GPHD 135 Journal #3: Case Study
Lyft redesign — a UX case study
Continuing the case studies from last week, I researched some more interesting UX case studies. One article that stood out to me was “Lyft redesign — a UX case study” written by author Jessie Chen from https://uxdesign.cc/lyft-re-design-case-study-3df099c0ce45
This article was really cool because it is a massive case study, that showcases a really nice update/take on the lyft app. I am highly interested in app/mobil designs for big companies and I just love to check out what other designers have thought of on making them better. It gives me a lot of inspiration, because some day I would love to work for companies like Google or something innovative and constantly changing/updating designs for the world use.
From the beginning the author lists the purpose of the case study and the focus.
Lyft 4 year Overview
Year 1: Market Fit
Year 2: Unlocking Supply
Year 3: Growth — Growth levers, new regions, marketing (data numbers)
Year 4: Case Study — Redesign Lyft
Lyft Redesign Goals
• Scale for the future
• Provide better context
• Improve ergonomics and discoverability
Lyft Design Principles
• Nail the basics — Clear choice and context
• Build confidence — Consistency and transparent
• Be unique — Own-able and delightful
The author adds a lot of extra things that really help you understand the topics I listed above. For example the author successfully lists that hierarchy needs that they brainstormed such as:
“We brainstormed together and created our own 6 principles: Know Your User, Clarity, Consistency, Efficiency, Collaboration and Beauty.”
It was very helpful that the author then move into more brainstorming by providing the things that are currently unsuccessful about Lyft:
- Poor representation of the driver that is requested
• No transparency about price or estimated time of arrival
• Cars were not directional
• Poor use of color
• Options panel awkwardly placed
• Request Lyft is vague for first time users
After they understood/analyzed what was unsuccessful, they then fixed the interface of the app for users, so that it not only feels more up to date but as well is so much easy for them to use.
What is different then the previous case study is that this article touches base on the actual UX part of the project/proposal, because the author provided the research of Qualitative data vs. Quantitative data:
The author even expands, giving us more insight by stating:
“Like many other companies, Lyft is metrics-driven and focuses on quantitative analysis (usually the numbers and graphs can be shared with the teams and the stakeholders in many formats, such as email, keynotes). However, quantitative data needs analysis to be useful. Because of that, qualitative data comes in handy and that’s what they focus on more now.”
Personally I think this is very helpful for me trying to understand more about the UX side of things especially the research, so this case study is very opposite from the previous week, because they really focus on the research and the other focused more on the interface they created.
Lastly this was very cool to see such a well thought out and written conclusion on the entire process and design of the Lyft app. It is very helpful to really conclude what your doing rather than have your design speak for itself, which this designer did a great job because I can easily see that the app is already better visually, but the information in the entire article plus the conclusion provided below really just makes this feel professional and inspiration for all designers and businesses.
The Authors Conclusion:
- Organizing and structuring design principles is just as important as creating them in the first place. I’ll continue finding ways to better structure the design principles we created at work, and visualize them so that everyone can get a good understanding of it across the organization.
- Don’t be afraid of doing product re-designs. If you have good reasons and understand what the usability issues are, start planning! Get to know your real users — user testing is the key. Collect as much quantitative user behavior data as you can, then analyze and categorize them to make sure you have solid qualitative data to support re-design thinking. Follow the cycle of design, release, get user feedback and iterate.
- Lyft’s re-design is a great example to show how to create a successful product. If you care about your users, put yourself in their shoes to understand what they need and what they actually do when using a product. If you don’t have a UX research team yet, build one or become a researcher yourself! At work, I work closely with our UX research team, they help the design team tons by recruiting users, setting up user testing, and analyzing the massive data comes in every month. Thanks to their hard work, the design team can take over the numbers and metrics, analyze further to define specific usability areas, and to communicate re-design decisions to our leadership.
- Lyft’s re-design case study helped me understand how other companies generate business value by implementing great design in both UI and UX. It gives me confidence that if we apply similar principles, and keep doing what we are doing on UX research, our product team can help the company product achieve much more success in the near future.
After reading the article and visualizing the imagery provided the only thing that I can say the article missed on would perhaps be a video showing like a mockup in live action of usage of the app, or perhaps a little more imagery of what they designed like the wireframes. Other than that this was an awesome case study that really helps me out for my future studies in the class and beyond.
