IRONHACK’S PREWORK: CHALLENGE 1. DESIGN THINKING

INTRODUCTION

For this first challenge, Ironhack proposes the Citymapper App as a reference to create a new feature with the Design Thinking Principles in mind. In this mobile app, the users select a starting point and a destination, and the app provides different multimodal routes with the estimated time and the cost of them.

Although the current Citymapper App already solves some of the main problems of urban mobility, there is one pain point for many users: the different amount of public transport tickets the users have to purchase.

Public transport tickets come in paper or plastic cards. Very often buying different public transport tickets is necessary to go from point A to B. And the process of buying these tickets can be very annoying.

Finally, things like pricing or purchasing the correct ticket can become a real pain when you are abroad.

My task is to create a feature for this app that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels.

EMPATHIZE

First of all, I must carry out different interviews with potential users in order to know their activity and get closer to their needs.

For this I have chosen five people from my close circle, three of them live in London, one in Berlin and one in New York. All of them are also habitual travellers.

I have had to carry out the interviews virtually and in a relaxed way we have had a conversation highlighting the following questions:

• Do you normally use public transport? How often?
• Do you feel confident using public transport when you are traveling?
• Do you use any mobile application to find out how to get to your destination?
• Have you ever used this application when you travel abroad?
• What are your main concerns when using public transportation?
• Would you use an application to buy your travel tickets before starting the trip?

After completing the interviews, I can say that all users residents in London agree that there are different and quite comfortable payment methods to make their trips by public transport on a daily basis: a personal public transport card, called Oyster Card, which allows users to buy a subscription in different time modalities or top it up at the stations. There is also the possibility of direct payments with a contact less card or using this same system directly from the mobile.

In New York, a similar system has been adapted recently but, in Berlin, it seems a more complicated task when buying a ticket for a specific trip, a period of time is taken into account regardless of the method of transport used.

All my interviewed users know and use the Citymapper application and agree that it shows the most reliable and updated information that we can find in mobile applications.

On the other hand, when we talk about using public transport abroad, they all consult google to obtain as much information as possible as well as read about the opinions of other users since they are worried about being fined or paying more than necessary when performing different transfers during their travels.

DEFINE

We could say that the problem that concerns us is more related to innovation and technological development implemented in the public transport network of each city as well as the culture of the users and other factors, rather than the usability of a specific application, which already performs a good function. Moreover, trying to add payment functions as well as travel subscriptions and purchase of tickets could be seen too intrusive by its user community.

IDEATE

Taking into account that in London, Citymapper already includes a function to buy a weekly pass for all public transport that can even be extended to use rental bikes and receive discounts and offers for taxis and other services, I’ve decided to prototype a simple feature that allows to buy and archive mixed tickets and could be applicable for the app interface in other cities.

PROTOTYPE

CONCLUSION

Our mobile devices have a lot of applications on them, so we have a huge amount of choice on where to differentiate a product. That’s why the user needs to enjoy the experience of the application, it needs to be easy to use and helps us solve problems or reach goals while we’re on the move.

As UX/UI designers, we need to observe people and ask them questions. Yet, it is impossible to predict all cases and possibilities within just a few weeks. The design system never ends, and there is always room for improvement. Let’s listen to the users and make our designs better and better.