So, what is Lyft?
It is a ride-sharing app with the purpose of giving users an alternative to taxis or public transportation, in general. Ride reservation, payment, and communication with your driver are all handled throughout the app itself.
We started on by identifying the competitors of Lyft, who is our target audience and the user experience flow within the app. For the competitors, we selected Uber for its rivalry of ride-sharing apps, SEPTA as our target audience being Philly residents that rely heavily on public transportation and lastly Doordash for its food delivery convenience, therefore eliminating the need for Lyft.
Target Audience: Individuals over 18 and younger than 35 living in Philadelphia
Uber
Positives - Offers delivery services & reliable drivers
Negatives - More expensive and longer wait times
SEPTA
Positives - More cost effective and environmentally friendly
Negatives - Safety / cleanliness
Doordash
Positives - Offers food delivery
Negatives - Not a ride-sharing app
To start our process, we developed a survey using Google Forms and distributed it across all of our social medias. From the two weeks it was out to the public, we were able to gain 33 responses. Our goals for the survey were to gain insight on why users use these ride-share apps, the amount of their usage, their thoughts against the services, and their preferences towards any of the ride-share app!
People overall have a positive experience within the app itself. When people needed to see more cheaper options or drivers in general, they switch over to Lyft.
The reason why people choose to use ride-share apps is when it is late at night or when they are going out. Safety and saving time were the people’s main priorities. Ride tracking is the biggest factor into making people feel safe while using any ride-share app.
Based on our survey insights, we decided to dig a littler deeper and transition into conducting interviews to understand the user more about their patterns.
We collaborated to create a set of interview questions that reached our main objectives while keeping it clear, concise and thorough for the participant.
Objectives:
1. Learn more about the likes/dislikes from each participant
2. What motivates each one to use Lyft more
3. Learn more about the user experience
4. Learn more about the needs of the user
With the research that we have obtained, we developed three personas based on the motivations, challenges, frequency usage and how tech savvy they are. By putting an emphasis on these main factors, we felt as though we could cover the range of users within our target audience.
From our research, we gained insight about Lyft's design. Originally, we believed that its clean interface was the reason why Uber was so loved. However, we discovered something different. The iconic magenta color from Lyft was a very memorable aspect for the user experience.
Through our interviews, we noticed a pattern where despite its simple flow, user still had that sense of clutter. This caused the development of two possible solutions; alter the interface with a cleaner and minimal layout or go in strong with a more lively atmosphere.
In order to satisfy both needs, we decided to combine the two concepts where the interface would be more simplified while highlighting more of the iconic Lyft magenta pink color throughout the screens.
This part of the process is important to ensure that the user is satisfied but as well as can understand the new flow of the altered interface. Getting a range of regular, non-designer users is more helpful in order to truly understand the users’ perspective.
Despite our efforts, the clutter within the interface was still an issue as there is so much information for each screen. In order to resolve this problem, we create more visual hierarchy for the user by using more of the color palette, making sure that the font sizes are consistent and decreasing the stroke weight. Additionally, we introduced more of Lyft’s signature magenta pink and purple throughout the screens .
In the project, we were able to experience the whole process of UI/UX. This opportunity allowed our team to see the importance of understanding the user experience and how to design according to the user. I was able to gain beneficial skills in user researching (including survey and interviews structure to ensure unbiased results) and data analysis where I am able to understand patterns and form insights.
The experience from this class was truly irreplaceable especially with the gain of working on a team and designing based on the users’ wants and needs.