We all have times when we get lazy when it comes to file management, either an undescriptive name or miscellaneous file placement. But now when you attempt to retrieve the file, you now run into the issue of remembering either the name of the file or the file location which then leads to the tedious task of looking through all files. (Made before Windows 11)

After conducting user research online and running tests with users, we have designed a File Explorer that seeks to fix these problems with the use of features such as system-generated tagging and file suggestions based on user habits.

This project was conducted in one of my classes called DSGN 118: Design Creativity and Productivity. The class was all about thinking outside the box and trying to solve problems that would be meaningful to all users.

The time frame to complete the project was very small (around 3 weeks) and was supposed to be a side assignment to the main course. Due to this, this is more of a work-in-progress project that wasn't fully developed but still shows some interesting ideas.

The first part of the project was to find a program or application that could be improved that would prove meaningful for users. This process was long and took the longest time to decide. That was until a user in our group was trying to recover the instructions for the assignment and was audibly struggling to recover the file. It took him around 5 minutes until he gave up and resorted to just getting it from the course dashboard again. That then got us to think about trying to see if others had similar issues like our group mate which then got the wheel turning for improving File Explorer.

Based on our internet research, our groupmate isn't alone in his struggles to recapture misplaced files. From various message boards and user testimonials, there are many cases where people are unable to recover misplaced files after a long period of time. The solutions we found online to solve these issues are things like: "remember the file path" and "or remember the file name" which require users to exert cognitive effort themselves to remember. But if users don't remember either, they are out of luck until they scour every inch of their computer.

We then got thinking that trying to find misplaced files is a problem that stems from as early as the saving process. So in order to fix the process of finding the files, we had to try and tackle the issue of saving and storing files as well.

In the current way that users save on File Explorer, it causes users to have to remember exact file directories and file names if they wanted to recover files at a later date. This can become a problem if users save files too quickly and don't remember either the place they put the file or the name of the file, which then leads to a massive headache later on.

We then wanted to see how other file management systems went about saving on their respective systems. These were the 4 file management systems that we ended up taking a look at alongside File Explorer. Within each one, we looked at different aspects that related to saving, finding and customization of the systems.

When doing our research, some of the aspects that we liked was the tagging system of macOS and the recommendation system that iOS offers. Also, everyone noticed that every system had some sort of directory structure while iOS also utilized a tagging system of general application types that the user wouldn't input

A big aspect to our proposed solution is this idea of folder/directories versus tags. We split the potential benefits and drawbacks of below. We came to the conclusion that tags are more beneficial for saving in the long term while folders are better for saving in the short term. However what we are concerned with is the long term, because ultimately the point of saving a file effectively is so that the user can have the greatest chance of finding it later down the line.

A big aspect to our proposed solution is this idea of folder/directories versus tags. We split the potential benefits and drawbacks of below. We came to the conclusion that tags are more beneficial for saving in the long term while folders are better for saving in the short term. However what we are concerned with is the long term, because ultimately the point of saving a file effectively is so that the user can have the greatest chance of finding it later down the line.

Based on our competitive analysis, we wanted to tackle 3 main aspects to improve upon.

We were asked by the teaching staff to try and think outside the box and test unconventional solutions, so these were the solutions we ideated.

We each went about sketching potential solutions on our own and came back together to see which drawing we liked the most. We then pieced all the best aspects together and created a more formal wireframe that went from the saving process (1) all the way to the searching process (7).

Then based off of those pieced together wireframes, we created a prototype of what this product could potentially look like. We wanted to make sure to create the three aspects of saving, organizing and fnding into the flow.

We then ran user tests with both users in our class and people we reached out to through Discord to run user tests. In each of the tests, we wanted to see if users liked these new additions we added to File Explorer.

Overall users liked the changes we made. Out of the 8 tests, all 8 have run into a scenario where they have misplaced a file and were unable to recover it. They though that the AI generated tags along with the recommending of files was a very unique idea and said that they could see it helping with organization and remembering tags. They also

Some concerns that users voiced was how would you manage tags because they said that having too many tags accumulating could become a problem. This then got our group thinking about nex steps where the system could detect unused tags and could help you organize those.

We then ran user tests with both users in our class and people we reached out to through Discord to run user tests. In each of the tests, we wanted to see if users liked these new additions we added to File Explorer.

Overall users liked the changes we made. Out of the 8 tests, all 8 have run into a scenario where they have misplaced a file and were unable to recover it. They though that the AI generated tags along with the recommending of files was a very unique idea and said that they could see it helping with organization and remembering tags. They also

Some concerns that users voiced was how would you manage tags because they said that having too many tags accumulating could become a problem. This then got our group thinking about nex steps where the system could detect unused tags and could help you organize those.