WEEKEND BOUND
THE PROJECT
ABOUT
Weekend Bound is a project that is meant to compete with local shuttle services in Utah. The goal of my client is to is to create a shuttle service that is easy to use, convenient and more luxurious than other shuttle rides. While also being cheaper and more available - especially for families that live out of town.
DURATION
Ongoing project since October 2020.
ROLE
My role in this project has included the following:
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Research
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Defining the Problem
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Creating the design
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Mockups
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User Testing
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Final Prototype
RESEARCH
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I chose to evaluate the following pre-existing apps; Via, Uber and St. George Shutte.
What I learned:
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Rideshare apps like Uber and Via are meant for short distances.
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Uber and Via are instant gratification - can be completed without planning.
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St. George Shuttle is meant for longer distances and must be planned ahead.
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St. George Shuttle and Via have one main focus which is getting people to a destination. Uber though has branched out from just that feature by allowing for food pickup and drop off.
THE PROBLEM
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Create a ride-sharing app that is more convenient, easier to use, more enjoyable, and affordable.
USER PERSONAS
Adeena: Mother has split custody of her oldest child with her ex-husband. She lives in Salt Lake and her ex-husband lives in southern Utah. She doesn’t have the time to drive their daughter every other week to her father and would like to use a shuttle service.
Chad: started going to a university in Provo, Utah. He wants to explore Utah more with his sister. She is flying in from out of state and they would like to go to as many places as possible for the summer.
Luann: In her early 70s, Luann lives in St. George but likes to visit her children that live in Lehi, Utah. She can’t drive herself anymore with the medication that she has to take.
FLOW CHART
CORE FEATURES
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Make bookings and schedule travel times
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View current bookings
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Make profile
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Add passengers
IDEATION
WIREFRAMES
PROTOTYPE
USER FLOW
I created 3 tasks for the Users to complete:
1. Sign in & edit your profile.
2. Create a booking.
3. Cancel that booking.
MOCKUP
Using Sketch to create each screen, I then used InVision to bring it all together for the prototype.
USER TESTING
MODERATE TESTING
I did 15 minute, moderate testing with 3 different users. The were simple enough that if there was any major issues they should be quite apparent in the testing.
Positive:
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All 3 users thought the app flowed nicely and had a good design.
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They thought that their overall task was simple and easy to complete.
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They liked how self-explanatory it was.
Negative:
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The “Selecting Booking Step” - took the longest because they thought they already selected a booking or just took a minute to figure out what they were doing. Suggested word change.
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They all felt like it had a lot of similarities to other rideshare apps.
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Some didn’t know if they could “go back” a step. Suggested making back arrow more obvious for all screens.
IMPROVED DESIGN
IMPROVED FEATURES:
From the feedback of user testing, we thought that one way of distinguishing this app from other rideshare apps, is by adding the "Browse" feature. This allows for users to explore current low-priced deals as well as learn about interesting places they might like to visit.
I decided to use the idea I had for the bookings screen. Where the user could easily swipe down the “Current Bookings” section to view “Past Trips” underneath. I also made the back arrows more obvious and made some word choice changes.
CORE FEATURES & GOALS
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Make bookings and schedule travel times
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View current bookings
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Make profile & add passengers
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Browse deals & adventures
The goal being to create a ride-sharing app that is more convenient, easier to use, more enjoyable, and affordable.
LINK TO PROTOTYPE/VIDEO
I created 3 tasks for the Users to complete:
1. Sign in & edit your profile.
2. Create a booking.
3. Cancel that booking.
4. Create a booking through the Browse Section
You can view the updated prototype in InVision HERE
CONCLUSION
TAKE AWAY
Overall I think this app is successful at accomplishing its goals, especially in it being easy to use. Its biggest competitor is St. George Shuttle and it will take a while for Barlow Bound to get to the point they are, but the app certainly has more clarity than the app St. George Shuttle currently has created.
CHALLENGES
I think the biggest struggle this app had was making it more unique than its competitors. Also, the UI of how the “Browse” Section slides up and down is hard to work properly in a Prototype. Having it built out would determine if customers are liking/using it.
WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY
I think there are small spots in the design that could maybe be reworked like how the information is displayed at the “Review” section of the process. Mainly to see if the information is as effective as it could be. I also don’t like that some names of cities begin to get cut off. I think I will need to rearrange things so that the full name of every city can always be viewed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think that having an option to drop off at a specific address for an increased charge should be included in this app. That way people traveling wouldn’t have to worry about finding another ride to get them to a specific address of where they are staying. I also think that having a GPS tracking feature in the app would need to be added as well so that parents could track their kids location easily.