Testarena innlandet
Duration
17 weeks
Year
2025
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator
My role
Insight work, lo-fi/hi-fi prototyping, Visual Design, user testing, idea development
Background
This bachelor project was carried out in collaboration with Testarena Innlandet, an innovation arena that connects businesses, academia, and the healthcare sector in the Innlandet region. The goal was to create a digital solution that made Testarena Innlandet more visible and approachable to small and medium-sized businesses, while also giving the organization a more efficient way of handling incoming requests.
About the project
My Role
I worked as a designer, responsible for user experience and visual design. My tasks included creating wireframes and prototypes, testing them with real users, and refining the design based on feedback. I was also involved in research and idea development, and I collaborated closely with the developers to make sure the final solution aligned with both user needs and technical requirements.
Team and Collaboration
This was a cross disciplinary project, where I had the opportunity to work together with one other designer and two developers. The collaboration was key to the success of the project we combined user-centered design with strong technical implementation, which allowed us to deliver a solution that was both functional and intuitive.
Tools and Methods
We followed the Triple Diamond methodology, moving from research and insights, to concept development and testing, and finally to implementation. We used Figma for design and prototyping, and worked with workshops, affinity mapping, user journeys, and iterative testing to develop and validate our ideas.
The Problem
Potential users often struggled to understand what Testarena Innlandet offered, who it was for, and how to get in touch. At the same time, administrators managed all inquiries manually via email, which was inefficient and created confusion.
The Solution
Our final result was a digital platform with two parts: a user-friendly website that communicated clearly with small and medium-sized businesses, and an administration dashboard that gave Testarena’s staff better structure and efficiency in their daily work. The design emphasized clear communication, intuitive navigation, and a structured flow of information.
Key Learnings
This project showed me how important it is to involve users at every stage of the process. Iterative testing gave us valuable insights and helped us shape a solution that truly met user needs. It also reinforced how essential close collaboration across disciplines is when building digital solutions that are not only functional, but also user-friendly and visually consistent.
Triple Diamond Design Methodology
We adopted the Triple Diamond model based on DOGA's framework, extending beyond the traditional Double Diamond to include an implementation phase. This approach was essential for our interdisciplinary team of interaction designers and web developers, allowing us to take concepts through to full technical realization.
Research & workshop
We started the process with a workshop together with five representatives from key partners such as Gjøvikregionen, NTNU, Sykehuset Innlandet, and HelseInn. The goal was to clarify the problem space and identify potential target groups for Testarena Innlandet.
During the workshop, participants generated ideas for possible target users, which we structured and prioritized using dot voting. This gave us three main groups: businesses, researchers, and hospitals.
In the next step, we carried out a needs analysis using sticky notes to map motivations, challenges, and barriers for each group. The insights revealed shared needs such as access to expertise, clinical test environments, and collaboration opportunities. At the same time, lack of time and unclear communication from Testarena were highlighted as key obstacles.
Since Testarena was still in an early development phase, it was considered too broad to address all three groups simultaneously. Together with the participants, we decided to focus primarily on businesses as the main target group, as they had the clearest and most concrete needs for test facilities.
User Interviews & Insights
After narrowing the target audience to businesses, we conducted in-depth interviews with startups, incubators, and administrators. Incubators were included because they act as an important bridge between companies and test facilities.
The interviews revealed clear needs: Testarena had to communicate its offerings in a simple and transparent way, highlight the value of collaboration, and ensure access to competence and resources. Price and support were also critical for startups. This insight directly influenced how we structured the website and the inquiry form.
For the administration side, interviews uncovered issues with unclear responsibilities, fragmented information, and inefficient workflows. Requests were spread across Outlook, Teams, and Salesforce, which led to lost data and double work. We clustered these findings through affinity mapping, which guided design decisions for the admin dashboard.
Prototyping & Testing
We built low- and high-fidelity prototypes in Figma for both the website and the admin dashboard. Testing with users and Testarena’s staff gave us clear feedback:
The inquiry form needed a progress bar, the contact page was confusing and removed,
Case studies had to be more visible.
And the dashboard needed search and filters.
With each iteration, the prototypes became more refined and aligned with what users actually needed.
Final Solution & Reflections
The final outcome was a digital platform with two parts:
A website that communicates clearly with businesses and makes it easy to send inquiries.
An admin dashboard that helps staff handle requests in a structured and efficient way.
What I really take away from this project is how important it is to involve users at every stage. By testing early and often, we avoided building something based only on assumptions. I also learned the value of working closely in a cross-disciplinary team, as a designer alongside another designer and two developers where we combined different skills to deliver a real solution!
