Improvement of existing ride-hailing applications.
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The Project

Clutch is a ride sourcing mobile application that I created as part of my UX Immersion course from the Google UX Course.  As the sole UX designer, I designed this project from inception to final design through research, ideation and UX design principles.

Duration: 4 months
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‍Methods: Surveys, Interviews, Card Sort, Affinity Mapping, Preference Test, Wireframes, Prototyping
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‍Tools: Adobe XD, Figma, Optimal Sort, UsabilityHub

Improvement of existing ride-hailing applications.
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Project Context
Passengers in several community groups are currently asking for inclusion of certain features into the existing ride hailing apps to enhance their satisfactory user experience. I further investigated the concerns of the passengers to identify their core needs. In this regard, I designed a new app to fill in the gap that its competitors have left missing.
What is the problem?
On request for a ride, existing ride-hailing apps recommend drivers that do not often meet the satisfactory expectation of passengers. Most passengers expect to receive drivers that are polite, friendly, honest, punctual and careful. In most cases, passengers end up using the recommended drivers that may be undesirable, because of difficulty in obtaining a new one as well as time constraints on the path of passengers.
Process taken
I followed the User-Centered Design process to investigate how passengers may want to enhance their experiences while using ride-sourcing applications. After I had empathized and understood the user's needs through various research methods, I defined the problem, brainstormed ideas, and designed multiple solutions. I then tested the ideas via usability tests and developed a high-fidelity interactive prototype based on the findings.

User Research

Interviews

I interviewed 5 people who use existing ride-hailing services

Questions asked to the participants.

How often do you use or see yourself using these apps?
How safe do you feel while using this service?
How would you describe your past and current experience with these apps?
How do you think you can improve the features of these services?
What features don't you like about the app?
What features do you think are important but missing in the app?

Quantitative Research

I also conducted a quantitative research. My goal of this survey is to understand the experience of passengers who make use of existing ride-sourcing applications, more specifically to understand the features they thought were most important, the issues they were facing and how they perceive the issues can be resolved. To be able to accomplish this goal, I conducted a survey research. I used a convenient sampling method by selecting 57 participants among passengers who currently use this existing applications. I developed a 17 item questionnaires eliciting information on demographic characteristics, perception of the app features and challenges they have including possible solutions to them. I sent the questionnaire online to the participants in the month of March 2022, after receiving their responses I analyzed the data and drew some insights.
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The summary of the results are indicated below:

insights from interview and survey

Passengers want to book rides in advance

From the survey, 80% of people want to be able to schedule rides in advance, most of the ride-sourcing applications only provide on-demand drivers which is seen has inconsistent, and unreliable.
"Having to wait over 20 minutes for a ride that says will arrive in 5 mins is so annoying"

Passengers want to select drivers based on comments not only a star basis 

70% of passengers want to be able to scrutinize their drivers before ordering a ride. They believe safety is important. Getting to have an idea of the kind of driver (based on behaviors, friendliness) is important before getting into a strangers car . They believe that this will also help drivers be on their best behavior at all times.

Passengers are not safe

Many passengers say they do not feel safe going in with a stranger. Some shared experiences of drivers taking them through a wrong routes, or drivers harassing them during the ride.
"Most times when I use uber I have ask for company from my friends, because I do not know where this driver is from or his intentions"

Passengers will like to make multiple stops

85% of passengers will like to make multiple short drops and not be ridiocusly charged. They wish they could make quick stops. Most times they do not because they would be charged for waiting.
"At times I would like to run quick errands along the same route, such as drop off my laundry or even as little as pick up my cup of coffee but I cannot"

Passengers feel the prices are so high

Often time most passengers feel they are being exploited having to pay an unreasonable amount just for a short ride to destination. 

Building Empathy

User Persona

Using the quantitative and qualitative data from interviews and survey results, I defined the two target group profiles Darnell (Student, 24), Margret (Teacher, 56) I revisited these user personas often in order to remind myself of the needs and frustrations of my users, and to maintain a user-centric focus for the duration of the project.

Journey Map

I created a customer journey map to further empathize with my targeted audience to gain more understanding on their certain pain points .

Defining The Problem

Design Question

How might we help riders recreate a more pleasurable experience while using e-transportation services?

Competitive Analysis : Similar products existed but no one did it all

On researching, I analyzed 4 direct competitors in ride-hailing services which are Bolt, Uber, Lyft, Didi. I found that none of the 4 competitors provided all the features that was stated below. This gave me an opportunity to fill in the gap in the market and thus include those features in my current design

Use cases

After user research I analyzed my findings  collected from user research .It was shown that airport trips, journey to work are the most frequent use cases where riders stated they would make use of a solution to enhance their experience while on their rides.

1.   To catch a flight
2.  On the way to work
3.  To the train station

Design Requirements

While putting the use cases in mind, I would like my design to meet the required needs of the user. Having these requirements at the back of my mind, it helped me further brainstorm in line with these requirements according to what the users need.

Keep it simple

The solutions should be as simple and usable as possible.

Least amount of taps

From insights drawn from use cases, it was stated that users should be able to order a ride with the least amount of taps.

Ideation

Brainstormed possible ux solutions

Designing an app that improves the user experience entailed that I brainstorm keeping the users in mind and the design requirements. I explored different usable and accessible solutions and sketched them out. Then decided the most simple way that this can be included in my final design prototype

The surveys and interviews helped me understand more about the needs and frustrations of my users, and I was able to pull a few key findings that I will include in the solution. These were the most important features:

Booking

 This feature helps users to schedule rides in advance. For example one of the use cases is a special occasion, if an occasion comes up potential passengers could  have booked and contacted the driver in advance, so as for the driver to arrive early. This feature solves the problem of late arrivals of drivers and non availability of on demand drivers

Selecting Drivers

      This Feature will enable potential passengers to review comments and ratings left by other passengers. This feature will enable a potential passenger to make informed decisions about the driver characteristics such as politeness, safety and the likes.

Comment

      Users have the freedom to leave comments based on their experience after each ride, so that other potential passengers can read and review before they book the certain ride. Passengers are not just restricted to a 5 star basis but also an in-depth information of the certain driver.

Task Flow

Based on the research collected from the audits, and with the features in mind i conducted a card sorting exercises to gain more knowledge about how the users expect the information to be organised and then based on that i conducted a Site map

Wireframing & Prototyping

Paper First

The process below begins with my initial ideas wireframes, then moves to mockups, and finally to the high-fidelity prototype. In this simple version, you can see how the I approach solving the user’s needs.

From Paper to Digital

I created mid-fidelity prototypes

Usability Testing

I conducted a user testing session on five participants. I then took the responses through a card sorting exercise to find common themes amongst the participants.

Iteration

Based on the key findings i collected from conducting card sorting exerceise. I Iterated the design and upgraded the prototype.

I made two major changes based on the user feedback.

1. Inaccessible button
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 Based on the user feedback, having the book button at the end of the details of the driver page is very important. Users want to book the driver right away instead of going back.

2. Unclear on how to view more information
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Users are unclear on how to view more details on a driver. I introduced an arrow logo to help to clarify.

DESIGN SOLUTIONS

High-Fidelity Mockups

Feature 1 : Booking rides in advance

Feature 2 : Selecting preferred drivers from a pool of drivers

Feature 3 : Comments and reveiews from passengers

Final Product

After many tests and iterations, my final product aligned with all of the objectives I had set in place - it includes the three core features necessary for passengers to satisfy the expectation of potential drivers.

It worked!

All of the usability study participants gave positive feedback after seeing the high-fidelity prototype. 

Retrospective

Challenges & Reflections.

‍My biggest challenge was the struggle with the data visualization for the available drivers. The usability tests showed that the fonts and contents were a bit too small. Since selection of available drivers was one of the major features, I spent a lot of time iterating on designs that would provide the users with a section of drivers that were clear to read and understand . 

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‍If you have any feedback,  or just want to say hi, let’s get in touch!
olayinksun@gmail.com