Hey,
my name is Chaewon, and
I am a product designer

Roles
User Research, Usability Testing, Logo Design, Interaction Design, Marketing

Timeline
Oct 2020 - Feb 2021

Team
Dominik Bardelmann
Ma Eugenia González Gollaz
Samuel Christiansen
Ziyi Hong

Tools
Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe XD, After Effects

maplab

Introduction

Mobility is in a state of flux. While individual transport continues to be the dominant mode of transport, questions are raised increasingly about the extent to which it will still meet requirements in the future. It is becoming clear that a change in transportation is indispensable for sustainable mobility. But how can this work? It is not easy to formulate a specific solution because mobility is relevant and essential in our lives, but at the same time, it must take into account many requirements and needs.
MAPLAB is an Open Transport Lab where we can develope a new vision of future mobility together. The focus is on finding a new mobility network by measuring the real mobility needs of a city.

Background

Users need a means of transport to move flexibly without long waiting times. Mobility should be available at any time and in any place. The shorter and more direct the route is, the better. Individual transport can respond very well to the needs of the individual, but it has problems like traffic jams, oil prices, and parking lots. On the other hand, public transport ideally is available at a low price but can never fully meet the individual needs of its users.

Approach

Cities, roads, subways, and buildings are fixed structures that cannot be changed quickly. They are built for the future and any change to them must be well thought out and planned with the future in mind. However, what might the network of the future look like? To find out, users need to be involved. Who can shape their future, but also their present, better and more efficiently than they? Who wants to go where and when? With the current data collection, it is only possible to display the current road network. In the future, however, data collection should also be able to determine people's mobility wishes and needs. To create a population-oriented road network, one must first break away from the current structures. MAPLAB wants to create new opportunities for its’s users.

Solution

MAPLAB is an App where users can express their desired routes for their surroundings. Users can mark their significant places and paths. Through collaborative work, a new network for public transport is created.

Live view of all desired routes

At the bottom of the screen, an interactive area is wafting. All current desired routes that other users have created are displayed in real-time.

Launch navigation

As soon as the bottom area is pulled upwards, it turns into the main interaction element, the marker. It is placed in the center of the display and enables navigation on the map.

Searching & Setting mark

As soon as scrolled, the marker shrinks and steps back to make the map easier to see. When the desired location is found, a simple tap sets the mark.

Living Interaction

After tapping, the shape of the marker changes from a circle to a dynamic and lively form. As soon as the mark is touched, it returns to its fixed geometric shape. After that, further actions can be performed.

Adding point

Dragging the mark to the right saves the current location and creates a new route. We can add points continuously and create a route that has several intermediate points.

Removing point

Dragging the mark to the left deletes the currently active marker. It allows the route to be changed afterward.

Completing the route

After saving the route successfully, the navigation can be completed by dragging the mark downwards.

Adding hashtags

At the end, hashtags are recommended automatically and can be added to the route to link more information.

When the route is completed, the system returns to the overview of all current routes. Users are free to enter any additional information they wish.

Mark as interaction element

The mark is the most important interaction element in the app. It signals various states through its appearance and behavior. It reacts to the user's behavior and visually indicates the current situation. A mark is also a tool for interaction with the digital map. For this purpose, the marker can be touched and dragged. Once a location has been defined by tapping, the mark can be swiped in three distinct directions to trigger actions. This makes interaction especially quick to learn and understand.

Logo

This MAPLAB logo symbolizes the road that connects us when we move. The dots on it show the places where we are in different sizes. The combination of different colors in the background represents different mobilities, transports, environments, and experiences.

Chalk campaign

We want to introduce our project to the people not only through the app but also offline and let people participate in our ideas voluntarily. The aim of this campaign is to link the real and the digital world together to make more it more interesting and to allow users to participate in either „world“.

Most people are well aware of problems or something good in their zone. Places such as cafes, restaurants, and bookstores can be rated easily on GoogleMaps, but how do you communicate with strangers about local problems? Chalk is our method for the campaign. This is because chalk is instantly visible, but can also be easily removed. That means temporary but enough to attract attention. Sentences such as "WATCH OUT!", "NO BIKE LANE", and "DOORING" can be written on the road with chalk. It can be a warning to others or a simple problem finding. It makes people think about their surroundings and they can also participate in it.

With the incentive of social media such as Instagram or Facebook, residents should actively draw attention to problems on the streets. Then others will become aware of our MAPLAB project and can also find chalk messages in their area. The highlight of this campaign is that anyone can participate in a simple and fun way.

Conclusion

We considered this questions for a better user experience.
-How familiar are my users with technology?
-How are my users accessing the product or service?
-Where and when are my users accessing the product or service?
-Have I considered all my potential users?
I hope this project contributes to better mobility in the future.

Takeaways

Our team consisted of 5 people from 4 different nationalities. At the beginning of this project, we had some differences regards to collaboration and communication to perform effectively to reach our goals. To overcome this we agreed to have open and honest feedback sessions about research, ideas, interactions... Conclusionally it was more effective not only in brainstorming but also in the whole process of our project because we have meaningful diversity across identifiers like race, gender, age, ability, and ethnicity and brought together a lot of different lived experiences.

Through this project, I could learn and understand more about design thinking and user-centered design. Above all, I realized how important usability test in the field of UX design is. In the future, no matter what kind of project I do, usability tests and several feedback loops should always be a part of it.