How a new mobile app helped DUST Identity reach 150% of their client booking goals
Dust Queue is a cross between a super-high-tech barcode scanner and inventory management app that allows users to authenticate items using diamond dust. Prior to this app's release, DUST clients had to have items enrolled in the system near a desktop computer or workstation, severely limiting the workflows and types of items users could enroll in the system. This is the story about how we changed that for the better.
DUST's tech revolves around undetectable (invisible) diamond fragments stuck on a sticker (DUST Tag). When scanned using a DUST Scanner these diamond fragments reflect back a unique pattern that. These patterns, when digitized, can authenticate items securely – and using DUST's platforms and solutions, can create a digital identity for that object.
A big problem for DUST, however, was that the DUST scanner only worked with a desktop computer or workstation. So in order to scan an item with a DUST tag, you had to bring it to your desk. Through user interviews we knew this was an issue with our existing user base – and the Sales team knew it was a big detractor for potential clients as well.
To kick off the project, DUST's hardware teamed developed a "loupe" that could be placed over an iPhone camera – setting up an alley-oop with my UX team to create an iOS app that would truly enable the use of DUST's tech on a mobile device.
Results
My Part to Play
200+
Problem
DUST users cannot authenticate items without bringing the item to a desktop workstation
Solution
Mobile Scanning capabilities and accompanying iOS app, allowing DUST clients to authenticate items wherever they are
Responsibilities
As a result of unlocking a mobile tagging solution and new industry partners
Strategy, Research, Design
Role
Timeframe
Q3 2023 - Q1 2024
UX Lead
New qualified leads
3.5s
Previous Average: ~10.5 + item needs to be at a desktop workstation
Time-to-Enroll
150%
Direct result of "Dust Queue" launch
clients booked vs. goal
This video – which I submitted to Apple in the App Store review process – demonstrates basic functionality of the Dust Queue app using an NFC tag rather than a physical item.
Discovery Phase
With DUST struggling to find product market fit, the product team pulled the Engineering, Sales, and UX teams together in Boston to brainstorm ways forward. Through these team exercises and sessions, the team identified the professional sports market as a potential gold mine for DUST's tech. The sales team had contacts within that industry, and could introduce us to a few key professionals currently authenticating items for their teams.
What we did: This led to interviews with these individuals, learning more about their process inside of locker rooms and team facilities. We wanted to not only understand what their current process for authenticating items was, but also where DUST could be used – and where our current technology stack would fall short. We knew we couldn't extend or change their existing workflows too much, so we aimed to integrate seamlessly into their workflow.
Findings: What we found was in-line with our assumptions:
- Teams want to be authenticating items inside the locker room or on the go – making DUST's current scanner a big blocker for sports teams
- Most teams didn't have a bullet proof authentication system – a great opportunity for DUST
- Proven authentication increases value for game used items, which is the main goal for most teams
Teams want to be authenticating items inside the locker room or on the go.
"I don't think I'd want to plug in a scanner every time we authenticate something."
Definition phase
Phase Goal: To uncover patterns in the Discovery phase and land on an official definition of the problem
Affinity Mapping: We arranged our top takeaways into buckets using an Affinity Map, and then "named" those buckets to give us our top User Problems.
Users can authenticate items from a mobile device
Users can authenticate an item in under 10 seconds
Users can add photos, videos, a description and stats to an item record
Users can scan DUST tags, NFC tags, or QR codes to authenticate items
A game-used jersey hanging in the New England Patriots locker room.
Senior staff or administrators within sports teams or collectibles organizations. Interested in data and maximizing profit.
Executive
Personas
Employees of sports teams or organizations, responsible for managing equipment and memorabilia. Doing the bulk of authentication scans.
Harvester
Young professional in the Marketing or Merchandizing department. Interested in stories surrounding game-used items and monetizing them.
Marketer
With our research data synthesized and formed into our intended MVP outcomes, we developed three core personas to represent the primary users of DUST Queue. Each persona represents the needs, frustrations, and goals uncovered during the research phase.
This user flow would allow the first users of the app to accomplish the most important task in the DUST workflow from their mobile device – on their own time.
Phase Goal: Establish a core user flow for MVP
For the MVP, the Product Lead and I decided that we should focus on designing an experience focused on carrying out a singular workflow – know internally as "harvesting". This user flow would allow the first users of the app to accomplish the most important task in the DUST workflow from their mobile device – on their terms, and on their own time. We could then continuously improve the app based on user feedback and our roadmap to build a more feature rich app around this one important, core flow.
By learning more about our intended user's workflow in our research stage, we were able to identify some key weaknesses that DUST could improve upon:
Designing the Solution: User Flow
STANDARD AUTHENTICATION FLOW (With DUST)
The DUST Tag is scanned post-game, and if there's a 1:1 match with the pre-game scan, the item is AUTHENTIC
A jersey is assigned to a player pre-game and "tagged" with DUST
Potential buyers can buy with confidence
A player wears the jersey during a game
Team monetizes the item, often for much more than un-tagged items
STANDARD AUTHENTICATION FLOW (Without DUST)
Either the team or a 3rd party "witnesses" usage
A jersey is assigned to a player pre-game
Potential buyers confused – is this item legit?
A player wears the jersey during a game
Team monetizes the item
Using our newly established User Flow, we set out to create low-fidelity wireframes of the new mobile authentication interface:
Designing the Solution: Wireframes
It was clear that by adding a DUST tag to these items and introducing two authentication scans into the process (one pre-game and one post-game for sports use cases), we could increase the reliability of the authentication (traditionally done with the human eye) by a significant margin.
Clear Queue Screen
To promote clearing the queue using gamification, we want to create a fun "Inbox Zero" type screen a user sees when they've cleared their queue.
Populated Item Record
This is an example of an item record that has been populated. The user has added a DUST tag, QR Code, and NFC tag – as well as two photos.
Reduced Queue
When a user fully populates an item record and taps "Harvest", it is removed from the Queue. Here is an example of a Queue with only three items left.
Scanner Screen
Utilizing iOS's native camera app and new DUST hardware, the user can scan a tag on an item in order to associate it with the item record.
Queue Screen
After the client loads a list of items into the DUST web app, the items are marked as "For Harvest", and appear in the mobile app's Queue screen
Enroll Screen
This is an example of an item record that has not yet been populated. To "Enroll", a user needs to scan a DUST tag on the item. Users can also add photos.
These wireframes were used to build a low-fidelity (but clickable!) prototype in Figma, which was shared with a few trusted potential users of the app.
Oh no! A Constraint!
The Bad News: ...they wanted the MVP NOW! One of our potential clients was so excited by the potential of the app and how seamlessly it would fit into their authentication workflow They requested our MVP be ready by a major sporting event they were hosting in just a few short weeks.
How did this change the project? My UX Team worked with Product leadership to decide on a few features that would need to be sacrificed for time:
- We delayed the feature that would allow users to add a description of an item in the mobile app (this would still be possible in the web app)
- We delayed the feature that would allow users to remove photos once they were added to an object (again, this could still be managed on the web app)
- We cut the feature that would integrate into a sports statistics API to automatically provide statistics from the time the object was used (this was deemed unfeasible for MVP, and likely would have been cut anyway)
Many new mobile components needed to be added to the Design System to built out DUST's first ever mobile app.
With the core user flow of the MVP signed off on by a few potential clients, we dove into visual design mode. To accomplish this we leaned heavily on DUST's existing Design System 'FACET' for colors, type styles, and sizing scale. However, many new mobile components needed to be created for DUST's first ever mobile app – and that's exactly what we did!
Designing the Solution: Visual Design
Clear Queue Screen
We added a fun illustration to "celebrate" an empty user queue.
Populated Item Record
This is an example of an item record that has been populated. The user has added several tags – as well as two photos.
Reduced Queue
When a user fully populates an item record and taps "Harvest", it is removed from the Queue. Here is an example of a Queue with only three items left.
Scanner Screen
We added in 2-scan authentication, adding even more authenticity to our scans (and reducing error from our new hardware)
Queue Screen
A quick glance at this screen shows you how many items are in your Queue, specific tags on items, and allows you to search by item title.
Harvest Screen
"Enroll" terminology was changed to "Harvest" as a branding change. This screen remains largely unchanged from the wireframe.
After we finished the design, the UX team handed off the designs to the Engineering team in Figma. This kicked off a rapid-fire development/QA/App Store Submission cycle that would just barely meet our client's deadline.
Results, Findings, and Next Steps
200+
As a result of unlocking a mobile tagging solution and new industry partners
New qualified leads
3.5s
Previous Average: ~10.5 + item needs to be at a desktop workstation
Time-to-Enroll
150%
Direct result of "Dust Queue" launch
clients booked vs. goal
PROVEN: Sports teams are thirsty for better authentication
Using new clients as testing partners, we proved out and added many new features to our roadmap (better photo management, Certificate of Authenticity generation) while others fell flat in testing (re-organizing photos felt like overkill for the mobile app, but worked well on the web app).
DUST Queue is still actively being developed today.