Cirkl

Research and discovery

This project built on existing time banking research rather than conducting original fieldwork. The goal was to explore platform potential and to create a research-led first iteration suitable for early design and evaluation.

• Based on a published user research study.
• The participant cohort size was 255.
• Self-administered questionnaires were used.
• The data covered motivation and barriers.
• Explorative first iteration for the assessment of viability.

The objective wasn’t to simply create an application to facilitate time banking. Time banks already exist but are underused. My goal was to design an interaction model around reducing motivational complexity, starting with verified behavioural evidence rather than feature brainstorming.

Defining the problem

The project addressed issues caused by rising living costs and weakened community cohesion, promoting time-banking's potential to support people struggling to get by. The focus was not primarily on facilitating service exchange, but on effecting behavioural change, removing the barriers that prevent participation, so involvement feels safe, visible, and worth returning to.

Who it was for

Research showed a wide mix of ages, confidence levels, and motivations. Cirkl was designed to support this range, from people seeking help to those wanting to contribute or connect. Four detailed personas were developed to reflect these differences and test whether the system could support varied needs without overly favouring one type of participant.

Methods and rationale

To cross-analyse user data, motivation, and to guide project structure, I employed a sequence of interconnected methods. This combination aimed to synthesise meaningful insights for appropriate app function.

• Motivation Evaluation: Insights from the study.
• Demographic Insights: The data, supported by desk research.
• Noun Verb Extraction: Visualising usage intent.
• Task and Detailed Interaction Modelling: Task sequence and context of use.
• UML Class Model: Communicating functional requirement steps.
• Personas: Understanding user variation.
• ISO 9241 HCI Documentation: Following recognised standards.

This approach prevents a common failure in novel projects. Instead of jumping from insights to screens, I built a bridge from behavioural evidence to task structure. Then I used evaluation methods to test if the structure can be learned and executed.

Mixed method approach

Using multiple methods in parallel revealed insights that wouldn’t have emerged in isolation. Personas exposed unmet needs, motivation data challenged my assumptions, and task and concept models revealed structural and procedural gaps. Together, they created a clear line from research findings to roles, flows, and interface decisions, allowing design choices and usability issues to be closely tracked and mirrored to the evidence.

Synthesis

Synthesis focused on turning the research findings into concrete design structure. Motivations were grouped into themes, which led to three distinct engagement roles and the separation of membership from the need to engage in mutual exchange. This clarified how people participate in different ways and shaped the decision to support non-transactional involvement alongside active requests and offers of service.

Interaction and product logic

Cirkl’s interaction model and product logic are organised around three main sections with clear rules for creating and managing posts and threads.

• Ask for Help generates a single request.
• Lend a Hand responds to multiple requests.
• Replies automatically create chat threads.
• Threads are readable by all users.
• Requests close upon acceptance to prevent conflicts.
• Threads persist after completion, forming a knowledge resource.

This logic aims to transform every interaction into shared community knowledge. By keeping threads accessible after completion, learning is supported, duplicate requests are reduced, and new users can observe and understand community norms through previous interactions.

Information architecture

The information architecture focused on clarity and separation of activity. A single home hub linked to distinct request and response areas, with clear differentiation between open, in-progress, and completed tasks. This structure kept the product centred on activity rather than messaging, ensuring communication only existed to support service exchange rather than becoming an end in itself.

Usability requirements

Usability was defined using ISO criteria and shaped by practical constraints around privacy, location, and platform. The app was designed as a mobile-first progressive web app using a nickname-based identity model. Location was captured through partial postcode entry, balancing usefulness with privacy and influencing several interface and interaction decisions.

Evaluation methods and findings

I created a prototype and assessed it using two complementary approaches: a heuristic evaluation against the ISO HCI dialogue principles and a cognitive walkthrough to assess its learnability for novices.

• The heuristic review revealed feedback gaps.
• It confirmed strengths in clarity and consistency.
• The walkthrough tested learnability and identified errors.
• A limitation was discovered and added to the backlog for future iteration.

The heuristic assessment provided a broad quality overview encompassing consistency, controllability and suitability for learning. The walkthrough then pinpointed potential user stalls, particularly for older users who depend on explicit feedback and guidance. Together, these methods generated actionable iteration targets.

Summary

The Cirkl documentation is a 44 page report that demonstrates, in detail, how to design a system around behavioural evidence rather than starting with surface features. The project demonstrates how motivation data can inform role modelling and pathway design and how evaluation can identify specific friction points even in early wireframe stages. Furthermore, it illustrates a pragmatic approach to iteration, prioritising improvements based on observed breakdowns over personal preference.