Ironhack UX/UI — Design Thinking challenge

As the first task in the IH UX course, I am invited to research and improve a function in a public transport and mapping app — Citymapper. It claims to solve the problems of urban mobility by offering the quickest and cheapest public and private transport routes to its users.

It is a wholesome travel/commute app providing real-time information on public transport in supported cities, amongst a host of additional user-friendly elements such as, multiple route options, transport maps, local bike, and taxi service info. Among other secondary functionalities, it can also sync with your calendar. Citymappers digital product is a direct competition with the likes of Moovit and Google Maps.

My task is to find space for functional improvement by using the Design Thinking principles (i'll be conducting the first two steps of the infographic below), thus implementing a feature that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets for a single trip and to overall ease up the purchasing flow.

Understanding (Empathize & Define)

I conducted 5 user interviews across different ages, nationalities & genders, commuting in various locations in the world. The questions I asked were open-ended, in order to truly learn the users’ authentic experience when going through the ticket purchasing experience. The interview included such questions as:

• Tell me about your commutes — please talk about the transportation, regularity, ticket purchasing?
• Can you describe your ideal ticket purchasing process?
• Can you describe your ideal ticket — digital, physical, hourly, monthly etc.?
• Do you have anything else you feel like mentioning on this topic?

Challenges users mentioned:

• Every one of the interviewees prefers a digital ticket, yet some also mentioned the importance of an option to still buy the ticket in a kiosk, if needed
• 80% of interviewees have experienced difficulties with purchasing a ticket while abroad
• The ones who have used apps for ticket purchasing still think that the existing public transport apps are too complicated and should be simplified
• It would be great to buy a ticket on the go through a quick and simple process as possible and never think about renewal, thicket change etc. again
• In some countries its really devastating to keep track of all the tickets needed, on the expiry times/dates

Main problem statement: The ticket purchasing process is still too complex and doesnt cover the main need of buying several tickets needed for a single trip all at once.

Exploring (Ideation & Prototype)

Based on the user interview feedback I came up with a few solutions on how to improve the ticket purchase flow. Based on general user patterns, principles, and instinctive user flows, as well as my own strong belief in simplified functionalities, I chose one of the solutions and made a brief wireframe on how to re-design the Citymapper app in order to improve the UX and whole functionality of the app.

Take-away learning

By being in a possibly close “relationship” and in regular sync with the end-user aka. your customer, your business can be one (or dozens) of steps ahead in front of your competitors since the ones actually using your app, will be the ones who will signal about their needs. And such signals must be taken seriously and should then be translated into product improvements or features.

*I will be more than happy to answer any questions or hear your thoughts on any of the topics I've covered.