Next Stop
The Challenge: To create an app that helps solve the problems their customers are facing. An app that will allow the user to see the full schedule of each bus line, as well as letting them know how much time till their bus gets to their desired stop.
Overview
Client:
Midwest Transit Company
Roles:
UX Designer
UI Designer
Brand Designer
UX Researcher
Tools:
Figma, FigJam, Google Forms, Zoom, Google Docs, Notion
Deliverables:
Competitive Analysis, User Surveys, User Persona, User Flows, Site Map, Wireframes, Branding, Usability Tests, Prototype
Discover
Research
Competitive Analysis:
To start off, the first thing I did was to compare some of the most popular transit apps to see how my app would compare
Apps:
DC Metro & Bus, CityMapper, Moovit
Pro’s:
Liked how visible they made the ETA for the buses arrivals.
Liked the live tracking features.
Con’s:
The screens were very busy, and there was almost too much information to digest in a quick glance.
Takeaways:
I want to create something that can be as lean and easily digestible as possible. Most people will be looking while on the move.
User interviews
Having grown up in SouthEastern Pennsylvania, I have a large number of friends and family that live either in Philadelphia, New York, or the Greater DC area. I interviewed five people ranging in age from 22-50, both male and female. I spoke with people who use public transit daily to commute to work, or rely on it to get around their city.
“I knew I was trading convenience for savings by not having a car in the city, and with how infrequently buses run I can’t afford to miss one.”
Define
Persona
After conducting the competitive analysis, user interviews and putting together the findings, we created this persona to represent a potential customer.
User Stories
1: “As a bus rider, I want to know when my bus is arriving at the Washington & State bus stop, so I can calculate how much time I have to reach the bus stop.”
2: “As a bus rider, I want to know the next bus arriving at the Washington & State bus stop, so that I don’t rush to the bus stop if it is not my bus.”
3: “As a bus rider, I want the ability to view future arrival times for any of the seven bus lines (serving Washington & State), so that I know when my bus arrives.”
User Flows
Sketches & Wireframes
Develope
High Fidelity Mockup
Deliver
Usability Testing
I gathered six people over two days and did all in person testing. I presented one of the three users stories listed above, and asked them to accomplish the user’s goal without assistance.
Takeaways:
Despite how proud I was of the my buttons and icons, what I noticed was if a search bar is available, they will use it.
In an effort to be consistent throughout the app, I left the same three button choices across the bottom for every screen.
All six people said the same thing, “Why would you have a button on a screen that would bring you right back to the same screen?”
Deliver
Conclusion
Solution:
The main concerns of the users were to be able to get as live and up to date information as possible. This would not only save unwanted or unnecessary headaches down the line by being late, but also lead to a better user experience and return users. Next stop was able to get the information the user was looking for, in as few steps as possible.
Takeaways:
From this project, I learned a lot of invaluable lessons. Firstly, I learned that while you might be sold on an idea, the only opinion that truly matters is the users. I felt that my first mockups were good, but upon user testing, they fell quite short of others expectations. Learning to try and see a project from the users point of view and not mine, is an invaluable asset that I will need to utilize going forward.