Wicked Problem: City Mobility
The first IronHack group project was to tackle a “Wicked Problem.” A wicked problem is, essentially, an unsolvable problem. The goal was to address the complications faced by commuters in various metropolitan areas with a focus of increased distraction from exercisers and the cleanliness of the city. We were tasked with creating an app that would help commuters try and avoid these inconveniences on their daily routes.
Research
In order to come up with solutions we needed to conduct some research however, me and my team learned fairly quickly there is a fine line between identifying problems and making assumptions on behalf of the user. So in order to not assume what the user needs we completed a lean survey canvas. By working through the canvas, we were able to quickly develop survey questions.
Persona and User Journey Map
After conducting our survey we using the gained quantitative data we created a persona based on the data and frustrations presented to us through our user research.
With this insight, we created a persona based on the data and frustrations presented to us through our user research. Our persona helped us to empathize with our users. We created Willow Jackson a young professional on the go. Also in hopes to empathize even more we created a user journey map.
Low-Fi and Mid-Fi
Once our team was able to the define user pain points and frustrations, we focused on tackling the main pain point of construction that often leads to high traffic and commute delays. We decided on coming up with an app that provides information regarding city construction schedules based of the user weekly routine. In hopes of allowing the users to plan commutes in advance and avoid construction that may occur along their frequent routes.
Takeaway
Some key takeaways that I learned from this project is you are NOT the user! It was very easy to fall into bias while trying to come up solutions without thinking what solution you thought was best, instead let the solution be backed up by data. It is important not define the problem for the user, rather than to let the data expose the problem. The ideation process is crucial to the designer because it helps the designer come up with solutions relevant to the users needs rather than whats best in their opinion. I was extremely grateful to have had a team to help me through this new process. Leaning on each other made the process less grueling and affirming.