Duration: 4 months
Responsibilities: Research, Design, Usability Testing
Team: Project for Senior Capstone
BAUT
Tools: Figma
This case study focuses on the Baut App and the steps taken to design this component of the Baut Company.
OVERVIEW
Background
RSA Design Brief 2020
The RSA Student Design Awards is a competition for emerging designers that's been running since 1924. We challenge students and recent graduates to tackle pressing social, environmental and economic issues through design thinking.
To read more about the competiton,
Our Chosen Brief
Brief 4: Right to Brief, which questions "How might we ensure that everyone living in areas with poor air quality is guaranteed their right to clean air?" Our goal is to introduce a business idea which can tackle this brief.
Area of Focus:
Automotive industry in Jakarta, Indonesia
Jakarta
#1
city with worst air pollution in the world
#3
ranked country in the world for having the most toxic air
80%
pollution comes from transportation sector in city
75%
of vehicles driven in Jakarta are motorcycles.
Introducing the Business Idea: Baut
Baut, meaning bolt in Indonesian, aims to promote sustainable means of transportation in Jakarta, Indonesia through an in-person and a cellular experience that can be utilized synchronously or separately.
The Baut Shop
Converts conventional motorcycles into electric motorcycles by replacing the gas-powered motors with our high quality, powerful batteries manufactured by our partnering company.
The Baut App
Encourages the continuous use of electric vehicles by allowing all EV users, including Baut customers, to have access to all important EV features in one application.
Why Introduce the App
Problem without App
-
Baut cannot survive without successful partnership formulated
-
Cannot guarantee partnering company will agree to their role
-
Does not forecast enough potential for growth and expansion
Solution with App
-
Provides Baut with security
-
Competitive Advantage
-
Targets a larger target market, good for growth and expansion
RESEARCH
Understanding the Target Market
The type of customers whom we are aiming to target with both components of our company are the following;
EV Users
Name: Cynthia Rose
Age: 35
Cynthia Rose works at the Bank of Indonesia head office in Jakarta as the CTO. She recently invested in an electric vehicle knowing the savings that come along with the investment, however, since buying an EV, she has had to download multiple apps to achieve different things taking away the EV ease.
Environmentally Driven
Name: Carlos Mackenzie
Age: 28
Carlos is a full-time masters student at a university in Jakarta and aims to live a more sustainable lifestyle. It takes him 55 minutes everyday to walk to University as he cannot afford to maintain a vehicle. Carlos first handedly experiences the dangerous air pollution levels during his everyday commute but wants to find an easier way to get to school in a sustainable manner.
Vehicle Enthusiast
Name: Jason Tai
Age: 40
Jason has always been tremendously interested in the automotive industry since he was young. With the recent rise in electric vehicles, Jason wants to add an electric vehicle alongside his gas-powered car and motorcycle but does not want to purchase an entire new vehicle.
Insights from Primary & Secondary Research
When deciding what features to include within the app, primary and secondary research was conducted to understand what features will be most valued by the users. Primary research was conducted by interviewing 3 individuals currently owning electric vehicles while secondary research was conducted using scholarly/news articles, reports and case studies.
Cost Savings
Primary Research
"My family does not actively note down our savings anymore however, when we first purchased our electric car, it was interesting to see our savings"
- Anonymous, 21, EV owner
Secondary Research
#1 reason that encourages individuals to switch over to EV's is their affordability with regards to maintenance and power recharge.
Locating Charging Stations
Primary Research
""Locating charging stations is the biggest pain and sometimes, there are multiple apps needed to go through in order to locate a specific companies charging stations, it would be nice to have them all in 1 place"
- Jacob, 25, EV owner
Secondary Research
Most EV app's are not equipped with locating charging stations feature, users are forced to locate charging stations through different apps that are solely designed to locate charging stations.
In-Mobile Shop
Secondary Research
According to Forbes.com, customers tend to spend 3 to 4 times longer on mobile apps than desktops and have the lowest shopping cart abandonment rate.
IDEATION
Features of the App
Research has confirmed the specific app features that will be most valuable for our app users. Now, I will take you through a more in-depth process taken for each feature, in-specific, the smaller components users will have access to upon clicking on each feature.
Where did this Feature come from?
This feature allows Baut customers to track their batteries conditions. Its brings together both components, the Baut shop and
Information Architecture
Mockups and Inspirations
My team and I designed low to high-fidelity wireframes based on the finalized features and information architecture displayed above in order to generate some ideas on the apps appearance and its visual design.
Visual Design
Tone of App
The Baut business is a social enterprise that aims to provoke change in order to be successful and the success is dependent on the consumers and app users, therefore, the app needs to be attractive, easy to follow along for all types of users and intuitive while successfully being able to meet their needs. The app should evoke feelings of motivation and drive towards fixing this social cause.
Colour Palette
Font and Sizes
H1 - Rubik Medium 20pt
H2 - Rubik Semi-Bold 18pt
H3 - Rubik Regular 14pt
Buttons
Login
Sign-up
Back
Text Body - Rubik Regular 14pt
Icons
SOLUTION
Usability Testing
A high-fidelity interactive prototype for the Baut app was designed for usability testing. Below are the highlighted insights and findings from the usability testings.
15 Participants
15 participants were selected to partake in the usability testings.
3 types of Participants
EV users, car enthusiasts and environmentalists were the participants chosen for testing.
3 groups of Tasks
In order to test the main features, 3 groups of tasks were made and
assigned to each participant.
What Worked - Findings
These are the following insights on what the participants worked well.
- Divya Kamanth, EV Owner, 21
Having the map default screen display charging stations is so helpful.
The illustrations and visuals throughout the app really helped in understanding its functionality.
- Naina Jain, Environmentalist, 21
100%
of participants expressed positive reactions towards the potential savings feature.
66.7%
of the participants said the illustrations contributed positively towards their overall experience of the app.
100%
of participants stated that they would use our app if they were living in Jakarta and operating an EV.
What Didn't Worked - Findings
These are the following insights on where participants thought there could be improvement on.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Below are the high-fidelity wireframes of the 4 main features on the Baut App.
Feature 1: Battery Conditions
Feature 2: Potential Savings
Feature 3: Map
Feature 4: Shop
Interactive Prototype
Below, you can find the interactive high-fidelity prototype. Feel free to go through the platform and tell me what you liked or what I could improve on!
Welcome to the Baut App!
Prepare yourself to enter an app thats aiming to tackle a large problem but first with a small victory through a futuristic and sustainable approach, the Baut app.
Press "R" on your keyboard to restart on Welcome screen
CONCLUSION
Key Takeaways
Since this project stemmed from wanting to achieve the grand objective of fixing air pollution in Jakarta, it was consistently being revisited to ensure that it is always remembered and apparent. As a result, I learnt the importance of goal setting which heavily guided the types of approaches taken while designing the app. The goals kept the vision stable and clear, allowing the overall objective to not go hidden.