Case Study: MetroCast
Problem: The average Angelino public transportation user spends an average of 2 hours per day commuting. Most of this time is spent unproductively.
Proposed Solution: Offer an app that features a network of educational podcasts and audio content that can be accessed by connecting to the WiFi on the LA Metro system.
Team Members: Joseph Ash Sakula, Terrence Nelson, Paul Badinka, Simon Douek
Role: Information Architect, Designer, Researcher, Usability Tester
Tools: Pen and paper, whiteboard and markers, post its, Omnigraffle, Photoshop, Sketch, Invision, good ol’ Google.
Duration: 10 days
Process
The following is our process creating and validating our proposed solution.
Workflow Management
Method: Daily Standup Meetings
Takeaways: Conducting these once daily meetings refocused our efforts and communication. Not only did it give a clear picture of what was done and what needed to be done, it allowed us to address any challenges each of us were having and find solutions.
User Research
Method: Fact Finding
Takeaways: Our research of the the Los Angeles Public transportation system and its riders yielded some surprising results.
Most come from low-income families with a lower educational level. For this reason we decided to only feature text that was a an 8th grade reading level or lower.
More people than ever are riding the various forms of public transportation system than ever and the average commute time is an 2 hours. Most importantly, 80% of thos commuters had a smartphone.
Method: Contextual Inquiry
Takeaways: We had blast as team going out and talking to people who ride public transportation everyday. They gave us a very good insight into their habits and pain points when commuting.
All of the people were interviewed had smartphones and used them to pass time on their commute. Aside from messing around on their phones, they described sleeping and “people watching” as their other activities. Most mentioned that they feel their time commuting could be better spent.
After our initial round of questioning, we presented our app idea to gauge their interest. They all seemed excited about the idea as long as it was intuitive and the content did not feel too “educational”.
Market Research
Method: Competitive and Comparative Analysis
Takeaways: There wasn't much to go on in terms on competitive products. There were a few apps that offered educational content but none that was available exclusively on a specific WiFi network. The most similar app to our concept was iTunes U. We all admired how it organized content and organized content so we decided to cherry pick the parts of the app and integrate them into our own.
Synthesis
Method: Personas and Scenarios
Takeaways: The Personas were largely based off our user research and demographic statistics from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. They focused our efforts and finally gave our users a face.
The Scenarios followed what was described to us by our interviewees and from our own experiences. Laying them out helped us imagine the touch points of our users and gave us a better idea of how to solve their needs and pain points.
Design and Testing
Method: Concept Map and Sitemap
Takeaways: These helped us narrow down the scope and form the fundamental information architecture of the app.
Method: Sketching and Wireframing
Method: User Testing
Takeaways: We tested the app on several people and instructed them to accomplish a task. All of the users we tested were able to accomplish the task but not without squinting the entie time. We quickly realized we had to increase the size of the text and titles.
It was only after we did that that the squinting finally stopped.
Final Prototype
Click Here to View Prototype: https://invis.io/2U5SVIBTR
Marketing Strategy
Next Steps
- Get this implemented!
- Add social feature… Connect with fellow travellers?
- Expand MetroCast nationwide
- Live streaming podcast
- Gamification for active learning.
- Offer a wider range of content to entice more commuters to take public transport.