UX Challenge 1: Design Thinking
IronHack Pre-work #2
Design Thinking? What is that? How does one do that? And how does one achieve that? Can there be a scientific method to design?
Those were the first few questions that popped in my head as I started my second IronHack Pre-work module. By the end of this post, I am hoping we’ll find the answers to these questions by working our way through the challenge, that’s a totally fictional transit app “ I Googled just be sure 😅 ” called UrbanGo. Let’s GOOOO ! 🚀🛸
Let’s start by understanding our challenge UrbanGo.
UrbanGo is a public transit application startup based in Silicon Valley. The goal is to provide its user’s with the quickest and cheapest options for mobility, be it public or private.
The application provides the fastest and efficient path to the user’s destination based on the user’s current location. The app provides different multimodal routes with the estimated time and the cost of them.
THE PROBLEM :
Users have to purchase multiple tickets and the amount of tickets to buy is also unclear.
- How many tickets are they going to require ?
- At what price ?
- Validity of those tickets ?
- Paper or Plastic tickets or Electronic Tickets ?
- Where are vending machines located ?
- Do they accept card or cash ?
- How long the queues will be ?
- and finally Have they purchased the right tickets ?
THE CHALLENGE :
To create a feature for this app that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels.
The application already has the relevant user information on the app, they will neither need to login nor enter any data when paying/checking-out.
So now we don’t have to be concerned with security and other limitations.
Now let’s talk about Design Thinking and the method we will be using to solve our challenge !
Design Thinking is a method which has very specific process to it and we will be using this to solve our challenge. Using the 5 steps as above we will be asking the following questions, I’ll let the picture below explain what they are in details, it does a better job than me ;)
Now I will be diving deep into finding the solution using the methodology of Design Thinking
Step 1 -> Empathize :
An important part of being a UX designer is to empathise and relate with the issue the users are facing using your product and finding solutions to fix those issues while maintaining the business goals of the company.
This is the stage where we ask users a set of questions and try to understand their, experience using the application and the what are the main pain points for them using the current version of the application.
THE COMPETITORS:
I started by googling the potential competitor to UrbanGO and classifying them according to their features. I then divide them into these 4 major groups.
Popular mapping applications -> Google Maps / Apple Maps, these are the default applications present on every smartphone and very user friendly apps for commuting using public or private transportation.
Third Party applications -> CityMapper / Moovit / Transit, these are the popular applications that have the advantage that they are specialised for certain countries and provide accurate real time information
Local city applications -> RATP / ViaNavigo / TubeMap, these are the apps that are most used by the locals as they are very specialised for their city, and have a disadvantage that, they are not well suited for international traveller
THE USER’S INTERVIEW:
- Which public transit applications do you use most and 3 features you like and 3 pain points of the application ?
- How often do you use public transportation ?
- Do you use public transport when travelling abroad, if yes then which applications do you use to commute ?
- What are the major pain points you face when travelling abroad using public transportation, like purchasing a ticket ? Understanding the path to your destination ? Pricing ? Waiting in queues ? etc..
- What kind of features would you like to see in your current transportation applications ?
- How much time does it take to reach from destination A to B ?
- What are your thoughts on the cost of public transportation ?
- What security concerns do you have ?
These were some of the typical questions I asked my user’s, of-course I went of script but still tried to remain in the realm of transportation without wasting too much time. Based on the responses received, I started working on the solution.
Step 2 -> Define :
First let’s list the main pain points based on the responses received
- Difficult to purchase tickets, to many sources.
- Difficultly understanding the overall cost of the journey
- Wasting time to acquire tickets due long queues.
A prime example was the station of La Defense in Paris, User’s travelling by metro line 1 from center of Paris purchase a metro single journey ticket (Zone 1 and 2) from station Hotel de Ville and continue to till the station of La Defense in metro line 1, but when they arrive at La Defense, due to number of exits get blocked in the RER A station and are unable to exit as the simple metro ticket is invalid because the station of metro line 1 is still in Zone 1 and 2, but the exit of RER A is in the 3rd Zone of Paris. Soo major Oops 🙊 and f*@&* 🤬. This is big headache and frustration for users.
After analysing the responses the conclusion was clear ->
User’s had difficulty purchasing the right ticket for their journey.
Step 3 -> Ideate :
Following the responses we receive from user’s, we define the problem and start the brainstorming process.
We can use a technique called Crazy 8 to find ideas to the problem at hand. The important point of this exercise is to come up with as many ideas as possible, there is no good or bad idea. It’s the result of this brainstorming which is what helps in coming up with the best outcome.
So I used this technique to ideate on finding a solution. My crazy 8 sketch ->
After analysing my crazy 8 chart, I started prototyping my solution, the solution is a combination of a couple of idea’s in the crazy 8 chart.
It’s prototyping time now.
Step 4 -> Prototype :
A prototype should illustrate your idea in a way you can test it with people to see if it works. The important point here is to create something concrete that people can interact with and critique, rather than just giving you feedback on an idea. (D School)
With this prototype, users will be able to
- Buy the correct ticket for their journey inside the app itself
- Find their way through the metro stations exit with the help of real world photos.
Below is the prototype I developed ->
Step 5 -> Test :
In this stage we will share our concept prototype and solution with our user base and see what works and what doesn’t so that you can use the feedback to refine it.
Continuous testing is an important element when designing products as it helps in better understanding the needs of the user’s so that we can improve our product.
Normally at this stage we test our design, but for my prototype, I have not performed this step. Will definitely do it soon though as I would like to learn more details about the solution I came up with.
Conclusion :
It has been a really fun process and I have learnt a lot about the entire Design Thinking method. Will be definitely improving my skills over time.
Thank you soo much for reading my post 😁. If you liked it, clap 👏🏼 and please me know your thoughts on the post and how would you improve my solution, in the response section below.
Merci.
