As part of my RMIT Online UX Design course, I was tasked with selecting a digital product that frustrates me and applying what we’ve learned to improve its user experience. I chose the PayStay app for this project. Below is a snapshot of my work in progress.
Hunch
Users might find it difficult to set the desired parking time and track that time because the app is messy and sections are disconnected within it.
Research/Findings
The overall structure of the PayStay app seems effective for the most part but the journey within the sections and its design elements seem disconnected. There also seems to be some technical issues and the overall user journey feels chunky.
The journey needs to be cleaner and smoother with similar elements used on each screen. The main issue is the screen where you set your time. I feel the hierarchy of elements is wrong on this page, the page is messy and looks like everything has been thrown on it without a lot of thought. The slider jumps around when it loads, making it confusing to use.
Type of desk research/benchmarking
For desk research I used online Android app reviews as I’m focusing on the Android version of the app in case the IOS one is different. With the reviews I’ve presented, I’m specifically sorting them from newest first as I’m focusing on a newer app update and didn’t want to go that far back. I chose this as it’s the only data I could find from my desk.
For benchmarking I’m using landscape reviews and expert reviews. With landscape reviews I’ve compared the app to another parking app ‘Parking’ and looked at the same user flow of finding a zone, starting a session and ending a session.
What research findings validated the hunch
Mainly the online reviews. There are way too many 1 and 2 stars with negative comments that really back up the hunch. The benchmarking research has shown a cleaner and straightforward UX (although not perfect) from a rival app and their repeated elements on the two screens make it easier for the user.
I feel the slider and its sub lines that indicate intervals is an element that people aren’t that familiar with compared to a scroll wheel that people relate well too. Also the sessions screen has a round timer for the remaining time that’s a new element introduced from the slider on the previous screen and it would be great if they were similar like on Parking. The visual hierarchy doesn’t follow best practice design as your eyes don’t know what to look at first and the content is all messed up on the page.
Tools and Technologies
- Figma: Interface design, wireframing and interactive prototyping throughout the case study.
- User research: Used to understand parking-payment behaviours, pain points and opportunities for improvement.
- Wireframing: Explored information architecture and task flows before committing to the visual interface.
- Prototyping: Tested the proposed experience and refined key interactions through an interactive prototype.