Implementing a Holistic Inclusion Approach in UrbanGo’s Public Transit Application

A Design Thinking challenge as a part of the Ironhack UX/UI Design bootcamp

The first challenge of the Ironhack UX/UI Design bootcamp which was presented to the cohort of 2023 aimed at mobilizing our innovation muscles with a multifaceted Design Thinking task.

THE CLIENT

UrbanGo was presented as a Silicon Valley-based startup for simplifying public transit via their multimodal application — mirrored by the real life-company Citymapper the client stood out through offering a comprehensive service by using a unique data-driven approach to generate the most accurate mobility information via powerful real time-algorithms.

Covering public transport and private modes such as cabs, scooters, cycles, mopeds and car share in the most complex transit cities in the world the digital translation regarding their idea of a brilliant mapping technique combined with a user-friendly interface went seemingly flawless.

The uncovered potential of implementing a user-centric feature which supports uncomplicated mobility ticketing — which formed the center of the Design Thinking task — was heavily influenced by a holistic inclusion approach in order to optimize the user experience as a whole.

THE USERS

Taking on the challenge the classic Design Thinking-cycle and the momentum of the system of spaces — rather than a predefined series of orderly steps — which demarcate different sorts of related activities that together form the continuum of innovation built the foundation for the adequate mindset.

In order to gain valuable insight into the behavioral and emotional needs of UrbanGo-users a represantative part of their fictive population was choosen from my personal sociocultural context and five multifaceted interviews were conducted. Although the standard quality criteria of psychological research couldn’t be met in a desirable way the method catalyzed my drive for problem solving through getting a widened sense for their unmet wishes and insuperable hurdles.

The questions that surprisingly navigated the interviews onto a deeper level of selfreflecion were the following:

• What emotional impact does the step of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels have on the rest of your journey? How do you handle that stressor successively through the rest of your day?
• In which way does your (current) mental state or health impairment influence your use of methods to purchase public transport tickets? Does it influence your decision to use them in the first place?
• Can you describe a typical public transit journey step by step and name common thoughts and feelings that occur along the way?

During the act of summing up the most striking facets into broader holistic aspects forming possible solutions for the desired user-centric feature which aims to support the journey regarding mobility ticketing I was struck by the idea to smooth a seemingly neglected key pain point: inclusion. The foundation of my selected technical implementation was formed by the holistic approach to proportionate the user base’s representation across all dimensions of human difference and focus on important mental- and health-related components during their digital translation. That means that I strived for everyone to be included, visible and heard to create an overall sense of belonging.

THE INNOVATIVE FEATURE

Throughout the walk on the Design Thinking-cycle I was rapidly hit by the hurdles of the task’s digital real life-implementation and had to break down the highly abstract concept of inclusion into indispensable bits to complete the feature in a way that respects Aristotle’s ‘Golden Mean’. Without choosing sub-goal priorities within the outline for the feature my idea of considering a broad spectrum of mental- and health-related components would swallow the application’s user-friendliness, simplicity and
design related elegance.

To ensure as little necessary engagement as possible to ensure a well-rounded inclusive experience which ensures key facets like time saving, cross-language and cross-system comprehensibility my visualization direction incorporated accessible design and universal design by creating an environment that can benefit the greatest possible extent of people.

Integrating manual options for the additional use of assistive technology directly within the application and ensuring that the device’s presettings are translated accordingly formed key recommendations for UrbanGo’s mission to support a flawless user journey for everyone. These reworking steps were not only concluded regarding the application itself — corporate identity should always strive to statute an exemple in considering users with different impairments (for example modifying colour schemes for colour blind people).

Even though the goal of the challenge focused primarily on developing the named user-centric feature to generate uncomplicated mobility ticketing — delineated by a pop-up (step three of the hand-sketched prototype) which generates an overview for matching e-ticket options witch easy payment paths, the possibility to add existing subscriptions and a summery of the ticket history — I outlined a way for users to give input about their immediate mental- and health-related needs and manipulate the suggestions for their transit.

The idea contained the premise that during the process of setting up the starting point and desired destination (step one) the users can choose between the classic search mode with no additional criteria and the personalized UrbanMode. This second option enabled them the freedom to able to express primary travel goals like time saving or the guarante of safety within the category JourneyGo’s, add their (current) mental state regarding social contact via MentalGo’s and name important specifications regarding possible mobility hurdles with HealthGo’s.

Although realizing this far-reaching implementention would need another rework of the startup’s mapping system to facilitate a more branched and detailed algorithmic system in the first place my main recommendation stood for itself: offer people help to create a space where they can help themselves.

By optimizing accessibility to resolve health-related matters and shedding a light on overlooked mental challenges people encounter in their daily lives I utilized this Design Thinking challenge to inspire other people to open their heart towards all layers of human difference and encourage open-mindedness.