Problem

Users of Zoom often experience a cognitive overload or encounter slips easily due to such a tedious workflow and many interactions ends up being counterintuitive and counterproductive. If a user wants to note-take during a Zoom meeting often involves switching between multiple applications. These complicated interactions are required in order to achieve very simple intentions. 

Goal

Reduce cognitive overload and slips by facilitating easy note-taking and better context based-communication by designing a screenshot-enabled note taking feature. 

Sketches

Competitive Analysis

Google Docs

• Advantages

  • Easy to convert into PDF or other file types

  • Live collaboration 

  • Online storage for the documents

• Limitations

  • Split-screen in order to take notes (difficult to view/note take while in the conference call)

  • Constantly switching between windows (Zoom to watch → Google Doc to note take → Back to Zoom → Back to Google Doc)

  • Tedious functioning on smaller devices when on Zoom and Google Doc (mobile, iPad)

  • Must go back and open both Zoom recording and Google Doc to review past video

  • No synchronization between specific note section and Zoom time frame

Snapstream

• Advantages

  • Easy screenshot and annotation to facilitate live streaming process

  • Allows direct communication between participants and host: send screenshot to chat function

• Limitations

  • Does not allow screenshots to be used personally: compiling and editing them into notes

  • Does not extract image or transcript separately 

  • Mostly beneficial for visual art related streaming process

Wireframes

Hi-Fi Prototype

Next Step

For our next steps, we’ve thought about further improving our design first by doing more user testing for an even more efficient note-taking system and flow. Also we would want to experiment more with the potential HCI technology used to facilitate a smoother Zoom experience, for example, using natural language processing to detect critical date and event information for setting automatic calendar events.