Designing a streamlined Apple Maps experience

The Brief

As part of a User Experience Design immersive course, we were assigned to Choose a Apple stock app. Conduct research that shows apple users frequently have hiccups when using one of the Apple apps and to provide new features to improve the app.

Approach: 

The design for Apple maps was shaped by the principles of design thinking methodology - research, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing.

Team Members:

Myself (UX Designer)

Tools:

Figma

Whimsical

Google Forms

My Responsibilities :

Project Management

Research

Sketching

Wireframing

Prototyping

User Testing

Persona creation

One on one semi structured user interviews

Timeline:

2 weeks

Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. It is a map system that helps provide directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation navigation.

1 .Research

I conducted interviews one on one and 2 sets of online surveys to get a concise and deeper understanding of the user problems when using apple map.

Key findings in the interviews and surveys :

26.8% of users directions not on time leaving me confused 

26.8% of users of found apple maps to be not detailed enough

This was my 1st round of surveying to verify the most frequent problem among Apple users when using the Apple map .

Users Quotes

"It always gives me the longest route even with the quickest option"


"direction is too late leaving me confused"

2. Definition

Problem Statement:

How might we address the user's need for prompt direction and wasted time?

Add an quick alternate route while driving 

Give directions with meters or km with distance helps user estimate there turn better

I conducted interviews one on one and then surveyed 20 users and summarized into this persona

User Persona :

Meet Olga !

Olga is 28 years old marketing manager and ios user for over 5 years that i interviewed

User journey - before using apple maps -while using apple maps- wasted time - negation not on time 

Happy - gets in car to check the route - giving simple information for directions 

In between not happy and angry - gives the longest route even when th quickest route is chosen while on the go for work - turning interactions too late leaving her unsure where to turn

  • This is the journey of Olga when she uses apple maps firstly she get checks the routes :

  • happy about simplicity of directions but on the way to work she is upset because she is given the longest route

  • turning time not given leaving her angry and confused on the road as this is a safety issue and on top she dose not reach her destination on time.

3.Ideation

I created a User flow to better understand the User and in my low  Fidelity frames worked out ideas as well.

 I created the user flow to understand the steps of the screen more thoroughly

4. Prototyping

These were the new features i worked on Focusing on users needs for find-ability, usability.

created this flow chart of Apple Maps Going through the steps of each screen from beginning to end. As well as  adding my ideas for quicker route options and how to make better improvements for the app such as asking questions do users prefer for kilometers, meters ,millimeters,feet ? What do users prefer to use  a pop-up option or not a pop-up option for a quick root?

High fidelity Wireframes:

5. Testing 

I created online surveys to do usability testing

Online Survey to verify Usability Testing

We gained the flowing insight during 2nd phase of surveying : 

80 % OF USERS PREFERRED IN METERS

Feature 1

Users wanted detailed directions when making a turn in meters because it helps them estimate when to turn, as old features did not show in meters just days to turn.

50 % OF USERS PREFERRED A POP UP OPTION THAT HELPS GET TO THEIR  DESTINATION QUICKER.

Feature 2

Users Wanted a quicker route option as the route are not helpful because it takes too long to get to a destination.

Key takeaways

This was my first project I learned about myself to pace myself and not to get overwhelmed with multiple options to choose to fix within an app. Throughout this project I had done 20 interviews and I had a hard time processing each interview because I had information overload. So I had to really look through my research again more thoroughly to determine the correct insight that makes sense. I finally understood a pattern when creating my affinity mapping that users with the same certain type of  lifestyle tend to use the same app as compared to another user  with a different  lifestyle. Such as a college student vs working professional two different users.