The redesign addresses a few human factor issues associated with the transit app, Ride Systems. It depicts how the results of the study influenced a redesign of the app which allowed users to navigate through the app more efficiently and easily.
According to research, navigation involves a user making a decision about which way to go depending on their current goals, internal representation and perceptual cues. This relates to both a physical and virtual environment. My redesign focuses on enabling a user to navigate through the application more efficiently and easily by decreasing the gap between the designer and user mental model, structuring and simplifying the task sequence, and simplifying visuals while adding necessary documentation. To ensure the feasibility of the redesign, each of these elements are proposed in a manner that is consistent with the brand and style guide already created by Ride Systems.
The ride system app works with universities and authorities to facilitate the transit systems around them by providing live locations, predicted arrival times and other relevant bus information. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is one of the universities that has adopted this app to facilitate the use of their shuttle and escort system.
The CMU shuttle runs on 6 different routes: A Route, B Route, AB Route, PTC Route, Bakery Square (Long) & Bakery Square (Short). It’s supposed to run every 30 – 40 minutes and is more or less like a school bus that drops you to and from campus with a number of predetermined stops on the way depending on your route.
On the other hand, the escort service only operates from 6pm to 6am on an hourly basis. There are 4 different escort areas: Shadyside, Oakland, Squirrel Hill 1 & Squirrel Hill 2. Like the shuttle service there are predetermined stops, but only on campus from where one can board a shuttle. The escort service does not have predetermined stops or a route it takes once it leaves campus; rather it will drop a user off at the closest cross streets of their house.
Overall the redesign aims to provide a better user experience, one that will not leave users frustrated, by providing them the tools through the methods mentioned above to efficiently and easily navigate through the app. With these minimal changes and additions, Ride System will gain a more satisfied user base and CMU will gain a more pleased and informed community commuting to school via the shuttle service.
The final redesign looked at the addressed the four main pain points from the user study, while maintaining the look and feel of the brand.
To help users better navigate through the system the gap between their mental model, the system image and the designer mental model needed to be minimal. Thus a step by step introduction was created for novice users.
Using the principle of the home screen as a safe point of return in case users get lost, a homescreen and a back button icon were added.
1. A user can click on the routes and see it display on the screen
2. A user can use the map by clicking on the location icon to become aware of their current location in reference to their destination
3. A user can enter an address into the search bar
To facilitate the identification of route, names have been added to the lettered routes so it is easier to understand the area they cater to. When a user clicks on the route, immediate feedback is provided by reflecting a matching coloured route map right above with the names of the stops. Using Nielsen’s heuristic of recognition over recall, with all this information this design no longer requires a user to have prior knowledge to recall.
In his study Bartram
concludes, since people in different situations preferred either a map or a set list, having a mixed display of a list and a map would be most user friendly. Thus, the division f the home
screen into the list of routes and visual map. the routes are shown in a visual schematic
manner similar to that of the London tube, which has been proven to be easiest to read and
most effective.
To prevent users from navigating to another page by clicking an ‘x’ by mistake, the visual proximity has been increased so the ‘x’ no longer sits directly above the list of stops. To further allow for better user experience, help and documentation has been added to the information and schedule pdf tabs in the bottom left.
By adding analytics, frequently checking broken links or adding a vibration when a button is pressed are a few ways this problem can be address. Because this problem is greatly dependent on the parties and technology, this was the problem that was of lowest priority in the redesign.
