At a university class we are to create an application for mobile devices for an actual client (a municipality). The app allows inhabitants of said municipality to file complaints concerning roadway damages, problems with ticket machines, et cetera.
On implementing, I stumbled upon a problem concerning the design of the sign up/in form. As per the client’s requirements, entering at least an email address to use the app is mandatory so the client can get in touch with its users for further inquiry or letters of gratitude. Therefore, there are three scenarios to implement:
- Ideally, users create (-> registration) an account containing at the very least an email address and a password to later on see the status of their complaint
- If they already have an account, they can login with said credentials
- To just file a complaint without the hassle of creating an account there’s a semi-anonymous option where just the email address is mandatory
The following is what my group and I have come up with so far, but I’m not too satisfied with the outcome yet as I want to make the experience as pleasant as possible (which ideally would require not having to sign up at all, but that’s quite another cup of tea).
On tapping on the sign up button, a registration form containing the same two input field opens up—as inputting other personal data (address, name, …) is optional I decided to give that form a prominent place within the in-app settings. The app is basically a single-purpose app without too many options anyway, to it’s not too hard to find it.
Question: Can you think of a better way of implementing the three scenarios? And how can I communicate which fields are mandatory (sign up or -in: email and password, guest: email)
I thought about using the login form as a multipurpose form for signing in and up but found that this leads to too much confusion.
(This is not a “please do my homework” kind of question—I’m genuinely interested in making the user experience better; UX isn’t even the class’ purpose)