YesNoMaybe was a mobile app, and the first test of the Aftercode team to see how well we worked together and to develop our internal processes. The goal was to take an app from zero to App Store acceptance, then move on to a long-term product. More importantly, YesNoMaybe became the test bed for developing our proprietary AI around voice and video capture, as you can see below. End users were unaware of this, as the majority of our research was not applicable to the goal of YesNoMaybe.
the app
YesNoMaybe was a fun, modern version of a Magic 8 Ball in simple terms. The user would start by recording a video of themselves or someone else saying "Yes, No and Maybe" – or really whatever they wanted to say – and then asking a question. The answer would be a random selection from their response gallery, and the results, a lot of the time - were hilarious. Once we introduced video commenting, it also became, as far as I'm aware, one of the first instances of a group video messaging app (with automatic transcription) as of 2016.
the process
The app was conceived, developed, beta tested and accepted to the app store in less than 12 months with a new team, working on a new platform (React Native). The app sounds fairly basic, but as you can see, it was much more complex. I was solely responsible for the design, branding, marketing, UX and UI for YesNoMaybe.
We iterated extremely fast. As you can see below, we simplified and finalized the initial app flow in only 3 days:
FEB 24
FEB 25
FEB 26
A sample of mid-fidelity mockups for the three main sections.
View the pdf below to see a high fidelity product schematic:
YNM interaction notes – 2MB
release notes
I was also responsible for creating release notes to update our beta testers. I received more than a few responses telling me how much they enjoyed reading them – something you don't hear about release notes very often. 🙂
I've worked in 2-person agencies and 2,500-person enterprises. I've been the 1,000th person to join and work through the difficulties of a major M&A rebrand. I've also witnessed the challenges of joining at 13 and growing to 500 in less than 4 years. And recently I've gained immense insights from starting from scratch as the first employee, developing a value proposition, identifying product/market fit, and iterating over and over...and over...on messaging and product features. I've worked for clients in healthcare, insurance, medical technology, telecom, SaaS, retail, and non-profit sectors.
