Improving the pedestrians' user experience with the Google Maps navigation app
THE CHALLENGE
A Redesign of the Google Maps Mobile App Offline Feature
My goal for this project was to improve the visibility of the offline feature in Google Maps, to increase its use by pedestrians.
The premise is simple: search for a location, find my way
This was a conceptual project completed over the course of 2 weeks. I acted as the primary researcher and designer throughout the project.
THE DISCOVERY
Why do we use Google Maps Alternatives?
Four female globetrotters were asked how they used Google Maps and customer reviews were used to determine if there was widespread support for their opinions. This initial research revealed a few key insights.
Most people use Google Maps to monitor traffic when driving, not find shortcuts when walking.
Calibrating the app so you can always find yourself is a major contributor to getting lost.
When asking people for directions, landmarks are usually used as reference points.
Meeting the User
Before starting any design, I need to understand the user's mental model of the task workflow. In this project, I found the easiest way to express my insights was using a user storyboard.
Structuring the Content
DETAILED DESIGN
FINDING A SOLUTION
The answer to the problem already exists, but the call to action for the offline feature is hidden from view. The resulting designs compared placement and delivery of the download offline Call-To-Action.
Google's Material Design System download items offline icon.
Version A
Written Call To Action on Dropdown Menu
Version B
Icon Based Call To Action on Last Page
Proving a Hypothesis
I conducted 7 remote usability tests and used maze.co to collect data. The usability tests revealed that Version A has a more intuitive user task flow.
Users completed the Version A in 6.9 seconds, with a 14.7% error rate.
The average user completed Version B in 6 seconds, with a 33.5% error rate.
Final Mockup
The usability test results show that people prefer using the dropdown options menu to select a new feature, hence it was chosen as the final mockup design.
What I learned
This project gave me a lot of exposure to the conventions of the Google Materials Design System. For example, the icon survey proved that most users recognized and understood the system's icon although I didn't recognise it.
In the real world, assumptions are worthless. Every design decision must be supported by research, because both my proposed solution and its placement could only have been discovered through research.
