About: SnapNotes is a platform designed for students to keep all their academic resources in one accessible space, turning the chaos of scattered notes and files into clarity.

Problem: Students often have difficulty managing handwritten notes, textbooks, and materials while transitioning to digital study habits. They need an efficient way to quickly convert and organize handwritten notes into searchable, accessible digital formats.

Project Goal: To create a digital notebook app that lets students capture photos of handwritten notes, convert them to high-quality PDFs, and organize them by subject, date, or topic. It will include photo capturing and text recognition for searchable notes, making studying and reviewing easy anytime, anywhere.

Key Insights: 

• Participants value organization and search functionality: Users emphasized the importance of organizing their notes into folders or categories, and being able to search through both typed and handwritten content easily. Many wanted a more streamlined way to categorize, search, and retrieve their notes quickly.

• Participants prefer automatic PDF conversion for their notes: Students highly valued the idea of taking pictures of handwritten notes and automatically converting them into PDFs for easier storage and sharing. This process reduces manual effort and allows them to focus more on studying.

• Simplicity and speed are crucial: Users expressed frustration with apps that had overly complicated interfaces or slow performance. They preferred apps that offered fast, straightforward features with minimal setup, as long as they were intuitive.

• Customization and flexibility matter: Many users wanted the option to personalize the app to fit their workflow, such as changing themes, setting up different note styles, or customizing folders and tags.

My high-fidelity prototype provided a seamless mobile experience, beginning with a simple homepage. It then guides users through the individual folders and files, and the flow for creating, uploading, viewing, and editing documents.

To improve this prototype further, I conducted two user testing sessions, which led me to these main revisions:

Conclusion: Digitizing and organizing handwritten notes for students has streamlined the study process by simplifying the transition from physical to digital formats. By designing a photo-to-PDF conversion flow and customizable folder system, I focused on creating an experience that feels both efficient and user-friendly. The interface ensures students can easily capture, categorize, and retrieve their notes. This thoughtful design approach enables students to transition smoothly between physical and digital formats.

Future Improvements: This project was completed over the course of a few months while balancing other commitments. If I had more time, I would have liked to:

• Develop a collaboration feature to allow students to share and co-edit notes.

• Add advanced customization options, such as color-coded folders and personalized templates for different subjects or styles of note-taking. 

Reflection: 

• User-Centered Design Means Empathy: By incorporating scenarios provided by users, such as capturing multipage documents, I learned the power of listening to user feedback to uncover pain points and opportunities for innovation. 

• The Importance of Visual Hierarchy: Ensuring that key features like the "Edit" buttons used high-contrast and prominent placement taught me how effective design can reduce user confusion and enhance functionality. Visual hierarchy plays a vital role in guiding user actions seamlessly. 

• Balancing Functionality and Clarity: Adding more features to the editor bar while maintaining a clear and organized layout emphasized the challenge of balancing robust functionality with intuitive design. Dividers and clean layouts proved essential for usability. 

• Mobile-First Design Practices: Working within the constraints of mobile design pushed me to think critically about space, interaction, and accessibility, ensuring the app remains user-friendly on small screens.