PROJECT TYPE: Academic
DURATION: 10 days (November 2022)
TEAM: Maddy Sedgewick (me), Eden Beronio, Yakuta IzzyMY ROLE: UX/UI Designer
TOOLS: Figma, Canva
OVERVIEW:
This project focuses on redesigning the transit app Rocketman, with the goal being to improve the usability of the main task flow (planning a route). We identified usability issues using the Nielsen Norman Group's 10 Usability Heuristics and redesigned based on these findings.
task flow
The current user experience
To identify what the typical user journey is in the Rocketman app, my team and I created a proto-persona named Melissa. Melissa is a woman in her 50s who has a doctors appointment in a part of town that she’s never been to. Melissa wants to use transit to get to her appointment but she's not sure how to get there, so she opens up Rocketman to help her out.
Below you can see what Melissa's current experience looks like and the frustrations she faces while trying to plan her route.
HEURISTIC EVALUATION OVERVIEW
THE BASIS OF OUR REDESIGN
In order to identify usability issues, we used the Nielsen Norman Group's Usability Heuristics which is comprised of 10 different heuristics. These heuristics are commonly used to measure the usability of interfaces and reveal insights that can help design teams enhance product usability.
For each violation identified, we evaluated the severity of the issue using a severity scale which ranged from 0 to 4. This severity scale helped us to prioritize and address the most pressing problem areas.
DESIGN PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
OPPORTUNITIES for improvement
Using the heuristics listed above, my team and I identified several usability issues and corresponding opportunities for improvement. We plotted these opportunities on a Design Prioritization Matrix which helped us to evaluate the value to users versus the effort to fix.
BrandinG constraints
ROCKETMAN'S BRAND
To ensure our design solutions were consistent with Rocketman's brand guidelines, we adhered to their existing colour palette and typography.
reDESIGNED screens
making the changes
With our opportunities for improvement laid out, it was time to start redesigning! We decided to make the most impactful changes first and then made our way through the matrix.
The usability issues we discovered spanned 5 out of the 10 usability heuristics, which you can see identified next to each redesign. Overall these usability issues ranked from minor cosmetic problems to major usability problems.
STORYBOARD
MELISSA'S NEW JOURNEY
With our new designs implemented, Melissa's experience with Rocketman has greatly improved! Below you can see what her journey looks like now.
NEXT STEPS
WHAT'S NEXT?
conduct user testing
In order to ensure that our changes are bringing value to Rocketman users, we would like to conduct usability tests. This would also help us to determine if there are other issues with the functionality of Rocketman, either within this task flow or another flow.
IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
Given that we adhered to Rocketman's branding constraints and were focused primarily on functionality, we did not change any visual aspects of the app. Unfortunately there are many aspects of Rocketman that are inaccessible (i.e. the grey text over top of the black background). Enhancing the overall accessibility is key in making this app truly user friendly.
