Promoting an environment for ride-sharing.
Designed to promote carpooling. With trust and transparency in mind.
Discovery and empathy
A capstone project for Sprinboard’s UX Design certification, Fareshare is a mobile application conceptualized with the design thinking process.
In order to better understand the UX and associated hurdles to the carpooling process, the discovery process was kickstarted through market and competitive research.
An initial survey was utilized to narrow down the focus to those planning to utilize the application to plan or find carpools for repeating trips.
Competition
Competitive and market research were also led by lessons learned from the founder of an application known as Ridejoy.
Opportunities missed from competitors, such as neglecting repeating trips or customers, minimalistic review systems, and a lack of personalization, led to inspiration.
Interviews and follow-up
Interviews were conducted and showed a consensus among potential users that a larger sense of trust, security, and transparency were needed for them to ride-share.
Areas such as a public profile, messaging, verification, and user invites would all be considered.
A follow-up survey, with the help of a Likert scale analysis, showed that specificity by time, clear feature differences of information on nearby carpools versus frequent locations, and reviews being emphasized should also be considered.
Personas and empathy maps
Personas and empathy maps were constructed based on two archetypes.
The occupant, chosen as they can be a rider or driver, and the planner, someone more inclined to plan repeating trips and invite their own colleagues or acquaintances.
Ideate and implement
Mobile was chosen as the format, differentiating itself from popular ride-sharing resources in the U.S like CarpoolWorld and Craigslist. This was largely due to the popularity of Uber/Lyft and the hopes of having an integrated chat feature.
Quick sketches on paper initiated the ideation phase accompanied by the gathering of inspirational material.
Red routes, user flows, wireframes
Red routes were the primary driving force behind design priority, with user flows and wireframes reflecting the process for creating and finding a carpool.
Additional screens such as “Social”, for messaging and profile views, and “My Trips” were included.
Visual identity
The visual identity of the application was constructed through a mood board and style guide. Shades of green were utilized to appeal to both its usage in driving environments and for its use to promote natural/health benefits.
A hero image was chosen for the landing screen as it could be seen as more personal while also offering a contrasting background to any material pulled up the screen.
Test and iterate
Two rounds of usability tests and updates were performed. Major insights could be categorized into three categories: information and details, access to actions, and contrast and compatibility. Some examples include the following.
Users exhibited a need for more information as a carpooling service was something they were new to.
Users quickly searched a list prior to filtering, resulting in actions being hidden.
In-person testing showed the need to accommodate varying display types through an increased use of contrast.
