Uber Events
UX Design Project/Challenge
Individual
Aug 24th, 2019
Figma, Mural
Overview
While attending Georgia Institute of Technology, I took place at a service design project that started at the beginning of the semester, during part of the design process I ideated on several ideas that could make political conferences more better for their attendees. One of these ideas I thought was interesting enough to develop a self-made design challenge. Since I was working on a variety of courses I allowed my self about a week to develop it and not have it conflict with my studies
Challenge
Your city wants to promote local activities and local businesses' by encouraging citizens to explore their community and the surrounding area. Design an experience that allows citizens to discover local events or businesses. Consider the need of citizens and how they might be impacted.
Context
As a student who is constantly on the go, I feel that I don't have time to explore the surrounding environment that I am currently in unless it is close to campus and my friends are doing it with me. If the activity does not pass those two major requirements there is no point in me going, what later happens is that I spend long hours watch Netflix. I believe travelers if issues that relate to this. Its fun exploring a new area but since there is so much to do and such little time it can become overwhelming.
So the goal of this project would be to design a service, system, or product that influences travelers to discover new parts of a city efficiently possibly through their friends or connections within a timely manner.
Problem and Goals
Constraints
While Netflix like streaming services are on the up and up, I looked towards a different area that is changing corporate culture and our social behavior. Rideshare systems. I chose to design on top of an existing rideshare network in which users can find not just drivers and food services but events and locations based on their geographic location. I believe this design would be extremely useful since a variety of people are already using these applications in densely populated areas. Another point I would like to uncover is that rideshare systems are losing an opportunity for social media sites and applications that have users stay on their product longer. Lastly, with the numerous variations on the rideshare application, there needs to be a factor that distinguishes itself from the rest.
I will go further to state that instead of redesigning a whole new application, I will be adding a new feature to a popular application "Uber".
Research
Why Uber? I talked to a variety of my classmates who are not native to Georgia and asked them how they got acclimated to campus life as well as how they explored the Atlanta area. Students mostly used friends, Facebook, and the internet to learn about and schedule events. I was interested in whether students and first-time Atlanta "residents" actually plan their events (I am a student and there have been several occasions where we don't bother planning and spontaneous go somewhere). And surprisingly they do, some plan before they get to that location while others plan randomly. Usually booking or going from location to location.
The interviews I had with my friends also aligned with those that we needed for our service design project. Our interviews informed us that attendees of political conferences use rideshare applications as well as carpool with one another, the ones who carpooled said they felt awkward since they didn't know the people they were riding with. They also stated that during their trip attendees lost out on several opportunities that the conference didn't notify them about.
I also downloaded the application in preparation for home flying for a weekend break. While using the application I noticed that I can easily schedule a ride which is great, but the little pins on the map that point out specific locations on the map are not clickable. This bothered me and thought that it would be perfect if there was a feature to tell you what events are going on in your location as well as what prices or deal might be available.
Design
Initial Wireframe
Due to time constraints, I had to work with the updated versions of the Uber to make sure designs were seamless.
My initial feature was meant to be quickly accessed by the user and work somewhat like how a social media platform or Facebook works. This means first notifying and then directing users to a separate site where tickets are bought from there. then a confirmation would be sent to the profile of the user's Uber account and email This would then be used as a ticket to enter the said event.
Before moving on to a final version, I had to study what made this design a "good" design or "bad" design. Here are some that I found listed below:
Pros
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Users are able to find an event basically as soon as they open the application.
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The platform provides an opportunity to learn about the location in which they inhabit.
Cons
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The application's event map feature will become severely cluttered if events and rides are shown at the same time.
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It would be difficult to find a specific event that one is looking for.
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Is there a way to make certain locations more inviting to travelers?
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Would a "worker" be able to use this application?
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What if the user is not at that exact location? Is there another way an event can be found?
After discovering several cons for this feature's wireframe, I revisited my goals for the challenge and derived three new aspects and reconfigured the structure of the frame to answer needs that I failed to address.
Final Design
Schedule
These new frames I really focused on trying to make the new feature replicate the same look and feel like the other functions that the app provides.
In this design, I provided users with a completely separate page as Uber eats. I placed its location with the rest of the features at the bottom of the page. To control the number of events that would be pulled for the user, travelers would get to select their preferences and then have them matched.
Travelers are given the opportunity to see or learn more about the programs that are provided if they simply scrolled up, there they would be given the option on learning more about the speaker or performer that would attend the event. Also, travelers might see connections who are also attending the event possibly giving them a greater reason to go.
Connect
Unlike Uber Eats, I wanted all parts of these sections features to be useful. I added a couple of functions to make the "Events" or "Receipts" more than just a log of where you have been or what you ordered.
Like stated before, I wanted to provide an extra incentive for travelers who have friends in a city they are visiting, I also thought about those who might not be as fortunate. I provided a function where travelers can select a person to share their car ride. If they choose this option, travelers will be able to chat with the other rider, if they don't feel completely comfortable they can unmatch and either select a new rider or decide to have a driver pick them up.
Prototype
Final Thoughts
Well, I completed the project (And I completed my first semester too don't worry)! I felt pretty accomplished about what I did. But there are always opportunities to change and better design. If I were to take this further I would look into designing the "business" side of the feature especially since Uber has an expense report like function for scheduling rides. Maybe the function allows users to count business events like conferences and if you are hosting it possibly submitting information as well as including your self in the speaker profile section.
So my next couple of steps personally would be to sit down and enjoy my winter break because this was one of my toughest semesters i think I have ever had. I hope you enjoyed my thought process as well as my designs. And I will definitely be doing more of these in the near future.
