GoodMaps
The Problem
The flagship product GoodMaps Explore was originally designed for blind users only. However, business requirements indicated there is a need for an app that is accessible for most users, including those with vision impairments, mobility limitations, various types of neurodiversity, as well as individuals without accessible needs.
The business had no experience with UX design and research.
There was a lack of clear direction in packaging a new product from inception through launch.
GoodMaps Explore (flagship product)
The Approach: Define the product development lifecycle
To determine best practices, existing processes were first analyzed to identify gaps, as well as staff pleasures and pain points.
Met with business, development, product, and the cartography team to understand and document the existing processes used to:
Map a building
Design and/or revise product features
Develop code and QA post-production
Identified gaps in the existing process, and documented new process to comply with UX best practice.
The Methodology: Research to determine user needs
Engaged user-centered research:
Focus groups to inform sighted user personas and journey maps with 28 sighted users across multiple demographics.
Identified 4 key personas and their commonalities
Focus groups to identify key features for a sighted user experience and enhanced blind user experience with 25 sighted and 28 blind users.
Internal MVP vote to rank business priority of 97 possible features including those identified via feature discovery focus groups.
“An app that lays out the building, lets you know how the parking is, lets you know how many people to expect, lets you know where food is nearby – kind of like all wrapped into one – that would be very beneficial…covering everything at once.”
The Methodology: Miro for participant interaction
Interactive focus groups used Miro to identify user personas and journeys and prioritize app features.
“I’m a big sign person. So even like signs on the wall, or arrows on the floor, or something like that.…I’ll wander before I see somebody.”
The Explorer casually wanders to get their bearings and orient themselves in new surroundings.
The Planner spends a tremendous amount of time prior to visiting a new location creating a comprehensive itinerary that is fool-proof for all possible scenarios.
The People Person relies on friends, family, and crowd-sourced content online to create a personalized experience when visiting a new location.
The Visual Navigator likes to have a holistic understanding of a destination and prefers to orient themselves well in advance of a visit by viewing photographs, maps, and landmarks online, and may periodically visit a destination in advance.
The Solution: Persona & journey map design
Four key personas were identified during focus groups with overlap in their journeys
What our journeys have in common
Before Going
We all rely heavily on preliminary research online.
We all create an itinerary when visiting a new complex location.
Half of us will call or visit a location in advance of visiting.
Half of us use crowd-sourced content online, including social media, to help prepare for a trip.
Upon Arrival
We all seek out signage, maps & directories at the location.
We all look to others for help when needed.
3/4 of us use our mobile devices to help us navigate by referring to online resources, previously prepared materials and apps.
Half of us walk/wander, looking for familiar landmarks seen in prior research as points of reference.
Finding a Destination
We all seek out signage, maps & directories at the location.
3/4 of us look to others for help.
We all use our mobile devices for navigation with apps, websites and our preliminary research.
Half of us wander, relying on memory and chance to find our way.
The Solution: Persona sample
The Explorer needs to feel very prepared prior to a trip and does this by researching a location and creating a customized itinerary on her mobile device.
She references her collected content in combination with signage, on and offline maps, directories, and reference points, such as landmarks at the destination, social media, and crowd-sourced content found online.
She’ll wander looking for her destination before resorting to asking for help.
The Solution: Journey map sample (The Explorer)
Clear high-level UX design leads interface design with forethought
Use cases identified and vetted with internal stakeholders, engineering and cartography
User flows established and internally vetted
Information architecture designed and internally vetted
The Solution: Use cases, user flows & information architecture
The Solution: Wireframes, mid-fidelity prototyping and user acceptance testing
In-depth design and user validation ensures work continues to meet user needs with and without screen readers across a vast audience.
Low-fidelity wireframes internally vetted
Clickable prototypes for screen readers design and vetted with subject matter experts
Mid-fidelity prototypes built; protocol for UAT designed and executed
