My role
I had got an opportunity to participate in one of their UX research assignments for a job position.
My role
I worked as a UX Designer for this assignment.
Team members
N/A
Project type
Fictional project for a autonomous vehicle charging app.
Platform
Mobile
Research duration
1 week
Client
Research process
Design Thinking process
Deliverables
Contextual inquiry, empathy mapping, information architecture, wireframe, prototype, usability testing.
About the assignment
For this assignment, they already provided a fictional story/persona. Here is the detail:
A user has an electric car with companion app. The user plans a route to his parents, but the app knows that there’s not enough power to make the trip. The app warns him and advises to plan via a charging station (A) On the Map the user sees which part of the route he can’t complete and sees his range and charging stations on the map (B). He selects a charging station, the route gets replanned via the station and in the more info section he can make an appointment (C).
Users
The person who has an electric car and is also familiar with a smartphone is mainly the focused user.
The problem
How might an owner of an autonomous vehicle take an alternative route with his mobile app to reach his destination and charge the car from a power station on the way?
According to Tomtom's provided assignment story, this is understandable that they are looking for a solution in the app for replanning the route and recharging the car power from one of the nearest power stations. I asked myself many times why this is a real problem for an electric car owner/driver? And I found it very obvious. Because, if I am the owner of an electric car and I am planning to go somewhere and find my car doesn't have enough power to reach the destination, it will be an unpleasant experience for me.
Double Dimond framework - I choose this traditional framework because it can be applied to any problem that calls for a solution.
I decided to make a fictional persona based on their assignment story and accordingly I moved forward with my secondary UX research with Double Dimond Framework.
Research plan - Since this is a fictional assignment, I made a proper and doable secondary research plan.
Competitor analysis
At present, there are many companies in the Netherlands and throughout Europe who are direct competitors of TomTom. Newmotion and Fastned already have similar features and, the notable features of their mobile apps are as follows:
Newmotion app
Find a charge point – there are over 250,000 to choose from across Europe, a convenient and easy way when charging abroad.
Filter on charging capacity, connector type and availability
Check tariffs and see estimated total charging costs for your EV before you start a charge
Easily navigate to your next charge point using Waze, Google Maps
Start a charge through the app or by using your Shell Recharge charge card
View all your past charging sessions and invoices in one place
Get notified when your favourite charge point becomes available again
Fastned app
Plan routes via the most reliable fast chargers
Start a charge session with just 1 click
See the availability of our chargers
Get charge tips for your type of car
Activate Gold Member so that you can charge at a cheaper price
Activate autocharge. With autocharge you can charge without an app or card. Just plugin and your session will start automatically!
Competitive audit overview
Competitive audit report
I have created an audit report after completing the secondary desk research and here are the details:
Goals of competitive audit
I found that the Newmotion and Fastned are TomTom's direct and main competitors in Europe. In terms of finding power stations on the app, both apps have some useful features. Also interaction wise they have done very adequate work. I feel comfortable using their apps.
What are the type and quality of competitors’ products?
Both the Newmotion and Fastned apps are location-based and their focus market is Europe only. In terms of the quality of the user interface and user interaction, they have done a pretty good job. No doubt, completing a specific flow on both of these two apps are user friendly. But there are lots of areas are available where they can rethink and can improve it to give a better experience.
How do competitors position themselves in the market?
Newmotion is a member of Shell Group that builds trust automatically. Their technology allows end-drivers to charge anywhere efficiently, with one single app or card. And as a location owner, you easily manage and control your charge points to ensure optimal cost-efficiency. Currently, they are one of the pioneers in the European market.
Fastned is one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe. Fastned stations can be found directly along the highway, and increasingly in the city. In terms of pricing, they are reasonable and You can pay at Fastned directly with your charge card. You can also pay with the Fastned app after linking your charge card, debit card or credit card. Considering all these, they are very popular in the European zone.
What do competitors do well? What could they do better?
Newmotion app does well:
- Easy signup/sign-in process
- Clean layout
- User friendly interface
- Multiple payment methods
- Location tracking
- Notification
- Search and route planner
- Book a charger point
- Offering voice assistance for the people who has hearing impairments.
- Day and night mode for the people who has visual impairments.
- Multi language support.Things
- Show power status on the app
- Easy signup/sign-in process
- Clean layout
- User friendly interface
- Multiple payment methods
- Location tracking
- Notification
- Power status
- Book a charger point
Things Fastned app could do better:
- Offering voice assistance for the people who has hearing impairments.
- Day and night mode for the people who has visual impairments.
- Multi language support.Things
- Search and route planner
The solution
Provide an option for searching available power stations and make an appointment while the car is on the way or before starting the journey.
Information architecture diagram
I believe that mapping out information architecture is an important part of visualizing and understanding all that is going to be involved in the project/feature. After analysing the competitive audit, I created an information architecture diagram that shows a holistic picture of what I was trying to achieve for this TomTom assignment.
User journey map
Information architecture helped me to move forward with this assignment. At this research stage, I had a clear idea of how a person will complete the whole flow. Therefore, I created a fictional user persona and based on that, I have designed the user journey map of this assignment.
Wireframe
Mockup - I have created all screens that complete the whole user journey.
It was not possible to validate my design solution with real users since it was a fictional story and there was no existing product. Therefore, I skipped usability testing steps and jumped into designing the real mockups for the whole flow.
Takeaway - I learned a few lessons on the way of this project
Because of this assignment, I did significant desk research and learned a lot about the autonomous vehicle. Here is the link (Behance page) where I have shared my knowledge about the autonomous vehicle.
I Couldn't validate my design solution because of time constraints.
During this assignment, I was in Asia and back then, there was no such service available in Asia. So, it was quite difficult for me to get the proper information about electric cars.
