To start the development process I sketched out what I thought the user flow should look like and then drew this out as wireframes. Having actually called some GP’s and businesses earlier in the project came in really handy here as I was able to identify and solve some problems early on. For example:
I added an alert for when a selection is required, which tells the user to return to their phone to select an option.
Rather than only showing estimated times when the queue position isn’t said, I realise it could be estimated by dividing the average queue time by the average call time and changing the user's position at regular intervals.
My next step was to wireframe these in Figma. I realised right away that the user flow was over-complicated by the Rolodex feature, so I decided to go back to sketching to solve this.
Rather than have users input their number into a phone component to the app, I decided a better solution would be to have the app always running in the background, and while it wouldn’t listen to calls, it could maybe detect certain frequencies being received. Due to how many hold pre-recordings sound so similar, I think it’s reasonable to assume that it could detect a pre-recording without actually listening to the exact words. If not frequencies, it could also pick on patterns between callers or if a number is entered on the keypad after the call has been made. Whatever the method, I’m sure there would be a way to identify the type of call without having to breach the user's privacy.
Now, if the app identifies the user as on hold, it will send a notification to the user, which when tapped will turn the app on to hold for the user.
I think this works much better as my original plan would have seen me make a contact list part of the app which would have been frustrating for users. Using the phone's built-in contact list and phone app works better as users are already familiar with it and they don’t have to remember to call through the app, instead, the app will other to activate for them.
After sketching out the reworked flow, I reworked the Figma wireframes to match the new flow.
I put together a brand for the app, using the name Hold. I started by sketching out a few ideas for brand marks and then moved them into Figma.
While I think both work well, I can see the left allowing for much more cohesion between the brand and UI because of how I’ve envisioned it looking.