined and link the writer to notes and definitions in the relationship map in the project screen.
Persona Responses
Aaron
"Sibyl helps me feel like I can jump right back into writing, if I need to remember a concept she's right there!"
Amy
"Sibyl helps me see the big picture of my novel and think of my work in new ways. She really boosts my creativity!"
Ash
"Sibyl helps me see the big picture of my novel and think of my work in new ways. She really boosts my creativity!"
Test
Focus
Focus is Iliad’s minimalist writing experience. When Focus is toggled all of Iliad’s interface elements are stripped away from the writing space, leaving only the cursor and the text. Sybil is disabled, but can still keep track of the user’s novel behind the scenes.

Focus is a full screen mode on desktop that optionally mutes device audio, and if Iliad’s user has the companion app on their phone can also silence phone notifications automatically when Focus is on. Focus automatically disables after 30 minutes of inactivity, ensuring the user doesn’t miss any calls.
Persona Responses
Aaron
"Focus really helps me get... well, focused! I don't need all the stuff in the interface when I'm trying to get going."
Amy
"Focus mode really helps me get writing done in the evenings, especially with the high contrast dark mode on!"
Ash
"Focus is great for letting me remove all the stuff I don't need, and with font size scaling it makes seeing text easier!"
Test
Accessibility
Accessibility is of vital importance to Iliad’s writing experience. Accessibility not only provides an equitable experience to all who choose to start their writing journey with Iliad, it benefits all users by providing comfort, customization, and new ways to experience your writing.

In addition to the high contrast dark mode and text scaling options, Iliad features a text-to-speech feature letting you read selected text, or entire chapters, in different voices at various speeds and cadences, and voice-to-text dictation for those who have trouble with typing.
Persona Responses
Aaron
"I didn't think I'd need these extra features, but dark mode really changed the way I write, and text dictation is so cool!"
Amy
"I really can't go back to life without dark mode, writing in the evenings is so much nicer without the white screen!"
Ash
"Voice to text dictation and text-to-speech really make writing accessible for me as a visually impaired person!"
Final Prototype
The final prototype of the Iliad concept integrates the research, design, prototyping, and usability testing of the Iliad app. Developed entirely in Figma, this prototype was designed to demonstrate a wide breadth of potential functionality and interaction utilizing components and overlays, instead of demonstrating specific user stories.
View in Figma
(Best viewed on desktop!)
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