UX/UI design for courier app
2021
The story
It was May of 2021 when I was approached by Kane from DeliverE.
Kane is a Director at DeliverE, a delivery courier service in Australia. He wanted to redesign his delivery service app as he was receiving a high number of complaints from the drivers using the app.
He realised that with the current app that the problems in the app were causing the drivers to lose out on money, in turn, his business lost out on money. With everybody in lockdown and no shops open, there was a huge increase in online shopping and a higher demand for delivery drivers.
Kane wanted to redesign his app to make it much more user friendly for his drivers.
Problem and requirements
What was the most challenging was the large number of different workflow outcomes that the drivers could choose from.
The main pain points of the drivers that I was solving was:
- They could not add notes to deliveries
- The drivers were not aware if it was an alcohol delivery
- The drivers wanted a way to set their working hours and a dashboard to see their stats.
- Drivers could not rearrange their work lists
Approach
As a preferred methodology, I used the double diamond approach for the project. Using this approach allowed me to explore the issues more widely and then take focused action to solve the problems.
I set up a meeting with all stakeholders involved, refined the ideas and expectations, and started my research phase.
Research
As this platform was for the internal audience, namely the driver’s and depot staff, my user’s were clearly defined.
All I had to do was reach them and understand their requirements and needs.
I conducted interviews with current drivers. In order to empathise with new users, I designed personas for new drivers based on my interview findings.
The findings from my interviews confirmed the initial pain points I had discussed with the stakeholders.
Main points and important notes
Driver 1:
- Business/contractor stats dashboard page (average pay per day, completed jobs etc.)
- Business/contractor operating hours options
Driver 2:
- Drag and drop sorting for workflow list (with numbers down the side)
- Easy way to add comments on workflow completions whether successful or not.
- Alcohol deliveries should have a bottle icon or something to let the driver know.
Driver 3:
- Easy training modules to get started and to know expectations
- Some sort of article marking system to easily identify each article (or the next article, upcoming jobs?)
I also conducted competitor analysis to find out the best practice in the delivery industry.
Qualitative research
User interviews
Creating user personas for new staff
Tools
For this project, I arranged a zoom meeting with stakeholders and a UX consultant.
I used a prioritisation matrix to eliminate and make the app leaner in functionality so the core value of the business stayed intact. I did this due to the budget and time constraints the client had.
For wireframing, I used the crazy 8’s to rapidly come up with novel ideas for various screens and tested them for visual rules and implemented some rough designs.
Even though this workshop was conducted on zoom I still chose to have a physical prioritisation matrix to keep in front of me during my design process.
Feedback from usability study
During the usability study, 4 out of 5 users commented on the width of the buttons being hard to press if they are in a rush due to the size of their fingers.
As the majority of users are male, I decided to change the button design from rectangles to squares, making them easier to press.
I also added icons to help the users identify the correct button without having to read the text.
When conducting the usability study, there were only 2 or three delivery cards on the screen. I found that users had a long drag scroll and were forgetting the addresses of the cards that were off-screen.
I adjusted this to 4 cards per screen, allowing all of the information to fit into the card but reducing the drag scroll and cognitive load to remember addresses off-screen.
Ideate and design
Protoype
Key solutions to problems
- Designed a dashboard that would show daily stats such as how many deliveries they had made and how much money they have made
- Created an account for the delivery drivers to log in and set their working hours
- Icons were added to the delivery workflow which would indicate if there was alcohol in the delivery
- Added an option to add a note on each delivery wether delivered or returned
- A training section was created which would allow drivers to complete company training from their phones
- Allowed the order of deliveries to be changed by creating a drag and drop feature on the workflow page
- Created a maps feature that would show the route for the day once the jobs had been reordered
The colours and fonts chosen were pre-determined by the branding.
I added green into the colour palette as drivers can quickly associate the green buttons with go/start/deliver.
I chose softer rounded edges as drivers would be using this app for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week so it gave a more friendly user experience.
The MVP is currently being developed I will continue to work with DeliverE throughout the process.