Riding the bus can be difficult and frustrating when bus times are inaccurate. If you’ve ever used a public bus, you know that there are often delays, which the signage at the bus stop does not account for.

Transit Finder is a mobile application I created that could be used to serve thousands of commuters so they can see accurate bus arrival times and know how long they have to arrive at their bus stop.

I started the project by taking time to understand client and stakeholder expectations and goals. This is when we defined the main features of the app, which I previously laid out.

I then moved on to research. I started the research phase by doing a competitive analysis, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing transit apps in the market.

Many of the strengths included easy route searching, well-designed maps, ease of access to alternate routes, continuous updates, and the ability to save your favorite locations. 

The weaknesses were that many of the apps provided too much information and too many options. It often felt overwhelming and required too much mental processing.

Some opportunities were that they could choose better colors and simpler layouts, and create consistency.

Threats include market saturation and the potential for competitors to copy features.

I then did user surveys, attempting to better understand what users experience when using the transit system and transit apps. Surveys were important cause they would allow me to gather important data about users. My goal was to identify the positive and negative aspects of the user experience.

I concluded the research phase by conducting interviews with some of the people from the surveys. By interviewing users I was able to better understand their experiences, goals, needs, and frustrations.  

Based on my research, I created user personas, pulling inspiration from various aspects of the users I interviewed and surveyed. These personas helped me to keep in mind the type of person I was designing for.  For example, I created the persona for Liam based on the data and information from my research.

For example, I found that many people I surveyed and interviewed don’t have a car and don’t want to pay for ride-hailing services. I found they often use the bus for social activities. These are both reflected by Liam’s persona. All of Liam’s habits were influenced by things that users said, including wearing headphones while on the bus and cross-referencing multiple apps.

Liam M is an outgoing guy who likes to spend time with his friends, travel, and experience new things within his city. He especially loves trying new restaurants with his friends. He’s been a project manager for the last three and a half years at a medical software company in Seattle, WA. Liam is charming and likable and extremely social. He likes to stay active as much as possible by spending time outside, playing sports, hiking, or riding his bike.

Liam uses the bus because he doesn’t own a car and ride-hailing services are too expensive. He mostly rides the bus to get to work or attend social activities, like meeting his friends for soccer or going somewhere with his friends. During his ride, he normally puts on his headphones and listens to music or a podcast. While Liam is extremely familiar with his route to work, he often finds that when trying to go new places it is useful to double-check his route by cross-referencing multiple apps, as well as viewing the signs at the bus stop.

With my persona in mind, I then created an empathy map and a journey map. These maps helped me to further empathize with the user experience and helped me to think more clearly about the app I was designing.

With my research phase complete, I assembled my main findings for my client.

Main findings:

• Users often cross-reference bus times against different information sources
• Users often have at least one transfer
• Most users do not use alerts to remind them when their bus is coming
• Users are most focused on what time the bus arrives
• Users want to know if there will be delays
• Users want to know if there are alternate routes to take if their bus is too delayed
• Users need to know which bus is arriving
• Users want to know when the last bus is coming

I then began exploring my ideas for the wireframes by sketching out pages of the app. I experimented with a few different ideas before deciding on the one I liked best.

The sketches were then used to create digital wireframes.

I quickly realized I was trying to include too many features in my wireframes, and began simplifying the design.

The logo was created by first sketching ideas, then building a vector in Figma.

With my branding defined, I incorporated it into my app and used it to build a high-fidelity prototype.

I used the new prototype to conduct usability testing. I had users attempt to accomplish given tasks to be sure they could complete these tasks without issues or confusion. The goal of their tasks was to identify when the bus would arrive, and how long until the bus arrives.

I iterated my design to reflect the feedback I received. I updated the map feature and fixed the issue by simply adding the bus stop name to bus stop locations on the map.

I achieved the goal of designing an app that would help users know when their bus is arriving.

100% of users were able to identify the information they needed by using the app.

I had lots of fun designing this app. This project allowed me to develop my research skills and to learn to focus on the features that are within the scope of the project so I can deliver a functioning MVP by the deadline.

I also learned a lot from this project. 

I learned that less is more. Too much information on a bus app is distracting and not helpful, and this fact translates to other apps as well. Users don’t want to have to spend much time searching for the information they want to find. As a designer, I should be anticipating needs, which leads me to my second lesson. 

Anticipate the needs of your users. A seamless experience can be created by knowing what your users want from your app. Working on this app allowed me to take this fact to heart and really understand what it means. This is one of the many reasons research is so important. The better you can define your user’s desires and frustrations through research, the easier it will be for you to foresee those frustrations and solve them. 

Scope creep is real. I’m sure anybody who has worked on an ongoing project has found this to be true.  I discovered how important it is to remind yourself of what features you need to focus on, so you don’t start adding too much and exceeding the scope of the project. I found it helpful to reference the user stories and read the brief from my client every day before sitting down to design.

While there are aspects of this design that I’d like to see improved over time and further developed, I’m am proud of this project for the discoveries I made along the way and for how I was able to apply my research to inform my design decisions.