PROCESS

RESEARCH

Research is conducted using both secondary and primary data sources, and organizing the information collected into useful research products. The research drives the development of features to improve the Waze application, based on the needs of the users, the needs of the business, and the best practices of the industry. Research is conducted through searching the literature, known as secondary research, and directly interviewing users, also known as primary research.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

Secondary research is research using data collected by others. Secondary research lets the researcher get a quick understanding of the field, and the potential users and competitors. I conduced secondary research reading articles and reliable information sources about the demographics of potential users, and direct and indirect competitors,.

Market Research and User Demographics

• In 2018 about 154.4 million people used Google Maps.  

• Waze was the second most popular navigation app with 25.6 million monthly users. 

• Apple maps had 23.3 million, and Mapquest had 20.8 million users.

• According to US census bureau American Community Survey found that 

  • There were 131.8 million people in the US who commuted to work by car, over the age of 16.

    • average commute takes over 25 minutes.

  • There were only 7.6 million people who took public transportation to work.

  • Fewer than 20 million workers carpool, while the rest drive alone.

• About 25 % of drivers are reported to be aged 20 to 34. 

• 88 percent of people older than 15 are reported as drivers.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Competitive analysis is a look at the strengths and weaknesses of direct and indirect competitors. Listing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors allows the design to include best practices, while avoiding problems, and increasing the value of a new features to include. These results were compiled from secondary research on the GPS navigation and driver assistance application industry.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

Primary research is data collected directly from actual and potential Waze users in support of this project. This data asks the specific questions that will help identify what users needs are and allow a useful features to be added to Waze. To do this, I developed a script, chose the number and demographics of users, and conducted in person interviews with Waze users.

User Interview

Participants: 5 participants

All ages 19-60 years old.

• Most participants had used navigation products before.

EMPATHY MAP

An empathy map is a map of the goals, motivations, and pain points of the users. This type of map provides defensible real world insight into the needs of users, so that these can be used to create features that will address the users’ most important and most common needs. I took comments from interviewees and transcribed them to post-it notes, gathered similar comments together to get insights into the app, and was able to discovered the user’s needs.

USER PERSONA

The final persona is the description of a single person, based on real data collected from the actual users of Waze. This persona can be used to help direct the product, and can be used to ask how any feature will help the persona. I took information for the persona including the frustrations, goals and needs came directly from the user interviews.

DEFINE

The definition process is the process of defining what, feature or features should be created. There are many potential features that could be created, and it is important to focus on those that will answer the most important

POV AND HMW STATEMENTS

The POV/HMW table is a restatement of the insights and needs from the empathy map. This restatement of insights and needs in the point of view of the final persona is which are designed to help create ideas for a feature or features that will address the user’s needs. The insights came directly from the user interviews and the empathy map, the needs were created from these, these were then restated in the point of view of the final persona, which led to questions asking how we might answer the persona’s needs.

USER AND BUSINESS GOALS

This is a Venn diagram of the users’ and business goals showing where the user and business goals are aligned. Potential features that address these mutual goals should be prioritized more highly than those that only satisfy one group’s goals. The information on the business’ goals was collected from secondary research, while primary and secondary research was used to determine the users’ goals.

IDEATE

Ideation is coming up with ideas for the feature or features to be added. The ideation process will result in the “what” that will be done, with the “why” is answered in research showing the user’s these needs. I conducted two types of brainstorming, solo and group rapid ideation, followed by and put together a feature information architecture.

SOLO RAPID IDEATION

Solo rapid ideation is basically brainstorming by myself. This is a good way to come up with several ideas that I believe will be useful to answer the users’ needs, and also to prepare for a group ideation. I conducted brainstorming, using the three minutes on a timer method., setting a timer for three minutes, writing all the ideas I could in this three minutes for each need I had identified in the HMW chart, and repeating the process a second time, once I had gone through the process once.

GROUP RAPID IDEATION

Group rapid ideation is using several people to help quickly brainstorm for ideas. Using a group of people lets me get ideas that I did not have by myself, and may validate my ideas. I developed a test plan, recruited 5 Waze users and conducted a moderated round robin brainstorming session for each of the “How might we” questions using Zoom, while taking notes.

PRODUCT ROADMAP

The product roadmap is a ranked list and description of features, and the research that supports adding the feature. This shows which features are important to include, and which might be included at a later time, along with features that are nice to include if possible. All of the features on this roadmap came from brainstorming ideas and were prioritized by comparing the benefits to the overlap of the user and business goals.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Information architecture is how information is organized within the app. It is important that the information architecture be consistent and logical to users of the app, and that new features follow the existing architecture. The information architecture is described by an application map, and task and user flow diagrams, showing how the new features will be located within the app.

APPLICATION MAP

The application map is a schematic map of main pages in the application, showing where the new functions will fit. This gives the first idea of where and how the new features will fit within the app, and what may need to be modified. I looked at the new features, and the actual app, to see where the new features would logically be placed to be most accessible, then created the application map.

TASK FLOW

A task flow is a flow chart showing the actions that must be taken to accomplish a specific task. It is important to have the fewest actions possible to complete a task, otherwise the task it too complicated, and users may not want to access the feature. I went through the app and created the shortest possible path to access the new features.

User Flow

The user flow is another flow chart, showing how a user will access the new features. It is important to visualize how users will experience the app and the new features. I created the user flow using the decisions that must be made in the app and adding decisions that are required to access the new features.

PROTOTYPE

A prototype is a series of wireframes that are linked to allow the users to test the new functions of the app. It is important to have users test the functions to make sure that they are intuitive and address the users’ needs. I first created low fidelity wireframes, to make sure that I would be able to integrate the functions, then a UI kit, mood board, and style tile to help make a high fidelity wireframe, which was made interactive,

LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES

A low fidelity wireframe is a rapid sketch of the app that includes the new features. The low fidelity wireframe are useful to find the best place to locate the new features in the app. I used a standard template of a cellphone, and drew the features of the existing app, and fitting the new features in the appropriate places, using the task flow and user flow as a guide.

High Fidelity Wireframes

These are the wireframes that look much like the actual app

These are my high fidelity wireframes.  I ended up with 23 screens.  The screens include different states for the settings, such as avoid all tolls being toggled on and off. I limited the screens to those that were going to be used in the scenarios.

There are two different ways to control screen dimming time.  The choices in the menu, and a slider.  The slider will move to the same times as the menu.  (5, 10, 15 30 and 60 minutes).  In the settings menu, I have added a Power and Data line, and a separate page for these options. The Quick Navigation changes navigation settings for only the current trip.

High Fidelity Prototype

This is a prototype from the high fidelity wireframes with the new features made active to allow tasks to be completed.. This prototype was made to enable user testing to test the functionality of the new features, and to identify any potential problems. The prototype was made using the high fidelity wireframes, and using a prototyping tool to make it possible for users to complete the tasks which will demonstrate the new features.

Usability Testing

I tested the usability of the prototype and the results are presented in an affinity map. Testing is one of the most important parts of the design process by bringing unbiased users in to identify problems that the designers may have overlooked or forgotten to address, since they are too close to the problem. To test, I first wrote a test plan identifying the optimum number and demography of users, and the script to be used, in testing, I then recruited 6 Waze users and tested them using the stript over Zoom and Skype.

AFFINITY MAP RESULT

This is a map of the results of user testing, showing where several users had pain points using the prototype. It is important to recognize problems that several users have or point out in the app, because, any single user may misunderstand the instructions, or have a problem, but several users having a similar problem points to something that must be resolved. I created the affinity map by writing the users’ comments and actions down on post-it notes and arranged these to find the users’ shared pain points and frustrations.

MOOD BOARD

The mood board shows the mood that people see when using the app. It is important that any feature have the same mood as the app. I read about and examined the Waze app, to determine the mood, colors, typograpgy icons, logo and other mood attributes.

STYLE TILE AND UI KIT

The stile choices and user interface elements used in Waze. The new features that I am designing are not intended to change the look and feel of the app, so it is important that I use the existing style and UI elements. I gathered these from using the newest updates to the app, and from websites created for developers.

REVISION RECOMMENDATIONS

These are the revisions that were developed from the results of user testing. They should make the new features integrate well into the app, and correct any errors in the prototype. I made these recommendations based on the results of the affinity mapping.

There were 4 changes that should be done to improve the features

1. Add an accept or cancel options (icons) to the screen dimmer time menu.

2. Other pop up menus shrink the navigation screen temporarily until they time out. 

3. Quick Navigation was mis-named, and should be re-named.

4.add an On or off indicator to the icons on the quick navigation menu.

UPDATED PROTOTYPE

This is the prototype following corrections made as a result of the testing and affinity mapping. The updated prototype gives a better idea of how the new functions will work once implemented. I updated my prototype to include the recommendations from user testing, and to correct a couple of minor issues that I found.

CONCLUSION

I added four features to the Waze app that were added on the basis of research into the business and the user needs.

• These features will help reduce pain points that users have with the app.  

• As more people know about these features, they may increase the user base. 

The first two features address issues that keep some people from using the app.

Right now, many users with limited data plans or battery issues do not use this app, because it is data and power “hungry”  Having options to manage these pain points will let them begin using the app.

1. I added the ability to dim the screen after a period of time, while keeping the app active.  This is to save battery, but prevent the user from needing to log in if their device goes completely to sleep.

2. I added the ability to select a limited data mode, or to download maps to use with the GPS without data while driving.

Users of the app sometimes do not follow the app because they do not know why they are being re-routed.  I have made a feature to address this pain point.

3. I added pop-up information boxes that show drivers why they are being re-routed.

Another pain point is that users of the app do not like to change their settings, but want to change them once in a while. 

4. I added the ability to temporarily change their navigation preferences by:

    1.Accepting a suggestion from a pop-up by Waze

    2.Going to a temporary Navigation change menu on the navigation map page.

    3.Going to a temporary navigation change menu from the destination confirmation page

NEXT STEPS

If possible I would like to go back and interview more users of Waze. I would also like to do more testing of the app on a larger group of people. People interact with Waze differently. Some people are “power users” and others are more casual users. The small number of users that I tested had very different concerns, from making sure that they did not drive in sketchy neighborhoods, to making sure that their car stayed clean, to avoiding police, or avoiding traffic. Some people use the app when there is limited cellular coverage, and at least two interviewees were concerned about the amount of data usage. These different types of users had different needs and interviewing a much larger user community may have come up with a different set of needs.