DC 311 Application Redesign
DC 311 Application Redesign
DC 311 Application
Problem
DC.Gov wanted to figure out
what the citizens of DC had to say about community resources and accessibility of the current application.
Scope
This project lasted 2 weeks with 2 team members. My roles included being the UX Strategist and Project Manager.
Solution
A redesigned application that allows users to quickly report traffic hazards and community concerns.
Design Tools
Sketch and Paper Prototyping
Research
A screener survey with questions regarding place of residence and community concerns for residents was posted online in a variety of social media platforms. It resulted in majority of the 83 responses mentioning road repairs and specifically potholes as a significant issue.
Then 12 in person user interviews were conducted as well by asking residents about their biggest concerns within their communities. During the interviews we heard compelling stories about reports going unacknowledged and residents feeling ignored in their communities.
“Our streets are in awful disrepair and despite repeated calls from many in the neighborhood, they are not repaired and in fact continue to deteriorate. It’s becoming a danger, not merely a nuisance.” -YS
“The government moves at a snails pace to do things and I’m fed up. Definitely need more funding for infrastructure. It’s a shame that this is the Nations’ capital and the roads are so terrible.” -DT
Usability Testing with DC311
Our robust research led us to investigate the DC311 application and we recruited 5 participants to help us better assess it. They were asked to do the following activities in a timed session.
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Report a pothole
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Report an abandoned bike
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Contact someone to pick up a dead animal
From viewing the participants we discovered that there were duplicate items in no particular order, unnecessary extra clicks, and meaningless organization to reporting issues. All of which resulted in the participants spending the bulk of their time searching.
Card Sorting
Card sorting depicted all the available options a user could select while interacting with the application.
We organized it by category and took out the ones identified in usability testing as unnecessary and also removed duplicates. This step was paramount in determining the redesign for the 311 application and visually showed what was needed before moving ahead and using design tools.
Journey Maps
Creating the journey map allowed us to empathize with users frustrations when it came to interacting with DC 311 to report a pothole. It reinforced the pain points found in earlier research and led us to brainstorm ideas for specific persona types.
Personas
The purpose was to create reliable and realistic representations based on initial user interviews of the key audience segments we were solving for.
Engaged user
Disengaged user
DC Gov Employee
Paper Prototypes
We created a prototype where the login page was removed from the beginning of the process. This was done to eliminate an extra step for reporters. From the card sorting activity we discovered methods to organize the reportable items in a way that made sense and was easier for users to decipher. We then consolidated the estimated repair page with the actual reporting page to eliminate any confusion.
Takeaways
What I have Learned
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Often users will not know how to verbally convey their pain points and you will have to view them using products during usability testing, then ask questions based on what you see them do.
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Working with another designer allowed for brainstorming and learning new methods of implementing design ideas.
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Presenting our research and prototype to the client was a rewarding experience. We learned that DC.Gov was already in the process of updating their mobile app. So, our collected research was very valuable to them and the future of the redesign.
What I would do differently
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I would spend more time between the initial sketches and reiterating the designs then finally moving into sketch for higher fidelity.
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I would thoroughly interview DC.Gov employees and better understand their concerns and pain points.
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I would run another usability test with DC residents to see their interactions with the improved mobile app.