Rove
A personal NYC expert that can take bikers on a customized audio experience throughout the city.
Overview
For the Summer of 2021, I took a course called Human-Centered Design and Innovation at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. Below is the final project that my team and I created, Rove.
Role
I worked closely with the members of my team to conduct user research, conceptualize, prototype, and present our idea.
Duration
4 weeks (May 2021 to June 2021)
Mentors
Harry West, Mary Zaradich, David Wang, Human-Centered Design and Innovation
Team
Nicholas Hall, Abhinaya Shankar, Venika Anand, Sarthak Arora
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Canva
Scope
UX Research, prototyping, visual branding, presentation design
The Task
Our assignment was broad, as we were tasked to "improve the experience of biking in the City of New York."
We conducted primary and secondary research about the NYC biking experience that led us to our goal: to bring everyone the authentic NYC biking experience. This, in turn, led us to prototype and test three ideas with potential users, resulting in the continuation of our idea for a virtual tour guide. Through further ideation, we developed Rove, a personal NYC expert that can take users on a customized audio experience throughout the city.
Customers and Stakeholders Research
First, we had to understand what it was like to bike in the city and choose a territory. We began this process by scouring online biking platforms and websites. This led us to break down conversation topics on NYCbike Reddit, the go-to online platform for both experienced city bikers and visiting tourists who would like to bike.
NYCBIKE REDDIT CONVERSATIONS
500 Most Recent Posts
The result of breaking down the Reddit conversations on this page showed us that well over 50% of the conversations were about "Bike Route Q&A’s" or "Sharing Positive Experiences."
Journey Map
However, before we defined our territory and definitive problem statement, we wanted to experience biking first hand and decided to create a Journey Map of the Citi Bike experience.
BIG TAKEAWAYS
Confusing exits and signs led to a double loop in Central Park, thus never making it to the final destination
More experienced bikers are easy to distinguish
Had less confidence when biking with traffic
Customer Archetypes
DENISE H. — 55
Denise is a Bostonian who takes trips to the city to visit her son. She believes biking is the best way to explore a city and spend time with her family, get some exercise, and enjoy the fresh air of being outside.
Even though she is an experienced biker, she prefers to follow the guidance of local NYC families to find new cozy spots that haven't been taken over by common tourists.
She wants to receive information as she would on a guided tour but doesn’t want to sacrifice the freedoms that she enjoys about being on a bike.
MAX M. — 21
Max is an undergraduate student at Columbia studying history. He hates walking, so he wants to try biking as an alternative. However, he is not originally from New York, so biking sounds dangerous, intimidating, and confusing.
He also wishes that he could learn more about the city, but dislikes the idea of group tours.
JENN K. — 31
Jenn is a New Yorker who likes to bike to and from work. She also likes biking for leisure but does not want to be dodging cars. She hates biking along traffic when there is not a bike lane.
Unfortunately, Jenn has recently experienced an accident in which she crashed into a car door on her way to work. Since then, she has been more cautious about where she rides her bike and wants to be able to safely navigate through the city.
Key Insights
ONE
Biking in NYC can be dangerous.
TWO
Navigating the streets of NYC is a barrier to entry for new bikers.
THREE
Tourists enjoy biking but don't want to follow an itinerary or pay for such expensive bike tours.
The Process
TERRITORY
We wanted to make biking indistinguishable from the authentic NYC experience for:
New Yorkers who bike as a hobby and want to discover new haunts in the city
Tourists who wouldn’t need to commute but want to get dirty in NYC
Families who want to bike as a bonding experience to feel a sense of community and belonging
OPPORTUNITY AREA
NYC biking enthusiasts are an active online community and have valuable info that can help new bikers overcome the roadblocks keeping them from the authentic NYC biking experience.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Potential NYC bikers are intimidated by NYC biking stereotypes and are unaware of the authentic and enjoyable experiences that NYC offers.
Brainstorming and Ideation
With the user insights gathered from the lead user NYCbike research, our Journey Map reflections, and ethnographic interviews, we ideated three possible solutions to our problem statement.
For each idea we had, we brainstormed pros and cons.
IDEA 1 — VIRTUAL BIKE TOUR
Helps one discover local biking experiences with their own personal guide, similar to how museums conduct virtual tour guides, in the form of a mobile app. Gives information, recommendations, and directions based on user interests and location along their bike journey.
IDEA 2 — BIKE BNB
Think bed & breakfast service like Airbnb, but for bikes. For those who crave a more personalized experience, and perhaps a personal connection to the bike used. Beneficial for both parties.
IDEA 3 — NYC BIKE COMMUNITY
A way for NYC bikers to engage on curated and managed discussion boards, rate biking routes, read "trusted" or "experienced" reviews on Yelp. A better (much better) version of Reddit for biking in the city.
Evaluation of Feedback
We created surveys that walked users through each prototype and compared them. After analyzing 30+ responses, the results yielded insights that allowed us to move forward with the Virtual Tour Guide.
The honest critical feedback was helpful in eliminating ideas.
For Idea 2, we learned that city visitors and or new bikers are not necessarily looking to ride special bikes. Plus, current NYC cyclists do not have spare bikes or were not thrilled about lending them out.
For Idea 3, we learned that our route-sharing community platform idea is not very different from current, pre-existing products like Strava and AllTrails to excite the community.
Moreover, receiving quality feedback helped us further ideate for the Virtual Tour Guide. For instance, people suggested a "best restaurants" feature to be included in the tours.
We also checked out current competitors and overall found that these tours and platforms were either costly, non-customizable, or did not offer authentic city experiences.
Our Solution
We created a high-fidelity prototype for a virtual tour guide experience, staying anchored on our problem statement and focusing on a customized experience.
For those who want the information and security of a guided bike tour, but do not want the scheduling constraints, cost, and tourist feel of the guided tours, we are proud to introduce Rove, your personal tour guide and NYC expert.
CHALLENGE 1
Bridging the Gap
We had to understand what matters most to the user when choosing their route difficulty in using the Custom Tour Route feature. We prioritized offering a route for everyone, from a seasoned cycler to a first-timer.
The choice between time duration and mileage limit allows users to dictate the length of the ride experience in a way that fits their goals. We worked to simplify and generalize the difficulty ranking of routes to its most important factor, as well as make it the most programmable for our algorithm.
"Easy" generates routes that are strict to bike lanes and bike trails in parks, "medium" prioritizes bike lanes (but will prompt the rider to ride with traffic if necessary), and "hard" allows rove to generate the route with no bike lane restriction.*
CHALLENGE 2
Safety was a top priority
Bike users often ride with music or podcasts. Using two headphones to use our app could be unsafe, while a speaker may be hard to hear or awkward to use in public spaces.
Rove requires users to use only one headphone, just as many audio tours at museums do. That way, users can both experience the content and safely be aware of their surroundings.
We also added key reminders on traffic rules before every ride (as shown to the left). Button and vocal commands such as "pause" and "continue" allow the user to at any time pause the myGuide experience and safely focus. The voice navigation continually gives warnings and guidance that are bike-specific and evolving to fit the needs of each ride.
FINAL PRESENTATION VIDEO
Rove in its ecosystem
Visual Identity
My Lovely Team
I want to say thank you so much to my amazing team. I feel very grateful to have collaborated with such kind, intelligent, and hard-working people.
Reflection
LOVE THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION
Working on this project, I realized how vital it is to remove oneself from the situation and to conduct various types of research to gauge what users need and want. I had to frequently remind myself that I am not the consumer — with occasional exceptions of course.
TACKLING A CHALLENGING PROBLEM WITH A HARD DEADLINE
There was a strict timeline and a limited amount of time to complete this project. Our team quickly understood that we needed to produce prototypes to get the point across and gain feedback, rather than to perfect each screen.
DOUBLE DIAMOND
This was my very first time taking a design course and learning about the four stages — and I absolutely loved it. Big shoutout to Professor West, the TAs, David and Mary, and my dream team.