The Problem Space

I began to break down the problem by listing the constraints from the problem and putting in my assumptions.

Empathizing

Types of users and their needs

Bicycles are used by people of all ages, from young kids to old-aged people. Using bicycles can be a great way to slowly explore the city, stay fit and is a good step towards going eco-friendly. Some people just enjoy biking to enjoy weather and have some fun.

Keeping these things in mind, I targeted the service towards 4 categories of people:

Analyzing Reviews

I used online reviews to understand the general things people dislike or like about existing bicycle renting services. Analyzing such information is a great way to learn from others and avoid problems that I am bound to encounter.

Final Designs

The result is a mobile app, which I call Cyclon — from where customers can rent bicycles and enjoy biking alone or with their friends.

Cyclon has several designated bike spots (stands) spread across the city, from where customers can pick up bikes and use for the booked time. Customers can also book a bike in advance, allowing them to always find a bike of their choice waiting for them.

Homepage

From the homepage, users can search for different locations, select Bike stands, get directions to that stand and book bikes for riding.

I had initially thought of displaying bicycles with stands on the homepage. Eventually, a map on the homepage was decided since people value the place of bike pickup over the type of bike.

Advanced Booking

I made it easy for users to book bikes for a future date and time. The users can reserve bikes of their choice that will be available on the selected time to start riding.

In a practical sense, these bikes can be reserved for a small fee and up to 15 minutes from the intended time. After which, the reservation could be cancelled due to no-show.

The process of advanced booking is as follows:

1 - The user selects the bike stand and opens the booking section.

2 - The user specifies the location, date of ride, number of bikes and the duration of ride.

3 - The user is shown different time intervals based on the input.

4 - The user selects a convenient time, which then displays a list of available bikes for that time interval.

5 - The user adds the bikes of her choice and confirms the booking.

The users can book specific bikes based on the bike numbers and can show up on the stand at the intended time. The biggest tradeoff I had to make for this to happen was —

Customers have to drop their bikes at the place they picked it up from.

If other users were dropping off their bikes at random places, it would get difficult to predict which bike ends up where, making the advanced booking process very messy for the company.

Instant Pickup

The instant pickup is a very simple process:

1 - The user walks into a designated bike stand.

2 - The user opens the app and specifies the number of bikes and the duration for which she wants them.

3 - The app then shows the available bikes she can choose from (eliminating those which are booked for later, based on user’s duration).

4 - The user searches for a bike of her choice on the stand and scans the code on the chosen bike to unlock it.

5 - For unlocking more bikes on the same trip (as mentioned in step 2), the steps 3 and 4 are repeated. 

On-trip features

For an ongoing trip, several useful features were added (as written on the images) to target the major users and solve user pain points.

During an active trip, the homepage changes to a navigator from where the user can also manage the rented bikes. I have also described a 3-step process so that users can successfully end their bike rides.

Final Thoughts

With this challenge, I attempted to push my thinking skills and come up with these designs in a week’s time. I set some design goals based on my research which I attempted to solve.

In the real world, it would have been an entry-level product, with lots of added considerations about income, edge cases, and feedbacks.

Way forward

If I had more time and resources, I would have liked to have a stronger base for my assumptions and consider the economics more carefully. I would have also conducted user testing, rather than relying purely on my intuitions and experiences to prevent usability issues. For users using bikes at night, a dark mode UI would be easier on their eyes -another thing I have not considered in these designs.

Key takeaways

All projects teach me something new regarding designs and thinking. Here are two main things I learnt:

• It’s always down to the user and the problem. It doesn’t matter if your product has XYZ features or not — the user must be able to achieve the main task.

• Always note down the constraints and define the goals clearly— this makes the design more relevant and helps keep complex projects focused on the problem.