UX Design Institute

Ride & Roll

Car Rental Experience with Fluid Design and Smart Trip Assistance.
Research & Analysis
Car Rental Experience with Smart Trip Assistance

Ride & Roll is designed for UX Design Institute, showcasing complete cycle of UX design process from scratch.

Problem

The client is a start-up car rental service, who wants to create an easy and intuitive online booking experience, based on a deep understanding of their target users.

Solution

Streamlined Car Rental Experience with fluid interaction prioritising content through map-based interaction model.

Activities

UX Research
UX/UI Design
Strategy Design
Prototyping
Usability Assessment

Tools

Figma, FigJam, Protopie, Miro, Google Forms, Reflector 4, ScreenFlow

Concept
Prioritizing Content over Navigation

App welcomes user with results and info about deals, promotions and price visualized on map based on location of the user. Top bar lets user to reach intended vehicle type with one tap.

Constant Trip Assistance

On-category complementary services in card view.

Redirectable

Flows are layered in a way that the interface is continuously redirectable and allow for interruption in sync with user’s mental model. Seamless transition from text-based search to map-based search. The micro task layers slide over the main content, keeping redirectability maximum.

Progressive disclosure

First pick up text field appears, once it is filled the drop-off field reveals. Interface guides user by revealing only context relevant text fields.

Recognition rather than recall

Visualising the data: The results are shown with car pictures and main features of the car are shown in symbols.

Discoverable

Filter button as FAB: “Filter” prioritised by moving to easy-to-reach screen area as floating action button

Consistent control types

The filtering elements are chunked under titles; the sliders and choice chips are used where applicable.

Saving steps when possible

Drop off location and dates are populated once pick-up location is selected. Pushing secondary use case forward: checking price

Aligning with Mental model

One-screen based, date and time pickers smooth transition between interdependent micro tasks.

Instant Response

Up-to-date total sum on the CTA The list items shifting to obvious active state.

Removing roadblocks from conversion flow

Log in flow is pushed to the end.

Enhanced recoverability

Query can be edited even on the final screen.

Overcoming information overload

Only key data points are shown, the rest is chunked behind “Show more”.

Speaking user’s language

Leading wording of screen and button title informing about next steps

Context-based

CTA titles keep changing in response to shifting context.

Research & Analysis
Translating Data into Actionable Insights

A comprehensive UX research process is executed to conduct multi-sourced data collection. Then data triangulation is applied to corroborate findings, unveiling patterns across multiple data touchpoints. Subsequently, research findings are strategically synthesized, getting translated into actionable insights.

Research & Analysis Process
1
Competitive
Benchmarking
2
Online
Surveying
3
Usability
Testing
4
Affinity
Diagramming
5
Customer
Journey Mapping
Scroll right to dive deep in
Research & Analysis
Competitive Benchmarking
Cross-Industry Benchmarking to Emulate

Not all industries keep pace with technological advancements. For instance, the car rental industry clings to legacy practices, resulting in an outdated user experience (UX) filled with holdover flow patterns, coarsely translated from physical touch points to digital experiences. Discerning this as an opportunity, the benchmarking is broadened to include related industries like ride-sharing and taxi booking platforms. These analogous sectors offer valuable insights into superior flow patterns and mental models. Thus, we assessed not only the primary competitors but also three prominent ride-sharing platforms.

Finding
Interruptive actions like inserting the driver’s age or log-in data, push user out of the conversion funnel.

Insight
Saving steps wherever possible

Finding
Home screens are awash with friction, distancing user from conversion funnel

Insight
Prioritizing main use cases

Finding
Showing unavailable options, pushing no result screens, no preview for number of results

Insight
Forthcoming result listing

Finding
Very few competitors offer light and dark theme options

Insight
Customisation for tailored user experience

Finding
Content language based on daily conversations, humanising the interface

Insight
Speaking user’s language

Use Cases & Context

Main use case: Renting a car
Secondary use case: Checking Price and Promotions
Majority of conversions are touristic trips.

User Value

Highlighted info about deals, promotions, price
Easy to find pickup/drop off location
Ease of car selection and comparison
Seamless transition to complementary services
(booking taxi, ride-sharing and long-term rental etc.)

Paint Points

Need for comparison tools
Off-putting transition to complementary services
Unwieldy flows for location search,
Fiddly flows for adding extras
Intrusive login/signup flows,
Tedious Booking/payment flows

Online Surveying
Building Engaging Online Surveys

Collecting data through online questionnaire strikes with its practicality and speed. The questionnaire is designed in a way that, data collection process feels engaging for the subjects, improving participation rate as well as broadening data set.

Sample size
96 participants
10 questions
Tools
Google Forms
Usability Testing
Detecting Pain Points to reach Actionable Insights

Four usability testing sessions were conducted. A total of approximately 240 minutes of interview recordings were meticulously analysed. During each session, participants interacted with two major car rental mobile apps. The findings from usability testing sessions are painstakingly distilled into actionable insights, making the extensive dataset not only manageable but a powerful driving force within the design process.

Pain points

- Lack of Transparency in extras, price breakdown
- Trust issues about app identity
- Low discoverability of “Filter” due to positioning
- Low legibility due to hi-saturated background
- Low discoverability of CTAs due to size and contrast
- Inconsistent control types• No results screens

1. Error recoverability
Pick up/drop off, date&time picker editable at all times.
Preview of the query right before “Search”
2. Saving steps
Preselected options like “return at pick-up location”
Add-ons grouped in packages
3. Overcoming Information overload
Visualising text with symbols, keeping descriptive text concise
4. Speaking user’s language
Button names, descriptions,  titles in everyday language
5. Instant feedback
Responsive update of total sum
Affinity Diagramming
Prioritising the Actionable Insights

Affinity diagramming session is facilitated in person to prioritise the actionable insights. The gleaned data is used to infer design approaches. The inferred design approaches are rated on a 5-point Likert scale revealing the prioritisation of the design approaches.

Affinitiy Diagramming Results
Customer Journey Mapping
Unveiling the Flow

The research findings are mapped along the customer journey, visualising the research process through diagramming. The user flow is detailed step by step and elaborated in terms of Goals, Context, Behaviors, Positive Interactions, Emotional Experience, Pain Points, Mental Models. Later in the process, the Customer Journey Diagram served as backlog for the Flow Diagramming.

Customer Journey Mapping
Design Process
Kickstarting in Low-Fi but swiftly leaping to Hi-Fi

Design Process started with low-fi ideation, consisting of flow diagramming the happy path to set out the requirements for each screen, and then sketching out the flow to explore multiple solutions rapidly. Then the fidelity level is quickly cranked up to be able to collect meaningful insights from stakeholders, deploying the concept through prototyping. The final concept is detailed and documented through wireframe building with annotations.

Research & Analysis Process
1
Flow
Diagramming
2
Sketching
the Flow
3
Prototyping
& Testing
4
Wireframes
& Annotations
Scroll right to dive deep in
Design Process
Scan the QR code to explore the prototype
Flow Diagramming
Using CJM as backlog

Through flow diagramming, a happy path is intricately constructed, using CJM as backlog. The flow diagram is constructed in a way that it reaches beyond a simple task flow, already incorporating preliminary page titles, underscoring key links taking user to other screens, ultimately facilitating the generation of initial screen drafts..

Sketching the Flow
Ideating in Low-Fidelity: Navigating Diverse Solutions

Based on Flow Diagram, the initial screens are sketched out, ideating about solutions for detected pain points, actionable insights and inferred design approaches from UX Research and Analysis Process. These sketches serve as a canvas for ideating, addressing the pain points and translating actionable insights into tangible design approaches. Initial ideation is intentionally kept in low-fi to be able to generate multiple solutions rapidly. Discerning that simple static sketches alone wouldn't suffice for comprehensive ideation, when it comes to ideating over a user flow which is obviously by nature is far from being static. So rather than settling for static sketches, a low-fidelity clickable prototype is crafted using these initial screens. This interactive prototype acts as a vital tool for gathering valuable initial insights -maybe not from end-users due to lack of fidelity but-from teammates with design affinity, enriching the design process with diverse perspectives.

Prototyping & Testing
Cranking up the fidelity along with interactive prototypes

The final screens are generated in Figma, employing interactive components at the variants level. Figma's interactive components provided the foundation for establishing the core functionality of micro-interactions. However, to achieve a highly realistic and interactive prototype, the screens are  transferred to Protopie. An interactive prototype is built based on trigger response flow principles of Protopie.

Scan the QR code to explore the prototype
Affinity Diagramming
Prioritising the Actionable Insights

Affinity diagramming session is facilitated in person to prioritise the actionable insights. The gleaned data is used to infer design approaches. The inferred design approaches are rated on a 5-point Likert scale revealing the prioritisation of the design approaches.

Contact

Get in touch

contact@beyzadogan.com

© Beyza Dogan. All Rights Reserved.