My role:
User Research
Journey Mapping
Usability Testing
Information Design
Visual Design
Client:
Brompton Bike Hire
Agency:
Aoife McCarthy
Completed:
2016
Brompton Bike Hire dock
Since 2011, Brompton Bike Hire have been committed to providing flexible and environmentally friendly travel all over the UK, via their innovative cycle hire scheme. However, the fold/unfold procedure for the bike can be a challenge for new users, ultimately discouraging people from joining. This key issue provided the brief for this project: develop an effective means of communicating the process, to users who are not necessarily technically minded.
The user demographic was defined with a short online research survey, to 150 existing BBH members. This research formed the basis for user personas, journeys and visual moodboards – all useful tools for getting to the core of the design problem.
Rigorous user testing underpinned an iterative design process. I observed multiple users attempt the folding process using a ‘think aloud protocol’ to identify specific pain points, and conducted card sorting exercises to redefine the process.
Key research insights:
Assembly instructions must adopt the user’s view. The bike is much easier to open if you’re standing to the left of it, which I resolved to communicate in the visuals.
Regrouping of steps according to function. Card sorting exercises established how users understood the folding process.
Schematic ambiguity leads to frustration. Users could not relate the existing infographic to the real-life bike in front of them, causing them to abandon efforts.
The design deliverables evolved in line with these insights and feedback from the user testing sessions. Reference images were created by manipulating existing bike renders (commissioned for marketing purposes) in Cinema 4D. Using a digital model allowed me to quickly and extensively test viewing angles, to ensure each step was clearly represented. Vector illustrations were derived from these reference images, and created in Adobe Illustrator.
Cinema 4D model
The final outcomes:
