Project Overview

The aim of the app is to improve peoples UX with their cars, my job is to improve UX of the app. UXception. (Sorry it had to be done).

Core processes include:
Reminders: Due dates for MOT’s, Road Tax, Servicing etc…
Service Information: Customers able to record services and repairs completed.
Car locator: Connectivity with GPS trackers to locate the vehicle.
Costings: Recording Fuel, tax, service, repair costs which can be used to work out averages.
Dashlights/Fault Code meanings: Explanations of various car dash symbols and their meanings.
Tutorials and videos: Various information like (How to change a bulb, How to change wipers etc…)

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Stakeholder Goals

In the UK vehicles have always had a tax disc clearly displayed in the windscreen. This is to prove to road/traffic enforcement that vehicles were taxed and legal to be on the road. These discs also served as a great reminder to the car owners that their car was legal to be on the road. In 2015 this law was abolished and road tax discs are no longer available, so it is now quite easy to forget and prepare for when a vehicles Tax or MOT is due. This app was initially designed as a tax/mot reminder, which when looking back now, is a very basic idea. Thanks to quality research, surveys and user feedback the app has now evolved into a more user-focused “car companion”.

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Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is helped push our innovation further to not just create an app, but a great app. Searching for similar apps I quickly identified key strengths and weaknesses from efficiency and functionality to price and user ratings.

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Survey

Surveys are not an ideal way to understand user needs, however surveys can prove vital to stakeholders in identifying whether or not a project is:

1. A good idea.
2. Something potential customers will be willing to pay for.
3. Which goals are the users wanting to achieve.

Through surveying various car users in the UK I was able to identify that over 90% of users thought the app WAS a good idea and over 70% were willing to pay for such an app. Collating feedback for question C allowed me to implement some great new features which weren’t even considered prior to the research.

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Personas

I recruited suitable users who would be interested in such an app and identified the following key persona.

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Red Route Analysis

My favourite part of UX, red route analysis. You cannot please every user with every function, A great app will always give a seamless experience when using key functions. Through brainstorming sessions and going through key points in user research I prioritised the following red routes.

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Story Map

You can’t find treasure without an accurate map. Maps are a great way for me to provide myself, stakeholders and the development team a grand overview of the complete product. Whenever communication broke down or developers returned to this project after time spent on other projects, we all returned to the map to see where we were with the build. With this tool we can display all the interactions from different user scenarios. This helped list all functions and requirements in the process identifying weak points or gaps in functionality.

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Initial Mockup

Initial mockups of the Ultimate Car Companion App derived from the agreed paper prototypes.

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Usability Test

Users who are interested in the product were provided with usability tests to help us gain valuable insights on the initial mockup. They were provided with specific questions and tasks which helped to further improve various aspects of the design.

Area’s which required improvement:
1. Difficult to navigate between functions once off the home screen.
2. Having to enter the same data in multiple places (I.e Car mileage).
3. No easy way to store receipts.
4. No way to add two or more cars.

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Accessibility Design Features

Various steps were taken when designing the app to ensure where possible this app is accessible to as many users as possible, including individuals with disabilities.

1. Appropriately labeled content for use with assistive tech such as screen readers.
2. Brightly contrasting colours.
3. Touch target spacing.
4. Use Native dialog elements where possible.

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