<I am interactive!>
Embedded Files
RideShareU
An app prototype for commuter students to find carpools and save on parking costs.
RideShareU matches students to ride sharing services provided by other student commuters using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Role
UI Designer
UX Researcher
Tools Used
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Time Frame
October-December 2024
Three Months
Team "KAB"
Kel Shang
Andrew Bautista
Bridget Miller
My Contributions
Facilitated design research and analyzed user experience feedback.
Designed user identification (User Persona).
Established user interface flow.
Created brand promotion.
Project Summary
As the final project in an Industry Partnership Course, "Future Tech Lab", with Dell Technologies, my team focused on the topic of transportation from a user-centered perspective. We were challenged to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the design process of the user interface prototype. After evaluating local transportation infrastructure, interviewing college students on their experiences, and reviewing features of existing ride share applications, KAB developed a ride share concept tailored to UT Austin student commuters.
Problem Identification
KAB formed by identifying transportation as a common issue among students. In order to gather information on specific issues, we interviewed UT students of diverse academic backgrounds and lifestyles.
“Are you a student at UT Austin who wants to save money on driving or parking passes?”
User Interviews
We identified questions inquiring about student classifications and outlining various transportation methods used by students at UT Austin. We conducted two rounds of interviews with each sampled student to capture key experiences and issues related to transportation.
In the first round interview, we asked questions to gather data on student profiles and personal experiences with transportation to campus:
Introduce yourself at your comfort and preference.
Indicate your age. 20-30 years old
What is your student classification (year)? Undergraduate and graduate
What are you studying or majoring in? Across different fields of study, including Kinesiology, English, and Economics
What is your gender identification? Identified as a man or woman
Where do you live, relative to campus? Off-campus, less than a mile away from campus to 45+ minutes drive from campus
How do you get to and from your classes? Various methods of transportation, including public bus, walking, biking, and driving (car)
Based on the responses in the initial interviews, the second round of interviews centered around personal anecdotes to allow students to elaborate on knowledge and experiences related to transportation. Using points mentioned in the first round of interviews, we were seeking ideas for remedies and solutions to issues these students faced.
Affinity Mapping
While reviewing responses from the initial interviews, we specified five subcategories (orange sticky notes):
Parking
Schedule
Convenience
Commute
Navigation
Then sorted relevant interview feedback (yellow).
Finally, we used green sticky notes to represent solutions and desires expressed by students, which intended to guide the creation of our user-centered product.
Findings Summary
Students encountered frequent delays when commuting by car and bus.
Students driving to school are challenged with parking availability on campus.
Each student mentioned congestion and crowdedness on roads and inside buses.
User Persona
From our user research, we identified three profiles, representing students with similar routines and transportation issues.
Comparative Analysis
Designing the interface, we wanted to develop an interface that would be familiar to users. Analyzing existing apps used by college students today, we referenced features of apps in the process of creating our Key Features.
Key Features
Login Page
Being the first page users will interact with, we wanted our registration and login interfaces to be accessible to student users.
We planned for users to have the options:
Create an account on the platform with a provided email or phone number
Activate an account using "Sign in with Apple" API
Activate an account using "Sign in with your UT EID" UT Austin API
"Sign in with your UT EID" API
Setup Profile
As an integral part of later features, we focused on maintaining simple profile parameters while also ensuring the essential "About Me" and Preferences customizations
We were referencing Discord and Patio apps to include tags for user profiles.
Discord profile with user tags
Sample Patio App profile
However, we later simplified this to two text entries where users can manually describe themselves and preferences, in our high-fidelity prototype on Figma.
Map Interface
While the large ride sharing companies have created their own mapping navigation systems, as students, this is a major constraint we face.
For compatibility to all mobile devices, we planned to use a Google Maps API integrated as a component of our app.
Google Maps mapping interface
Carpool Group Match
This feature pulls data from users' Setup Profile entries (Preferences) and uses AI to analyze the text, allowing users to find carpool groups with similar students. Users can also rate carpool groups based on their experiences and search groups based on schedules, routes, and locations.
Page obtained by Andrew B, Contributor
Similar Users Page
This page parallels the Carpool Group Match but instead uses data from users' About Me entries to identify users with similar personal profiles. This page functions to encourage sociability and community among student users.
Design System
Color Palette
Selecting our base colors, we wanted to instill a subtle environmental ambiance to foster a community among users.
We referenced color palette "Healtheries || Live in the Green" retrieved from Behance (https://www.behance.net/gallery/210338517/Healtheries-Live-Life-in-the-Green#) by Panic Studio, et al.
Base Colors
Semantic Colors
Buttons
Default/On Hover, Text (white)
Icon Colors
Secondary Button Colors
Typography
We paired four unique text fonts to convey visual (typographic) hierarchy across all components.
Beginning with the logo text, we scripted the majority of our pages, including the Login Page and Setup Profile, with Rounded Mplus 1c Bold and ABeeZee fonts.
To highlight the AI feature, we used a different set of fonts, Inter Regular and Roboto SemiBold, for the Carpool Group Match and Similar Users pages.
Components
High-Fidelity Prototype
Snapshots of the Key Features on our interface designed with Figma.
Login Page
Splash screen upon opening the app for new or logged out users.
Navigation from Login button, prompting user to provide Email and Password credentials to access the app.
Setup Profile
Navigation from Create Account button opening page where users can register for an account on the app.
To maintain a simple, clean user interface from the start, we decided to forgo integrating external API registration components.
About You page after account is created from pressing Continue button on the Create Your Account page. This page gives users the option to write custom text entries describing themselves and any preferences.
Text values entered on this page are provided to the Natural Language Processing (NLP) AI model for analysis.
Users can filter options using the Selection Menus to initiate the AI's NLP feature.
If users decide to use the feature, text entered on the About You page will be processed by the AI tool and compared against other users' entries for optimal Carpool Group and Similar Users matching.
Carpool Group Match
Similar Users Page
Map Interface
App tracks users' locations and routes over integrated Google Maps interface to suggest ride matches nearby.
RideShareU App
Interactive Prototype
<I am interactive!>
Professional Feedback
RideShareU was delivered through a presentation to all class participants, then evaluated by the course instructor and Dell representatives. Our prototype was evaluated on criteria and provided feedback.
Understanding needs of users
Positive feedback received on research, specifically identifying user pain points (issues) and various user motivations.
Financial component (Settings > Payment) could be expanded to communicate a more clear incentive for drivers.
A Google Calendar integration would be helpful, as manually inputting schedules is a drag.
Further thought on addressing safety concerns could be considered beyond background checks for drivers, such as an option for female-only drivers for other women.
Concept
Positive feedback on the app’s idea of creating carpool groups with cost-sharing goals.
Positive feedback on the concept connecting well to the needs of student users.
Matching (Carpool Groups and Similar Users) algorithm align closer with location and time based matching systems with filters for interests than AI.
User Interface Design
Positive feedback received on the system’s design, natural user flow, and clean layouts.
External calendar integrations would be helpful, as manually inputting schedules can be tedious.
For the Similar Users Page, it would be nice to have an option to add friends and contacts.
Reflection
Walking through the prototype, the colors on the final prototype enhanced the usage of the app, as well as the typography. In particular, the Rounded Mplus 1c Bold font was cohesive in the user flow and provided a strong brand identity through the “RideShareU” title. Although the prototype accounted for many features and components comparable with other ride sharing competitors, we realized there were several dysfunctions with interactive components. We believed that this was due to the time constraints of this project combined with the complexity of developing a full ride sharing app and our beginner experience with Figma.
Takeaways
I enjoyed working with KAB and using Figma for the first time. This was the first time each team member used Figma, which made this project a valuable team learning experience. I plan to take the insight I gained working with Figma through this project into further projects, such as designing an interactive interface responsive to Arduino controllers through serial communication.
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