Overview

"At the start of 2024, I noticed many people around me using ChatGPT, so I decided to try it out. While it was helpful, I saw ways the design could be improved. This inspired me to explore ways to simplify its use, leading to my UI/UX redesign project.

To understand the challenges using ChatGPT, I frequently used the platform and talked to other users about their experiences. My goal was to figure out the difficulties people faced and find simple ways to solve them.

Understanding the Problem Space

I Interviewed 3 people who used ChatGPT daily. Their main reasons for using ChatGPT were different:

  • Participant 1 uses ChatGPT to understand circuits and codes

  • Participant 2 uses ChatGPT for various reasons such as professional development, getting advice on health problems, etc

  • Participant 3 sometimes uses ChatGPT to summarize literature and articles.

Each interview raised valuable concerns to guide the design. Participant 1 was concerned about the lack of visual accompaniment and whether ChatGPT’s answers were trustworthy. Participant 2 was skeptical of ChatGPT’s sources and accuracy. Participant 3 had slight doubts about its reliability. However, these are oversimplifications: each interview included a variety of unique insights. I made a bullseye and affinity diagram to get a clear picture of the data collected.

Based on the information, I focused on these two main problems:

  • Lack of Citations

    Users wanted a way to see where the information was coming from so they could verify its accuracy

  • Undfriendly User Interface

    The chat history was unorganized, making it hard to navigate and find specific conversations.

Design

Ideation / Low Fidelity Sketching

One of my main ideas was to introduce an “educational mode” that would display citations along ChatGPT’s responses. This way, users could see where the inforamtion was comming from, whether it was an academic paper, a news article, or another trusted source. I also added an option for the users to filter by the type of sources they prefer.

To make chat histories easier to manage, I designed a folder system that lets users group their past conversations. I also included a search bar so users can quickly find specific chats. To deal with long prompts which can be irritating to scroll down to see the response, I added an expand-collapse feature.

Final Prototype

Based on the sketches, I created the final prototype which includes:

  • Education Mode

    Displays citations with options to filter source types

  • Folder System

    Helps users organize their chat history with drag-and-drop tools

  • Search Feature

    Lets users quickly find past conversations

  • Prompt Controls

    Keeps long texts manageable with an expand-and-collapse feature

  • Safety Warnings

  • Alerts users when they are about to click on a link that navigates outside ChatGPT.