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scooTOUR Product Design

Goal

Design for an enjoyable social experience utilizing rental electric scooters to explore new destinations within cities.

My Role

User Testing, Prototyping, Experience Design, Interface Design

Overview

CONTEXT
Imagine visiting Santa Monica, California on a nice weekend day. You’re walking along the pier, shopping at Third Street Promenade, enjoying the sun - and then one of the docked electric scooters around the corner catches your attention. This describes something similar to my first experience riding an electric scooter. Riding along the Santa Monica coast was thrilling, peaceful and so much fun! 

In just the last couple of years, rentable electric scooters have boomed in popularity in 100+ cities around the world. In Los Angeles alone, there are about 26,500 scooters all around the city. These scooters have created a new transit trend that aims to solve the last mile problem and reduce traffic & congestion by decreasing car usage. 

These scooters are incredibly popular - 38.5 million trips were taken on shared scooters in 2018 according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. With the rise of dockless, rentable scooters I saw an opportunity to make the riding experience more social.

OBJECTIVE
Design for an enjoyable social experience utilizing rental electric scooters to explore new destinations within cities.

scooTour is a self-directed project that I created for my Product Design course.

SOLUTION
scooTOUR is both a digital and physical product – a mobile digital travel experience and a phone mount to attach to the scooter. With the onset of scooter sharing, I have created an app that allows riders to quickly and easily move around a city utilizing GPS tech to explore and have fun (A tour on a scooter) ☻

Problem Statement

When using electric scooters to get around the city, there are not safe ways to navigate and explore simultaneously.

I am addressing two problems for electric scooter riders:


An electric scooter rider who feels uneasy about controlling the scooter needs to navigate to a destination, but can’t look at the phone at the same time.


A traveler who feels spontaneous about arriving in a new destination needs to figure out what to do, but is overwhelmed about knowing where to go and how to get there.

OPPORTUNITY
How might we amplify the experience of exploring new cities in a fun, convenient and affordable way? 

scooTOUR provides a portable mount and a simplified approach to reach new destinations by utilizing rentable electric scooters.

Research

To first go about solving this problem, I first conducted research about the landscape of electric scooters to help me gain a greater understanding. I found that overall, the factors of the success of electric scooters are the cost-friendly nature, convenience, fun and benefits for the environment.

“The increasing popularity of shared micromobility trips is great news for cities and anyone who works on tackling the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions—transportation,” said Lina Fedirko, Senior Program Associate, ClimateWorks Foundation.

However, with the rise of electric scooter usage there has also been a rise of unsafe practices leading to injuries. Most causes for these accidents are speed, sidewalks and distraction.

I also researched travel habits and actions. In an article post from Elite Daily, the author Kristin Corpuz writes that “Renting a Scooter While Traveling Has Become My Favorite Way To Explore A City”.

She described how the scooter gave her flexibility and how “Based on my experience, I find it to be a better way to get around than via the metro (or subway) of a city because I'm above ground and get to actually see the city as I pass by landmarks and interesting buildings. Plus, I'm able to stop directly in front of or super close to my destination. On top of all that, scootering can actually be a really affordable way to travel" -Kristin Corpuz.

On the other hand, there are travelers who would prefer to explore new destinations with maps and not technology. How do I build a product that introduces an entirely new experience for people who have never rented electric scooters before?

USERS & AUDIENCE
I identified my target audience and consumer as travelers, including young adults and college students. By defining my target user, I could focus on the specific needs and desires of this demographic. I kept an open mind throughout my interviews to rethink any assumptions going into this process.

USERS RESEARCH

FINDINGS
Through my in-depth user interviews, I discovered three main findings within the topics of Traveling, Navigating and Collecting.

Process

Post-research, it was time to think of how to address the issues and opportunities that had been discussed! I began to ideate some concepts for the app. I started this process with just a pen and paper, getting any and all ideas down first. This included possible screens and a prioritization of features.

Solution

My new design allows users to go through the process of renting, planning, navigating and collecting.

REFLECTIONS
I learned a lot from having touched every aspect of this project. At first, I was super ambitious in including a ton of features in the app. I learned that this product doesn't have to do everything - I hope to achieve simplicity in a product to help the user achieve their goals in an easier and effective way.

I gained experience within the design process, from understanding the users to ideating on a solution. It was eye-opening for me to see how better informed I can be as a designer. Empathy is so crucial to gaining insight into what the problems and opportunities are.

Phone Mount

The physical phone mount is a key component to using the scooTOUR app. It's portable, durable, and can attach to any scooter! It keeps the phone attached so riders can focus on the road - and finding the next destination.

Check out more of my work!

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