A UX Case Study
In July of 2021, while I was pursuing my HCI Msc, I took up a UX interview design challenge. The problem statement was to design a intuitive software tool for a transportation engineer who is overwhelmed with complex data, and has to use this data to design a subway system for the city. The engineer is concerned with traffic data, population data and construction costs to develop the subway system. I was provided User Research data which I had to translate into a design solution.
I present the case study here as a demonstration of my user-centric design approach and how I applied my UX skills in a relatively tight deadline.
User research data was provided. I created a persona to understand the user's pain points.
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I mapped the Key Challenges faced by users as follows:
I decided I need to benchmark tools used by transportation engineers. I observed demos/tutorials of these tools. I wanted to understand how these tools allow the users to overlay data and allow complex work flows. I also thought this is a good opportunity to learn from products used by architects and graphic designers, since they allow users to draft designs, iterate and compare solutions.
remix.com
TransCAD
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Provides real time data of distances, construction costs etc., while the design is being drawn.
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Allows user to visualize layers of information.
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web-based. Works on a browser.
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Allows user to visualize layers of data on a map
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Data can be input informs of multiple entry styles; maps, networks, matrices etc.
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User can open multiple windows and work on these simultaneously.
optibus.com
AutoCAD
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Data driven
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Provides a schematic of routes and calendar
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web-based. Works on a browser.
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Used by architects and engineers for building designs
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Designers can draft polylines, shapes and customize these.
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Allows designers to create multiple sheets.
The benchmarking helped me understand some of the key requirements and user flows. Combining this with my understanding of the user pain points I arrived at the following user needs.
Having an understanding of user requirements I decided to create quick lo-fidelity screens. I used Balsemiq as a tool which allowed me to create sketchy wireframes and map user flows. I used the benchmarking data to create UI elements that might match user mental models for similar tools.
Having benchmarked various tools I decided to take an approach of creating a web based application which would allow the engineer to collaborate and share their workspace. Since the workspace had to be designed for different use cases it was sensible to make it customisable, and provide contextual controls for different stages of the user flow. Considering the tool to be so data driven, I introduced the concept of AI based nudges. This AI would offer suggestions for best practices, and could be turned off. The control of the design and decision making would always remain with the user, but the AI could give certain smart suggestions which the user had the choice of accepting or rejecting.
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Creating lo-fidelity prototypes, I continued to create a user - flow for a happy path scenario. This use case captured the users journey from creating a new project to designing two subway systems and comparing their solutions.
I started putting my ideas into Figma and over a couple of iterations developed the following screens.
