Design Thinking Challenge
Introduction
UrbanGo is a public transportation-based application whose main goal is to provide the cheapest and most effective options to get from point A to B. The app combines many different modes of transportation such as buses, subways, taxis, and rental cars. Passengers are able to choose from the cheapest and fastest intercity trips using a single ticket for their multi-modal travel.
Design Thinking
Empathize
The main issue users are having doesn’t stem from a lack of options when it comes to looking for public transportation.Rather, it stems from the tedious and sometimes confusing process process of purchasing several different types of passes. The issue that needs to be solved tis having to deal with different payment methods and access cards.
Our audience(public transport users) is attempting to get from point A to point B by using a combination of Google Maps, Apple Maps, and local transit apps. Each individual app shows multiple modes of transportation and the estimated time it will take to get from point A to point B, but not one mentions how to purchase access to each mode of transportation nor how much it will cost to do so in the first place. This can become a tedious problem for anyone who isn’t a local and doesn’t already understand how the system works. This could potentially cause a lot of annoyance and frustration and potential discouragement from using public transit at all.
Define
From the interviews I conducted the main points I noticed were that users wanted to be able to have one method of payment they could use for every type of travel. To prevent the confusion and complications that come with having to keep multiple cards and cash for payment. They also wanted to know the exact pricing of different transit routes since getting certain destinations requires transferring modes of transportation and costing slightly more.
After interviewing I realized my main focus should be to create a solution that will allow public transport users to purchase varying tickets through one platform, allowing a more streamlined experience.
Ideate
- 1st Idea: Users would be able to put in their route and compare specific times and the exact prices of their journey.
- 2nd Idea: All of the tickets would be loaded onto one pass which would be physically used(if you want the physical one) or electronically used through the app on your phone(similar to Apple Pay).
Prototype
I decided to combine both ideas since they could both add to the user experience by working in collaboration with each other. Below is a low fidelity prototype showing how someone would search up their best route(based on personal time preference and budget) and pay for their trip once they reach their point of pickup.This is also based on the assumption that the users’ bank account is already linked up to the app, so instant top-ups are possible if required.
Key Takeaways
Empathizing with your user is key when solving a problem. I may go into a project feeling as if I already know what’s best(based on my own perspective and experiences), but after doing a bit of digging on the experiences of others that tends to change. Another key learning that I took from this is that it’s not easy at all to come up with a “one size fits all” solution because different types of users have different needs and preferences. It’s important to remember who the main target audience is always. Which shows how important it is for designers to be open minded and have the consistent ability to think abstract and outside the box just as much as it is for us to think practical.
