CommutePal
Eco-Friendly Carpool Solution for Working Professionals
Hi-Fi Prototype
CommutePal is an app that helps commuters such as working professionals to automatically match nearby people to form regularly scheduled carpool group that meet their time schedule and bring enjoyable fun ride experiences. Group members can either share commute costs or rotating for driving.
Under our safety protocols, You'll know who you're carpooling with through profile photos, verified Driver license/vehicle information, verified company information (when available) and full trip details before your carpool starts.
Timeline ⏱️
Deisgn
Validate
Redesign + Prototype
During Figmathon
After Figmathon
Define+Ideate
2
We took some time to discuss the prompt, and decide to explore reducing CO2 emission.
We did a rough research on this topic and decide the direction we want to go (Create Carpool App for commuters).
1
Decide user key flows
Sketch wireframes
Design Hi-Fi prototype
Decide branding strategy
Create one pager for pitch
After the Figmathon, since I am very passionate about this project and eager to refine this product. So three of us rejoined together to do a redesign.
First, we gathered 8 frequent commuters to test this product.
We did a redesign based on the testing results.
3
4
Understand Our User 💚
To create a carpool solution that is safe and enjoyable for working professionals to match regularly scheduled carpool groups.
Research shows that
76.4% of U.S. workers drive alone to work. The average American commutes 41 miles a day to and from work, resulting in approximately 3.84 tons of CO2 emissions annually per person. (Zippia)
Individual carpoolers may reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 4% to 5% (Shaheen et al., 2018).
A 2018 survey found that almost 80% of interviewees had an enriching interaction while carpooling.
Commute carpooling market is continuously growing since companies are resuming their operations while recovering from the COVID-19 impact, and government policy encourages reducing pollution and carbon emissions.
However, there’s no mature product that specific target commuters and help them to form regularly scheduled carpool group. Most of the carpool products only help users to match one-time carpool. And
it’s also a pain to match carpool commuters that they trust and feel comfortable to spend time with.
How might we help working professionals match nearby people that share a similar commute schedule and make them feel comfortable&safe to enjoy commute time with to set up regularly scheduled carpool groups?
Problem Statement 🔎
Our Design Goal 💡
We created wireframes to develop an understanding of the features and the structure of the experience.
From the scratch ✏️
Explore
Message
Profile
Emergency
Create My Carpool Group
Let’s get you set up!
About
Tell people more about you or your group!
10/100
Carpool Detail
Max Occupancy
-
4
+
Flexible locations
Within
mi
Take turn driving
Switch driver
Vaccination Required
My Info
Home Address
1234 Main St. Seattle, WA
Edit
Work Address
1234 Main St. Seattle, WA
Edit
Arrive at Work by
8:30 AM
Edit
Leave Work at
5:30 PM
Edit
Create Request
My work days
Let everyone know yous pick- up schedule by adding it to your profile
Let everyone know yous pick- up schedule by adding it to your profile
Go to work
off work
Save
Pick-up at
Mon.
Tues.
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Mon- Fri
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PM
My First Name
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Mike
Back
Continue
Continue
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Create Account
Create Account
SIgn In
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My number is：
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My code is：
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From Messages
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I Agree
Welcome to Policy page
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Continue
95423
98105
Create my carpool route
I am a
Woman
Man
More
Continue
I perfer to carpool with
Woman
Man
Everyone
Continue
Enable Location
Allow
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Explore
About
Hi I am Steven, I work at XXX Company and I am looking for carpool buddies so that we can save some gas money and also help the planet!
Read more
Carpool Detail
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
Sa
Su
U District, Seattle, WA
(~0.5 Miles from Your Home)
8:30 AM
Estimated trip time: 30 mins
Belltown, Seattle, WA
(~0.5 Miles from Your Work)
9:30 AM
Home
Home
Work
People
Steve Adams
Marketing @ Amazing.com
Message
Explore
Message
Profile
Report
Chat with group
Message
Explore
Message
Profile
Report
Message
Name
3m ago
I’m waiting ourside now!
12
Name
15m ago
How is it going?
Name
15m ago
How is it going?
Name
15m ago
How is it going?
Michael M. + 3 more
ABC Neighborhood - La Jolla downtown
Carpool Groups
Messages
2
Sign in Flow
I work at
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Continue
Continue
Skip
Back
Explore Page
Explore
Message
Profile
Report
Steve Adams
ABC Neighborhood - La Jolla downtown
Vaccine Required
4 seats left
Estimated trip time: 30 mins
M-F: Arrive at 8:30am / Leave at 5:30pm
~.5 miles within your pickup & dropoff locations
Chat with Steve
Michael M. + 3 more
ABC Neighborhood - La Jolla downtown
Vaccine Required
1 seats left
Estimated trip time: 30 mins
M-F: Arrive at 8:30am / Leave at 5:30pm
~.5 miles within your pickup & dropoff locations
Chat with Michael
Explore
Create a New Group
Design System 🎨
Color Palette
Brand Color
2BAEA1
Secondary Color
EAF8F9
Tag - Purple
695191
Tag - Orange
FFA90A
Card Color
D3ECEF
Text Grey
2A2E3B 50%
Text Color
2A2E3B
Typography
H1 - 24px Epilogue
H2 - 24px
H3 - 20px
Body - 14px
Caption - 12px
Button
Primary
Secondary
Call to Action
Ghost Button
Disabled Button
Tags
Vaccine Required
Cat Lover
Cat Lover
Cat Lover
Cat Lover
Mon
Mon
Validation+Iteration 🛠
User Testing
After the Figmathon, we recruited 8 working professionals who regularly commute to their companies to conduct moderated user testing. And we also initiated first-click testing through Chalkmark with 30 participants to measure the usability of CommutePal.
1
6/8 Participants Mentioned: They Don’t Know How to Join A Existing Group
Before
Sarah M. + 2 more
3/4
Vaccine Required
Flexible Locations
Take Turns
U-District
Seattle, WA
Belltown
Seattle, WA
8:30 AM
Weekdays
5:30 PM
Estimated Trip Time: 30mins
Chat with Group
The original flow for joining the group is to chat with the group members to see if it works, and then request to join. So on the Explore page, we put "Chat with The Group" instead of "Join The Group". Which is not very easy for users to comprehend.
Hi, I’m Johnanna! I live near U District and your time also works for me! I would love to learn more about you guys and maybe we can carpool together!
Seattle - U District
8:30 AM
5:30 PM
M/W/F
Send Message
Send Message
Join
Location
Video Call
The position of the join button does not match user’s expectation. They could not find “Join” button under the ellipsis button
Send request to join the group
Cancel
Send Request
Old Join Group Flow
Sarah M. + 2 more
8:30 AM
5:30 PM
M/W/F
Send Message
Hi, Guys. I’m 5 mins away from the pick up spot. See you soon!
Nina
has requested to join your group
Hi! I live near U District. and your time also works for me! I would love to learn more about you guys and carpool together!
Nina W.
5.0
BMW X3 2016
Chatty
Friendly
Cat Lover
Deny
Accept
Say hi to this carpool group!
Groups are more likely to accept your request if you include a personal note!
Hi! I live in U district and I also work at X company. I would love to learn more about your group and hopefully join too!
Cancel
Send
After
Mark J. & 1 more
2/5
Vaccine Required
Females Only
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
Sa
Su
U District, Seattle, WA
~ 0.8 mi radius from your home
8:30 AM
Estimated trip time: 30 mins
Belltown, Seattle, WA
~ 0.4 mi radius from your work
9:30 AM
Request to Join
We change the button name to “Request to Join” , which is much easier for users to understand.
After click it, user can send a message to introduce themselves to the group.
Request has been sent
You will receive a noticification regarding your request soon .
New Join Group Flow
2
4/8 Participants Mentioned: They Have Safety Concerns
They Wish to Know More about Potential Commute Pals
Add Tags about Gender Options: Some feedbacks from Female Participants mentioned that they feel unsafe to carpool with males, and only wish to carpool with females. Users have the freedom to choose genders, if they feel comfortable.
After
User Information Card
Before
Chatty
Friendly
Cat Lover
Group Card
Add Car Information: In order to use CommutePal, we require all drivers to pass a motor vehicle history check, and register their driver license.
Add Rating: Commute Pals could rate each people in their group based on their trip experience. The rating system make sure that the most respectful users are using CommutePal.
Sarah M.
4.8
Honda Civic 2018
Chatty
Friendly
Cat Lover
Sarah M. & 2 more
3/4
Vaccine Required
Females Only
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
Sa
U District, Seattle, WA
~ 0.5 mi radius from your home
8:30 AM
Estimated trip time: 30 mins
Belltown, Seattle, WA
~ 0.2 mi radius from your work
9:30 AM
Request to Join
Next Step ⏭
A lot of working professionals are using Slack as a professional and organizational communication tool. I want to develop a integration of CommutePal for Slack, which allows users from the same organization to form commute groups internally.
Reiterate! Especially need to reiterate the safety part.
Takeaways 🌱
Communication is the key!
Be Realistic!
When we design in a limited time frame, which is the norm in a real-world work setting, how can we design and collaborate with teammates more efficiently? I think communication is the key! At the beginning of the Figmathon, we thought if we wanted to design faster, we needed to distribute tasks quicker, so once we had the flow and an outline of what we wanted to design, we immediately distributed tasks to each teammate. However, because we did not align details first, things became a little bit messy. As soon as we adjusted our strategy by setting up the design system, aligning details, and being able to coordinate our doubts with each other as soon as possible, we were able to finish the design on time.
We, as designers, also need to have business and marketing sense. When we do a design, we need to consider some realistic issues such as:
1. How can we make profits from this product?
2. How can stakeholders benefit from this product?
3.Will our product attract target users?
4. How can we design a product to maintain a high user retention rate?
Hi-Fi Prototype 📱
Highlights
Profile
Users would be encouraged to see the amount of CO2 they reduced by carpooling with CommutePal. It's possible that users don't understand what kilograms of CO2 mean. In order to give users a better sense of how they’ve helped the environment, I convert it to an equivalent amount of trees.
Highlights
Create Carpool Groups
Users can create their own carpool groups and set up the details to attract other commute pals to join.
Highlights
Join Nearby Carpool Groups
Our system will automatically suggest nearby groups that best suit users’ needs based on the addresses they entered.
Users can request to join groups. They are able to discuss questions and confirm details with current group members in the message page. Users can add to multiple carpool groups to fulfill their commute schedule.
Award 🎖
CommutePal was a rewarded project at the UW Figmathon Event, a 48-hour hackathon that was cohosted by Figma and UX@UW at the University of Washington in 2022. There were over 150 participants. And there were three tracks to choose from: Social Track, Health track, and Nature track. Commute Pal was one of the top three finalists for the nature track.
Prompt for Nature Track
Pitching our project with my teammates
Hi-Fi Prototype
At-A-Glance ✨
Team
Charis L
Moses W
Rui L
Lucy(Xinyi) Ye
My Roles
Product Designer
UX Researcher
Timeline
05/2022-07/2022
Tool Used
Figma
Miro Board