Project Overview and Objective

Class team conceptualized Butler app, an easy way to order self-driving cards on-demand and to map out daily activities in conjunction with ride orders. Our challenge was to assume we were in an execution phase of development and needed to develop the app’s business and functional features and to sell the idea to management level stakeholders.

Approach and Research Methods

We prototyped, tested with users, and prototyped some more!

Pencil Sketches/Wireframes

Rapidly prototyped screens with rough sketches and then some wireframes to determine and communicate app requirements for Butler among internal team. Considered functional, audience, user needs, and technical assumptions. Collaboratively developed major use case for app, ordering a ride from self driving car for multiple appointments through out a day. Our sketches ultimately roughed out a self-driving car ordering experience that began on the user’s mobile phone, continued in the car using the car’s telematics system, and ended once again with the user’s mobile.

team sketches

Digital Narrative prototype

Next we further refined our wireframes and created a narrative prototype video that showed happy path for Butler, a successful navigation through a self-driving car ordering task. The narrative explored how app requirements/features related to potential user persona. Included business and marketing info as this was also a concept pitch for sign off.

Mid-fi prototype

With sign-off in hand, we next refined wireframes in with Axure for screens along five critical paths: ordering a car, scheduling a car for a later pick-up, creating an account, sending a text message to share arrival time, and editing a destination during a ride. Incorporated wireframes into a mid-fi prototype by adding a first pass at interactivity between screens to demonstrate functionality.

Conducted in-person user testing with five tasks based on critical paths: Usability test script

First round of user testing – results

• Lack of feedback across both platforms (mobile, telematic) – users were prompted to enter information at various stages of the app, but we didn’t provide them with information to let them know info properly entered.
• Car ordering preferences not clear – we asked users to order an XL car that would fit up to 5 riders. Our test subjects struggled with this.
• Schedule rides feature was confusing – test subjects struggled to use this feature. The “calendar sync” feature we created was confusing to riders.

Revised Prototype hosted by Axshare: http://k13a29.axshare.com

Second round of user testing – results

• Destination input confusing – riders expected to input their destination on the same screen as their starting address, but couldn’t.
• Issues with feedback – fewer than in the first iteration but still existed in certain spots.
• Breaking app functionality app across mobile and a car’s telematic system screens revealed to be unnecessary.  Move forward with app exclusively operated from mobile.

Hi-fi prototype

Prototype further iterated based off of second round of user-testing. Moved prototype into hi-fidelity state by polishing interactivity, adding branding and implementing style guide.

Final prototype hosted by Axhare: http://xi9kr1.axshare.com

Tools

Paper prototyping materials, Photoshop, Axure, Camtasia, AfterEffects, PremierePro

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