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GEORGIA TECH STINGERETTE REDESIGN

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August - December 2022 

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Figma / Illustrator / Photoshop

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Role: (Solo) UX Designer, Brand Designer

WHAT IS THE GT STINGERETTE?

The Stingerette is an on-demand transportation service for Georgia Tech students aimed to provide safe and efficient evening transportation on Georgia Tech's campus and the neighborhoods in between. The Stingerette is available seven days a week from 8:00 p.m. to 3:15 a.m. 

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THE PROBLEM

The GT Stingerette’s interface has been a shared grievance among the students at Georgia Tech. While conducting research, I found that the Stingerette App is currently seen as unreliable and unsafe as a method of night-time transportation to it's users.   

How can I redesign the Stingerette app to better reflect it's goal to keep students safe and encourage wider usage?

THE SOLUTION

​By introducing 

​

  • Safety features 

  • A consistent design system

  • Friendly illustrations

  • More ride updates 

  • More confirmation of user actions,

 

this redesign is centered around the safety needs of students that was gathered from user research, and creates a more reliable and delightful experience for the Stingerette rider. ​

ORIGINAL UI DESIGN

For context, some screens of the current Stingerette app 

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PROJECT TIMELINE

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01 RESEARCH

01
SURVEY

51 Responders

To collect general student perceptions of the Stingerette app and to assess the usability of each feature.  

02 
INTERVIEWS

2 Participants

Understand the user journey, needs, and pain points of current students when it comes to night-time transportation. 

03 
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Investigate existing solutions in the rideshare industry  

01
SURVEY

10 questions, 51 responders

KEY FINDINGS

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Lack of information

71% of students are unsure of where their ride is when using the app

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Infrequent Use

61% of students only use the Stingerette 1-2 times a semester

For 40% of students, app usability greatly effects how frequently they use the Stingerette

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Feature issues

49% of students describe selecting a pickup and drop-off location as somewhat difficult or extremely difficult
 
40% of students describe selecting number of riders as somewhat difficult or extremely difficult 

02 
INTERVIEWS

I interviewed one younger and one older Georgia Tech student with experience using the Stingerette app. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured format, where I used a loose script to gather insights into aspects they value in a transportation app and their current critiques of the app. These interviews, along with the survey, were used to create a user journey map and personas. 

KEY FINDINGS

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The Stingerette is something students only use as a last resort. The inconvience of using the app outweighs their concern for safety 

A Last Resort 

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The Stingerette is often inaccurate in aspects such as wait estimation and location. This causes students to have to wait outside for longer than they want to and coordination between drivers and students is poor. 

Inaccurate Information

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Feeling safe requires more than just a ride home

Walking home alone at night on campus is stressful, especially for female students. If possible, they would rather walk home with a friend or share their location with someone. 

USER JOURNEY MAP

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PERSONAS

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Jane 18

Political Sci Major

Jane is a recently moved in freshman at Georgia Tech. College has been fun so far, but living in the middle of Atlanta is very different from the small town she’s used to. Jane is super unfamiliar with the area, and walking back to her dorm at night-time can be very intimidating. Her fellow students recommended using the Stingerette since her dorm is on the farther side of campus, but when she begins using the app she is very confused by the interface and spends a long time requesting a ride. 

NEEDS

  • To feel safe at her new home 

  • An easier way to get home at night-time

  • To have a good initial experience with GT transportation

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Sarah 20

Mech Engineering Major

Sarah is a sophomore at Georgia Tech and knows her way around campus very well. She spends late nights in studio, and while she understands the dangers of walking home alone at night-time, her past experiences with the GT Stingerette as a freshman have been negative. Sarah decides to risk walking back home alone each time because she thinks it will be more efficient than requesting a Stingerette. Her walks back home are often stressful and guarded since she is on-edge.

NEEDS

  • An efficient way to travel 

  • To not compromise her safety 

  • To trust GT transportation

03
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

While the Stingerette is very different from rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, I still conducted some research on how these apps were designed for their users. By looking at these existing transportation products, I could better grasp how to successfully design features such as location setting and ride updates. 

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KEY FINDINGS

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Many rideshare apps are designed for one-hand-use which creates a more efficient and flexible experience 

One-Hand-Use

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Visual aids create understandable and delightful experience especially for wait estimates

Visual Aids 

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Transparency

It is important for users to have full control and transparency when it comes to where they are going and how long it will take

DESIGN IMPLICATIONS

01

The system should be easy to use and convenient 

02

The system must provide reliable and transparent information in a timely matter

03

The system should include safety features that are easily accessible

04

The system should use visual aid to inform the user of where they are in their journey

02 IDEATION & TESTING

Mid-Fidelity Concepts

SAFETY FEATURE CONCEPTS

After brainstorming and sketching, I focused on 3 ideas and  presented these concepts to 4 students. I asked them what they liked/disliked about each feature and if they thought it was effective

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Friend Location Share

Share you location when your ride starts and keep track of your friends' rides too

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Buildings Nearby

While waiting for your ride, you can view GT buildings nearby that you have access to so you have somewhere to wait

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Contact GTPD

Emergency button that directly calls GTPD

Strengths

  • Students generally liked this idea

  • Some female students mentioned they already keep track of when their friends get home by texting them

 
Weaknesses

  • Students were unsure of how likely they would actually add and keep track of friends on the app

  • A preferred method would to send location through a messaging app 

Strengths

  • Students liked the swiping interaction because it was quick and easy to understand

  • Students saw this useful especially if they needed to get home from a social function like a frat party

 
Weaknesses

  • Wouldn't be useful if they were already in a GT building

  • Students would not feel very safe if this was their only safety feature 

Strengths

  • GTPD can't be dialed through 911, so students have to look up their number each time or have their number saved in their phone. This feature allows for faster calls

 
Weaknesses

  • Icon may be difficult to understand - students may press it on accident

  • This feature is an emergency button, students want options for safety features that are less severe 

USER FLOW

From my user research, it was evident that there was the most pain points within the requesting ride and waiting for ride features. I broke down the user flow of the current app and restructured it to incorporate more steps and confirmation into these two areas

CURRENT FLOW
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Requesting

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Waiting

IMPROVED FLOW
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MID-FI WIREFRAMES
Using the improved user flow, I prototyped a mid-fidelity prototype to asses how intuitive users found the navigation of the app. I asked 2 students to perform a think-aloud protocol with their task being "You have just downloaded the Stingerette app, find a ride to the Student Center"
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 03 DESIGN SYSTEM

How can I use visual design to create a safe environment 

LAYOUT GRID
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SPACING

A consistent and well designed design system can make a user experience feel more reliable and trusted. These building blocks were the most important part when designing the look and feel of the Stingerette app.

COLOR PALETTE
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GREYSCALE
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I derived the Navy color from Georgia Tech's brand guidelines, and used a light blue and brighter yellow instead of GT's gold to add more delight into my design.

TYPOGRAPHY
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COMPONENTS
Inputs
Buttons
Containment
BRANDING
A Familiar Face

Buzz, the anthropomorphic yellowjacket, is currently Georgia Tech's mascot. Buzz has developed a unique personality over the years, and brings laughter and lightheartedness into GT culture. I redesigned Buzz into a softer, more cartoonish character to guide my users through their Stingerette experience. 

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Buzz
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04

DESIGN

Bringing everything together

ONBOARDING

During onboarding, I wanted to establish a friendly tone, so students would feel safe and welcomed into the app. I used Buzz to describe key features and created fluid transitions from screen to screen in Figma. 

ONE-HAND USE

After doing some research on one-hand use design, I implemented this idea into my user interface by keeping the most important features and interactions near the bottom half of the screen (near the thumbs). To request a ride, users would simply need to swipe up to reveal location inputs.

SAFETY FIRST.

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Because the Stingerette’s main goal is to give students a safe way to get around campus, I decided to add safety features to the app because feeling safe is more than just a ride home. While students are waiting for their ride, they can share their location with their contacts, call campus police, and locate buildings to wait in. The interface allows users to swipe between ride updates and safety features easily. â€‹

ALL SCREENS

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05 REFLECTION

WHAT I LEARNED

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The Big Picture

At the start of this project, I was super focused on how I wanted the UI to look and let aesthetics influence how I wanted to design the app. It wasn't until I took a step back and realized that "the safety app for students isn't actually keeping students safe" when my design decisions started being led by research.  

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Design Systems

By starting off with the building blocks like grids and spacing, I was able to create a much more refined product. Before this project, I was unaware of tools such as auto-layout and concepts like components, so this project helped me familiarize myself with Figma and how to design more efficiently 

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Figma Prototyping

This was also my first time prototyping in Figma! While it was definitely a learning curve,  I found that I really enjoyed this part of the project and leveraged my skills in animation to make the project come to life. 

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENT?

This was my first UI/UX project, so there are many things I would do differently. I would first interview a larger pool of students for preliminary interviews as well as user testing. I would flesh out safety features even further, showing how share your location would work with iMessage, or displaying buildings nearby on the map.  Lastly, I would get more input from my design peers. I completed this project for the Meta Design Summit and worked closely with a mentor that gave me great feedback, but I think brainstorming and getting critique from other design students could have given me a different perspective. 

[LET'S MAKE COOL SHIT TOGETHER]

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