Challenge 1 — Feature for Citymapper

Citymapper: an app to get you from point A to point B — with all your special requirements

Citymapper includes all types of public transport as well as driving, walking, and biking. A small team works on this functional app that continuously researches user’s needs to develop new features, making transportation easier and more comfortable. However, it is missing some things that could make it an even better product.

To figure out how the app could be refined, it is necessary to do some interviews with people using it. It is best to target those as interviews, who often travel or use public transport.

Interviews

I interviewed 5 people about their experience of using Citymapper. All of my interviewees were between 20–30, live in the city, and have traveled quite a bit. Mostly, they get around with public transport and biking. All of them are tech-savy.

I asked them questions regarding their usual type of travel, how much they use a travel app and which one, how their experience with the app is, and if there would be any desired improvements that would make the use even better.

After evaluating their responses, I was able to find some areas for improvement. These were:

• Offline usage
• More precision on delays etc.
• Option to purchase a ticket on the app
• Option to purchase ticket on app in “offline” mode

Main Problem to solve:

I decided to focus on two main problems and combine the solutions to come up with a new feature. The two problems are difficulty purchasing a ticket for travel and offline usage. Fixing these would make the user experience that much better and people would return to it and recommend it for others to use.

How I plan to solve the problem:

Using the Desing Thinking procedure.

Empathize — step into the user’s shoes. What is their experience? What do they like, what do they not like?

Define — define the problem

Ideate — Brainstorm possible solutions think broad, out of the box. Sketch a few possible outcomes and then chose the best for your next step

Prototype — Make a prototype to be tested and evaluated

Test — Pass the prototype on to be tested by others for feedback

I came up with these ideas to help solve the problem:

• Credit on app to top up automatically or manually
• A monthly pass on phone for all transports
• Ticket purchase directly on app for all transports

Finally, I decided on a feature that gives the traveler the opportunity to purchase a ticket directly on the app, no matter what service they are using, as well as being able to buy tickets when offline.

Here is the prototype I sketched out for the new feature:

Doing this exercise has taught me to become more aware of other people’s needs. Interviewing others to see new perspectives. It has also taught me to think big and then small again. Come up with many different problems, and then reduce them down so one thing that can solve as many in one go.