UberGroup

Overview

ROLES

User Research
UI Design
Usability Testing

TIMELINE

Oct 2019 - Dec 2019

DURATION

10 Weeks

The Problem:

Ordering and organizing Ubers for large groups is challenging and messy as coordinating drop off locations and times is disorderly and usually not aligned.

The Solution:

An UberGroup feature that allows one user to order all needed cars to pick up and drop off at the same location and time, and other users can see real time updates and information through the app.

I worked with a team of 3 to ultimately create an extension of the Uber app to deliver a comfortable and satisfying experience to large groups of riders. As part of a Product Design course at UC San Diego, we had a limited time of 10 weeks to create a new feature on an app, research, design, and test. I was primarily responsible for conducting user research and designing the user interface, and also helped with the testing process and analysis.

The Challenge

"How might we deliver a comfortable and easy experience for large groups of riders who have difficulty staying updated and meeting up?"

Problem Background

Lack of Coordination
Many of us either without a car as our primary method of transportation or without the ability to drive in a certain scenario have encountered difficulty coordinating large groups of people through any popular ride sharing service. Either from lack of communication or difficulty coordinating specific meeting spots, issues often arise when dealing with groups that cannot fit into a single vehicle.

Unaware of Other's Ride Information
These issues add extra stress to situations that should be enjoyable. Ride sharing services were designed to reduce the amount of work the user needs to put in in order to get from point A to point B. Without the feature of a traveling group together, groups of friends and family will continue to struggle to get around using ride-sharing services unless something is done.

User Research

Competitive Analysis

Key Takeaway: Competing apps do not support an easy and clear method to ordering rides for large groups. They are also either not widely available and supported or require a reservation or appointment ahead of time.

User Interviews

Who: We conducted 11 interviews within our targeted demographic of young adults aged 18-30, 1 of whom was an Uber driver
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Goal: To identify the common pain points users faced when using the Uber app and to gain a deeper understanding of the struggle users face when trying to order rides for large groups

Main Findings:

Coordination between individuals at night is difficult

Coordinating multiple cars to leave and arrive at one place is more difficult than it should be

There is not consistency in ways of ordering Ubers for large parties and some find it inconvenient

User Flows

To gauge what features and where to include our idea, we created two flows to compare which users preferred.

Flow 01

Flow 02

Using these flows, we proceeded to create paper prototypes of both to have a physical copy to test with users. After testing with 4 users, we weighed the pros and cons of each to determine with flow to move forward with. 4/4 users preferred the structure and content of Flow 01.

Flow 01

Flow 02

Entry point is situated among all other car types
Can invite users to this temporary session during the check out process
No chat system; at the end of the check out process users can see all the other cars and their info directly on that page

Entry point is in the slide out menu under profile
Can create groups within the app and set a duration the group (and chat) exists
Built in chat system which is convenient and centralized, but most users prefer using their own messaging apps

Design

Design Opportunity: Using Flow 01 and the corresponding paper prototypes as well as our research findings, we created sketches, low-fidelity, and high-fidelity prototypes and repeatedly iterated as we conducted user and A/B testing to compare specific designs and features.

Sketches

Using these sketches, we tested with 3 users to gather feedback to continue iterating with our high-fidelity prototypes.

Before & After Stories

Based on the feedback we received, we made a few stylistic and interactive changes.

A/B Testing

After completing our first version of our high-fidelity prototypes, we conducted A/B testing with 3 more users to compare minute details and content placement.

We compared entry points for our feature, left being at the nav bar on the home page and right being on alongside all the other car options.
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Findings:
Users found the right version to be more intuitive and relevant with its location.

For inputting number of seats, we compared a horizontal scroll and a number keypad.
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Findings:
Users found the left version to be more consistent with Uber's branding and stylistically more aesthetic.

Final Design & Core Features

Thanks to all the feedback and iterations, we implemented the most seamless and easy UberGroup feature!

Function 01

UberGroup is added to the pre-existing “More” section of the app to preserve Uber’s current design. From there, the user inputs the number of riders and Uber calculates which variation of cars best fits the user needs. Users can stick with the suggestions or customize it to their preferred arrangements.

Function 02

The main user can choose a method of payment, which ranges from paying whole, splitting all riders equally, and splitting riders equally amongst their type of car. Adding options to split the cost directly within the app provides ease and convenience for users.

Function 03

UberGroup then assigns each rider to a car, which the main user can then customize each car by deleting or adding riders accordingly. Riders can easily be moved around to edit the assignments. Other users can invite themselves into the group by entering a code that is unique to every UberGroup ride. The code appears on the main users screen which can seamlessly be shared for invitation.

Reflection

Key Takeaways

Iterate, iterate, iterate. We fortunately had the opportunity to user test our product after most steps, and it tremendously aided us when iterating and updating our designs. Constant iteration and our continual curiosity affirmed our design choices and made us all feel confident with our final design.
Diverge to converge. After ideating and brainstorming, we settled on two ideas for our user flows and sketches. Comparing these two not only within ourselves but with others helped solidify which features were essential and which were not truly serving us. Having two ideas to observe helped restrain any limitations on the possibilities.

What would I do differently?

Test with users outside our target group
Given more time and resources, I would have liked to test with users outside our targeted age group or profession to see if our feature is still applicable and useful to them. Such insights would have also aided in making our design more accessible to people of all ages and abilities.

More user research!
If we had more time with the research phase, I would have loved to dive deeper into where exactly the pain points occur within in the existing app. This would have allowed for a more curated solution to the problem space, however given our constraints, I am very proud of what my team accomplished!