Overview
A mobile app for call a car mechanic in very short time, after unexpected fault during the road.
Intro
On the Road is a must-have mobile app that allows quick contact between the car mechanic and the driver.
Challenging
- Unwillingness of mechanics to undertake this type of order, resulting from possibly unprofitability, distracted and too engaging.
- Users will use the application in difficult locations with poor internet connection.
- App need to protect mechanics against mistaken orders.
Goals
Create an user-friendly, collaborative app to fast finding apropriate and the nearest car mechanic. It should have payment gateway, repair history, car mechanics ratings and repair shop maps.
My role
UX & UI | IA designer | IxD | Researcher
Deliverables
User Research, Competitor Analysis, Trends, Personas, CJM, User stories, User Flow, Sketches, Lo-Fi & Med-FI Wireframes, Interaction Map, Interactive Prototype, User Testing,
Tools
Whiteboard, Pen and Paper, Figma, Miro, Google Key Word Planner,
🛟Problem
After getting acquainted with the problems of the selected target group, it’s time to define the problem for which I am looking for a solution.
📰 Key insights
In Poland, 21,5 mln Poles have driving licence (CEPiK 2021). Average age of polish cars is 14 years as stated by the ACEA research.
According to IX National Assistance Research (ARC Market and Opinion, 2020) 39% Poles is using car assistant.
It should to remember that such assistance covers only a specific area, from the address of residence.
As elvia.pl says every 10th case they are called in as roadside assistance is superficial damage that can be repaired on the spot.
🔮Discovering
Users often look for a mechanic near their location. The year-on-year change visible in the fourth column indicates an increasing interest in mechanics who come to the customer.
Google Trends 03.2021 – 02.2023 Keyword: on-the-go mechanic
Below: Google Ads Keyword Planner, Keyword: on-the-go mechanic, car mechanic, mechanic on the way to the customer ect.
🔎Benchmark
I used this method to compare other apps in the market. The analysis helped me to see what is recently available in the market and realize what app features exist and what app features are lacking.
During testing I especially check:
- form fields
- canceling the action
- the required data
- understanding commands
- interesting facilities (as scan registration certificate, driving license)
- available communication channels
What I liked?
- Possibility to scan the car registration document
- Action cancellation
- Authentication by phone number
- Progress bar
- Step numbering
- Changing the color of the button after filling in the data
- Submission summary
- Possibility to add attachments as photos
What I disliked or what was missing?
- Too long form
- No explanation as to why this data is required
- No information how mechanics will contact with client
- Photos adding option was hide
What was common?
- Progress bar
- Cancellation of the application
- Ability to add attachments or photos
- Providing the car model and location and specifying the service category
📋IDI interview
👥Personas
For whom I design?
The driver who noticed the breakdown while driving the car. He or she does not know how to repair a car, so he seeks immediate help from a car mechanic. He or she is outside his/her area of residence and/or does not know where to find a mechanic. He or she needs a working car immediately. He or she is proficient in using the Internet and mobile applications, has the Internet on his or her phone.
In what kind of situation persona needs an application? Why driver would use it?
- Person who car broke far away from place to live. Can’t take it to his / hers mechanic.
- Person who can’t wait too long because of reasons such as children in the car or is going to be late or is in hurry
- A person who has no one to call in the area and ask for help
- A person who has the money to pay more but receive immediate help
- A person who does not have cash on him to pay for the tow truck
- Person who have no extra car assurance
Value Preposiotion
- Mechanic will respond to the notification in a short time (up to 30 minutes) and appear at the site of the breakdown.
- Cost settlement can be done via the application, so the person reporting the defect doesn’t need to carry cash.
- If there is no mechanic in the area who will undertake the repair, the application will send the user to the map, where he will find a mechanic with a tow truck.
- It may be useful for the application to work in the absence of internet or poor coverage.
🗺User flow
Based on findings that I learned during the research phase, I defined the key tasks, explored the app’s logic. That lead me to create a base user flow and navigation structure for the application.
👾Lo-Fidelity Mockups
Developed empathy while User Personas creation along with figuring out basic User Flow informed my decisions behind designing a first round of the Lo-Fi wireframes and mapping interactions between sceens.
🎨Style Guide
To make sure that every visual element I’ll produce is consistent, I created a style guide. After I made several design propositions and discussed them with potential users, I chose the cleanest design proposition and created a style guide based on that idea.
🚗Hi-Fidelity Mockups
See more in prototype.
🎮 Prototyping
💎Conclusions
Main goal – achieved
Testing the hypothesis whether it is worth creating an application thanks to which, in the event of a sudden car breakdown, you can count on immediate help from a local mechanic.
Based on the interviews, it can be concluded that the application has potential and would find an audience. The idea made a good overall impression.
Secondary objective
- Would such an application arouse the interest of drivers?
Yes, breakdowns happen, but in my research, respondents had serious faults that could not be repaired on the road.
- Do mechanics want to provide such immediate repairs?
Not necessarily. Research in this direction should be expanded and opinions should be sought in car services that specialize in traveling to the customer. Others were rather not interested, and even reported a lot of concerns about such a service.
- What features should this app include for users to want to use it?
The most important features reported by the respondents are opinions and the telephone number of the mechanic. It would be an advantage to indicate the possession of a tow truck by the workshop and the initial valuation.
- Why is the application a better solution than finding a car repair shop nearby, using e.g. Google Maps?
The app has the potential to stay ahead of its competition by having verified car companies that will have reviews. Then, they will provide a preliminary quote for the service and the application will contain only current contact details and the ability to find only open car services. It is worth taking care of the details that will prevail when choosing a search engine.