My role
Working individually to evaluate and redesign the mobile application. Introduce new functionality, ie. prediction about airspace availability in the the future (inclusion time factor into flight advice).
Actions
The research is essential. In-depth interview with stakeholders gave me an opportunity to understand business goals and planned evaluation of the project. Drone pilots problems research, together with face to face interviews I’ve took, gave me deep knowledge about users and their needs. At this moment we were able to create Personas. I have also performed usability tests taking advantage of a UAV course I went through. Data analyse. Google Analytics data helped me to learn about user journey and exclude unnecessary content.
Main identified issues
Complexity of an application. Existing user journey was developed for (and by 😉 experienced pilots who knew the airspace laws and the drone field well. Complexity of the subject made it hard to develop consistent user journey, for both new and experienced drone pilots. In result pilots who’s just started they adventure with airspace usage faced huge cognitive barrier. The problem was magnified by the abbreviations and pilot jargon used in the app. All above resulted in churn. Unclear message to the user. The objective and importance of the flight registration was not underlined in the app and in result underestimated by drone pilots. This led to confusion during flight registration process as it required phone number registration.
Solutions
User journey was redefined to easily lead new users through their first flight definition and registration process. Main view was modified to present the ability of flight on the map by the colour of the space within define parameters. In case of any restrictions user is led to an airspace view to see the details of restrictions in “Advanced View”. Advanced map is also a place where experience user can search for all neccesary information. Prediction of airspace availability in the time factor was introduced on the main screen, with an instant advice. Weather alarm was proposed to be visible for users when conditions to fly (wind or Kp index) are unfavorable. App permissions were included in user journey, presented friendly with explanation of their purpose. Vocabulary Simplification of the vocabulary and commands used in an application were proposed. App gained new fresh design.
