Seattle Yellow Cab

Seattle Yellow Cab

A mobile app helping riders get to a location, by finding and hiring nearby taxis

UX Design

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CHALLENGE
PROBLEM STATEMENT

Seattle has its own version of the iconic yellow taxi, Seattle Yellow Cab, a network of identical vehicles that transverse the city at all hours, transporting customers in a hurry.  However, their mobile application is not very reliable and is subject to constant loading and performance issues.  Users often have to spend ten to twenty minutes fumbling through the experience, then ultimately have to switch to a competitor car referral application.

With the advent of Uber and Lyft and the ease of their mobile interfaces, conventional taxi use has dropped considerably.

Seattle has its own version of the iconic yellow taxi, Seattle Yellow Cab, a network of identical vehicles that transverse the city at all hours, transporting customers in a hurry.  However, their mobile application is not very reliable and is subject to constant loading and performance issues.  Users often have to spend ten to twenty minutes fumbling through an experience, then ultimately have to switch to a competitor car referral application.

With the advent of Uber and Lyft, and the ease of their mobile interfaces, conventional taxi use has dropped considerably.

MY ROLE
(TEAM OF 3)
MY ROLE

UX Design
Information Architecture

Visual Design

 

UX Design
Information Architecture
Visual Design

SOLUTION

After much consideration, and numerous tests, we came up with a navigation that sped up the user’s journey, offering a car requesting service that is quick and intuitive.  

We designed Yellow Cab’s new immersive experience to be thoughtful, simple to use, and inclusive of a map of nearby cabs and geolocating, a brief comparison of potential competitor fees, a favorite routes list, a rating system, and live view of the meter reading.

Research Methods

Research Methods

market

Market research analysis

interviews

Customer interviews

IA

Information Architecture

person

Persona

test

Prototype testing

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Design Studio Method Sketching
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Focus Areas

What are the challenges or barriers to booking through the app?

What’s important for a great ride-hailing experience?

What are the rider’s needs and unmet needs?

Usability Testing

Key Findings

Existing Reviews

Research showed that the lacking interface and functionality of the current mobile experience ranked as one of the most frustration-inducing of all available application car referral services in the city.
An initial heuristic evaluation clearly showed that the focus for the project was to ensure that the conversion for “Hire Cab” and actual pickup were improved.

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis

After establishing the  familiarity of the flows of popular car referral mobile experiences during users interviews, we decided to converge the app’s design with elements from other competitor features and concepts.

Concept Strategy

Several brainstorming sessions led to many divergent ideas.  Narrowing down to a few design concepts, we white-boarded together using the Design Studio method; each of us sketching key screens and critiquing each other’s ideas.
Prior to settling on one solution, we explored multiple ideas using paper prototypes for rapid feedback with potential customers.

Usability Testing

In all, we recruited numerous participants three times throughout the paper prototype and wireframe iterations for usability testing.  They were asked to think-aloud through a few task scenarios.  After the cognitive walkthrough, we posed a series of qualitative questions regarding the prototype’s interface and functionality.  Based on the feedback, we developed a design direction that we were satisfied with.

Defining the MVP

PROTOTYPING

We conducted usability tests to help aid customer conversations and provide interaction insights.  For each iteration, we had seven participants go through specified tasks.

FIDELITY EVOLUTION
Paper Prototypes
Wireframes
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Welcome / Destination 

An initial screen was designed for our user that is similar to the ride-sharing applications that she is already accustomed to.

Front
Order

Booking a Ride

After the user sets her destination and confirms, the application is synced with the assigned cab and an arrival estimate is provided.

Driver Dispatched

Once booked, the user will see a photo of the assigned driver and be able to contact him, or cancel the ride if needed.  Once she is picked up, the meter reading is then displayed in the app, in real-time.  (See night mode En Route screen at top of the page.)

Driver
Rate – Happy
Main illustration by vectornation at Adobe

Rating the Experience

Once arrived, the user may pay by cash or card and leave a rating with an emoji scale simply by dragging the icon.  She will then receive an automatic receipt via email.

Rate – Angry Face
Rate – Meh Face
Rate – Meh Copy

Learnings

Maintain a growth mindset.  Brainstorming sessions are most productive when all group members are present, each with unique solutions, and then we can converge and refine them together.  

Our best designs were developed through the inclusion of elements from multiple design solutions, which were then refined to encompass divergent ideas of flows, features, and layout.

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