MOBILE APP
Digital Freight Network
DURATION
May 2021 - August 2021
CLIENT
Vagoo
TOOLS USED
Adobe XD
TEAM OF 5
PO: Edson Luiz
UI Designer: Luana Olindo
Back-end: Fabricio Cerci
Front-end: Marcelo Teixeira
Overview
My role
Research: I have conducted our competitive analysis and user research.
Design: I have created the product's informational architecture and wireframes.
UX RESEARCH & UX DESIGN
P1: How might we reduce the waiting time of freight booking for shippers?
P2: How might we create a seamless managing on-going cargo experience for shippers?
Problem Statements
Solution
Our solution was a web-based platform and mobile app that streamline shippers' operations by speeding up the process of finding and contracting carriers, improving the experience of managing their loads (past, ongoing, and upcoming), and tracking the progress of ongoing freights in real-time.
Research
Key Takeaways
1. Competitive Analysis
Key takeaway: As proven by mock requests, freight marketplaces in Brazil make shippers wait at least 6 hours —most of them even days— to get a quote and booking, requiring many phone calls and email chains to close a deal with a carrier.
2. Survey
Key takeaway: 68.8% of the participants believe that the process of finding, negotiating, and then booking a freight is time-consuming. All of them wait hours to book a freight, some even days.
Design implication: The solution should reduce the waiting time of freight quoting and booking for shippers.
Success metrics
After completing the research stage of the project, I set as the north star metrics for Vagoo:
-
Retention rate: An unbounded retention is a good fit for the product, as Vagoo is not a daily consumer product—shippers are expected to request a vehicle sporadically.
- Completion task rate: A high completion task rate (task = login>request vehicle>receive answer from carrier) is the main goal of Vagoo, and what will set it apart from other players in the Brazilian freight market.
Ideation
Overall request flow
Goal: Grasp a better understanding of the core flow of this project and identify potential features to include. In order to complete a full user flow, from requesting the vehicle to delivering the cargo, 3 users are involved: shipper, carrier, and driver.
Outcome: By laying out the overall request flow, I was able to identify the exact moments in the flow that I would need to tackle my problem statements.
Informational Architecture
Goal: Laying out the content of each page of the platform in a manner that leads users to perform the most important engagement in the platform which is requesting a vehicle for their cargo.
Outcome: The IA has shown that there is a lot of different data for shippers to visualize in each cargo card, which can be overwhelming especially when there are numerous cargoes being shown on the Kanban board.
Design implication: Prioritizing the right information in the cargo cards is key to reduce cognitive overload and fulfill the ultimate goal of optimizing users' time.
Key features
After researching the users, understanding the core flow, and creating the informational architecture of the platform, I gathered all the design implications to wireframe the mobile-app screens of the key features on the platform.
FEATURE 1
Kanban Board
Kanban boards are a well-known way for visualizing a specific process and its progress, so including this system in Vagoo was a great solution for our second problem statement which is related to cargo management.
This kanban board allows shippers to quickly visualize past, upcoming, and ongoing freights. The status of the load is automatically updated in the platform.
FEATURE 2
Countdown Timer (30 minutes)
The timer shows the amount of time left for the carrier to claim the freight. The carrier has access to the same countdown time, which creates a sense of urgency and encourages them to make a decision quickly.
This design decision tackles the main value proposition of Vagoo—and our first problem statement—which is reducing the waiting time of booking freights for shippers.
FEATURE 3
Map
Waiting for the cargo to arrive can cause stress on shippers, thus visualizing the operation in real-time with the guidance of a map helps reduce this tension by offering GPS tracking of the truck. The truck driver's location is updated continuously, so that shippers can see and estimate the time their cargo will arrive.
This design decision tackles our second problem statement by proving more control and assurance for shippers who are managing on-going hauls.
Design
Wireframes prototyped
The interactive prototype can also be accessed through this link: https://xd.adobe.com/view/832530a5-bcd8-4780-9555-7e6dc55c25cf-d676/?fullscreen
Reflection
Constraints
Lack of qualitative data through user interviews
I believe this project lacks qualitative data from more potential users through interviews. For instance, I would like to have known if 30 minutes is enough time for carriers to accept/refuse the shipper's vehicle request, and if shippers are willing to wait more than that.
Lack of UX for carriers and truck drivers
Due to time constraints, my product manager and I decided to focus this UX exploration on shippers, who are the end-users with purchasing power in the platform. Yet, not understanding our other two users is a problem that could potentially hamper Vagoo's success in the future.
Next Steps
Web wireframes and high-fi prototype
My internship ended before our UI Designer had the chance to start creating the high-fi screens for this project. I could only showcase the wireframes of the app version of Vagoo, as there wasn't enough time for me to create the wireframes of the web platform. I'm looking forward to seeing the final design of Vagoo once it is launched in 2022.
Evaluation
Conduct usability studies as well as qualitative surveys to understand our users' thought process while using the interactive prototype. Gather their feedback and implement changes to the platform based on their observations. Unfortunately, my internship in Mestres da Web came to an end before the evaluation stage of Vagoo.
Lessons Learned
Better communication yields better design
This project was the first time that I had to lead client meetings on my own, so I really put into practice the lessons I learnt from reading Tom Greever's "Articulating Design Decisions." I figured out not only how to communicate with my clients what my designs did, but also how to answer their questions in a way that made sense to them.