Project type
Solo project for user experience design course
Duration
Fall 2017 (9 weeks)
Role
A solo project that I researched, ideated and prototyped the entire user flow and interface
Skills
Researching, wireframing, storyboard, prototyping, personas, sketching, user testing.
PROBLEM
Parents responsibilities are at an all-time high. Even more so, the pressure placed on parents to appear picture perfect while working, commuting, grocery shopping, packing healthy lunches, and rushing to their kids’ soccer games are just a few of the things they do in a day.
Why aren’t there more ways for parents to save time so they can focus on things that matter most to them?
CHALLENGE
How might we help parents focus on the things that matter most to them by easing the number of responsibilities they have?
RESEARCH
Today's landscape
Understand the problem space
According to Statistics Canada, 1 in 4 commuters had a travel time of 45 minutes or more in Montreal and Toronto. Studies show that parents' long commute times have an effect on families mental and physical health. There are myriads of reasons for this: more time in traffic, less time to make a healthy dinner, and less quality time spent with family are a few of the causal factors of diminished health.
I circulated a survey and conducted scripted interviews with parents living in the Toronto GTA with kids 5-14 years old to understand how driving might be an issue for working parents in Toronto.
60%
of parents commute 1-3 hours to and from work Monday-Friday.
of parents commute 1-3 hours to and from work Monday-Friday.
53%
of parents spend 1+ hour a day driving their kids to activities daily.
of parents commute 1-3 hours to and from work Monday-Friday.
The main takeaway from surveys and interviews is that parents don’t want their time to be the limiting factor in their children’s development.
The main takeaway from surveys and interviews is that parents don’t want their time to be the limiting factor in their children’s development.
This insight remained at the forefront of my design process and acted as the guiding light for the rest of the project. With the breadth of my primary research complete, I was able to create my persona and experience map to understand what points in their day were the most aggravating for them.
This insight remained at the forefront of my design process and acted as the guiding light for the rest of the project. With the breadth of my primary research complete, I was able to create my persona and experience map to understand what points in their day were the most aggravating for them.
SOLUTION
The solution is simple: design a tool for parents to set up carpools more efficiently. However, there were many hurdles with this design. I sketched, wireframed and prototyped Task Flow V1 with confidence. I was humbled by how many flaws I hadn't noticed until my first round of user testing.
Task Flow V1
A search-based platform for parents to input their carpool requirements and find a carpool that met their needs.
A search-based platform for parents to input their carpool requirements and find a carpool that met their needs.
Task Flow V2
A form-based app that helps parents schedule carpools and invite parents to share driving responsibilities.
WIREFRAMES
The first iteration
The first iteration of wireframes was designed for Task Flow V1. Throughout the 6 rounds of user testing, I discovered many repeating issues and areas of confusing. There were too many possibilities, and the user didn't know what they were supposed to do first. The most common concern I recognized was surrounding the safety of their child. The parents wanted to ensure their children would be in good hands, which needed to be instilled in the core of the application.
The second iteration
These wireframes are based on Task Flow V2. There was an overwhelming response of positivity to the changes. The design was tested 4 more times after this iteration to improve accessibility, sizing, and spacing. It follows Material Design guidelines to ensure an air of familiarity and ease of use for parents.
FINAL DESIGN
Quick set up to give busy parents time to slow down
Easy access schedule and carpool creation for busy parents on the go
The schedule allows users to quickly see when they're driving or when they're children are being picked up.
Quick carpool creation
Making it simple to create a carpool with all of the necessary fields to ensure your child will arrive on time.
Simple entry pop-ups making it easy to set your carpool criteria
Child specification, arriving on time or being pick up after an event, and setting the carpool to recur are in the app because of discoveries during interviews.
Contact group creation
Easy send the carpool out to a group of parents to see who's available.
Carpool GPS tracking
See when the carpool is on its way, and track when pick-up and drop-off have occurred. Quickly call or send an in-app message to the driver.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This project challenged me to dive deep into the transportation issues in Toronto, particularly for parents working 8+ hours a day. I believe this is a real problem that parents face, which encouraged me to dive deep into the problem space and try to come up with one solution that could help.
Some of the biggest takeaways from this project were how to conduct interviews without bias, articulate my design intent logically, and how to interpret design critique to gracefully to make positive design iterations.