Overview
Imagine being a student and having to open 4 different tabs just to find one digital file across Google, OneDrive, and Dropbox - only for you to forget where the file is. Maybe your school uses Outlook, but your family decided to use Google. This is a problem that so many people across the world face - including myself - which is why I decided to design and build Notos Cloud.
Notos Cloud is a cloud-storage platform that unifies different cloud storage solutions into one. The aim is to simplify the workflow for users who have accounts with multiple cloud storage platforms.
My Role
Lead Product Designer, Research, UI/UX Design, QA
Timeline
3 months
Team
Michael Septirymen, Avani Dubey, Nikhil Lakhwani
Software Used
Figma, Webflow
The Problem
There are too many different cloud storage providers that all achieve a similar goal. However, we found that there was a lot of problems associated with having different accounts with different providers, such as difficulty in maintaining file organization and forgetting where specific files are located.
The Challenge
How might we use design to create a software that can unify all cloud storage software into one beautiful platform?
Research
Validity Research
First, we wanted to make sure that we addressed a real problem. We did this by surveying 250 participants on the use of different cloud file software and common pain points. We found that 67% of the participants found it important or very important to have a unified view of all their cloud files.
Additionally, around 60% found it difficult to maintain file organization and difficult to find specific files.
Figure 1 - A graph of the participant's responses of the importance of having a unified view of all their cloud files.
Figure 2 - The affinity diagram created to understand users' needs with regards to a cloud storage platform.
Ideation
Beginning of Ideation
The team and I started to realize the importance of a unified cloud storage, and started devising a product that could read users' files from different cloud storage providers and present them in a unified view. This would solve the main issues we identified during our initial validity research.
Figure 3 - The general user flow created for the app; made in FigJam.
The Solution
Our solution was to create Notos Cloud, an all-in-one integrated solution to the problem of too many different cloud storage providers. Notos Cloud helps consumers organize files from all of their cloud storage platforms into one beautiful software.
Designing Components and Screens
Components
To start, we created components and a design system to use throughout the app. After considering other styles such as glassmorphism, and design systems such as Material UI, we decided to settle on a minimal style based on ChakraUI's design system.
Figure 4 - Some components designed for Notos Cloud, based on ChakraUI.
Screens
After establishing the design system, we designed some screens to test with potential users, such as the one in Figure 4
Figure 4 - Storage screen built with Figma
User Testing
User Interviews
After designing the screens, we contacted potential users, and received 24 people on the waitlist for the app. Those waitlisted also had the opportunity to try a sample flow of the app and give us feedback.
Mostly, the feedback was positive, with the testers saying that they enjoy the simple and familiar layout. Some users, however, wanted more robust features in the next version, which we have started working on.
