ABRAM COETSEE

capstone

Case Study

MODE: Rideshare

Heuristic Analysis of Competitors

Since the design’s problem area lies at the intersection of the functions of primary and secondary apps, the competitors to my capstone project weren’t only the primary rideshare apps such as Uber and Lyft. Instead I needed to include a variety apps to apply a heuristic analysis to the infrastructure between the platforms. The infrastructure of this ecosystem will be where my design could intervene.

Case 1: Lyft is one of the dominant rideshare apps and continually experiments with new features, so it offers a chance to examine the benchmarks for functionality and innovation.

Case 2: Everlance shows us how designers tackle the secondary challenges created by using the dominant apps--in this case, expense tracking

Case 3: Safr shows us how a competitor attempts to enter the field and produce solutions at the level of the primary apps themselves.

Key Findings:

Match between system and real world: Small details of user experience—from interruptions in special resources, methods for tracking expenses, or the way a help screen relates to reality—create surprisingly high level of frustration for users, especially in a moving car. Prioritizing qualities necessary for the apps’ purpose—such as trust—clarifies design decisions that yield major returns in the real world of the user.

Recommendation: Start with the qualities people value first and the benefits apps offer second. Deeper attention to the subtlety of the user’s real world rapidly simplifies feature implementation.

Consistency and standards:  The basic conventions of ride platforms seem firmly defined—such as how rider/driver matching works, and how that situation informs the larger digital structure. However, the stability of these conventions, and the resulting horizons for design goals (optimizing matches by distance), leads to missed opportunities to deliver better user experiences (optimizing matches by trust).

Recommendation: Avoid high-investment builds that raise the cost of innovation at the level of subtle platform conventions. Integrate agility for platform convention as a project requirement: rigid platform standards erase competitive opportunities.

Aesthetic and minimalist design: Ride apps face an industry that is deceptively simple: many screens misapply minimalism, leading to confusion when information is not readily available. Other functions which promise the user a smooth experience fail because the visual field and user flow is too complex.

Recommendation: Aesthetics and Minimalism cannot be uniformly applied. Designs should focus on how simplicity and visuality relate to the specific screen or interaction at hand. If a function promises simplification (expense tracking), use minimalism to reduce cluttered processes. But if a function requires time-sensitive precision, like coordinating a pick up, don’t just eliminate information: use minimalism as a method to refine accuracy.