Grumble

Grumble is a social, location-based, mobile application that allows commuters to vent frustration related to their commuting experience, commiserate with their peers and have a laugh while they're at it.

This project is the result of a 9-week studio project course Interaction Design Studio with John Zimmerman. The goal was to design a mobile application interface for commuters. The design team focused on commuters sharing, seeking, and retrieving information in support of their commute. The space offered opportunities for overlap between entertainment, information sharing and retrieval.

Process

An iterative design process was followed comprising 5 stages: User research, persona and scenario development, wireframing, designing UIs, and animating. In each phase, class critiques provided feedback on ideation and design.

1. User Research

Semi-structured interviews and directed storytelling were conducted with 7 users. Users were interviewed at coffee shops, bus stops or their homes. 6 participants 20-30 years old and worked various jobs such as software engineer, nurse, and students.

Research found that commuters wanted to feel in control, found it hard to keep track of time while getting ready to commute, found it hard to determine whether the bus was late or had left already, and were frustrated to see packed buses skip them.

Commuters had a range of complaints about the bus system. Background research on Pittsburgh’s Port Authority revealed that it was suffering financial debt, and proposed to cut 35% of bus routes. This made it challenging to design an app involving the bus system. Hence, the team decided to focus on helping commuters manage their frustration.

Files: Presentation | User Interview Notes

Port Authority's bus cuts made it challenging to design for the system

2. Persona and Scenario Development

Through value diagrams involving key stakeholders and feedback from class, the team decided to provide an avenue for commuters to vent and manage their frustration. Personas that embodied people with this need, and scenarios that motivated usage were created. Personas were crafted to appear sympathetic to the development team creating the service.

Files: Presentation | Persona/Scenario 1 | Persona/Scenario 2 | Persona/Scenario 3 | Scenario Draft

Persona: Steve, a 33 year old cashier at Giant Eagle

3. Wireframing

Key functionality and preliminary navigation for the app were outlined. Low fidelity paper-based wireframes affording the scenarios of use were created. 4 think-aloud usability tests were run using these wireframes. Users found the app amusing and several usability enhancements were uncovered. These included desires for missing features, confusion over existing ones and UI elements that could be made more intuitive.

Files: Presentation | First Iteration of Wireframes | Initial Navigation Map

4. Designing UIs

Feedback from think-aloud studies was used to revise navigation flow and amend features. While creating the design language, the team tried to draw analogies between rants and rotten tomatoes with a prominent red aesthetic. However, it felt intense and the team chose to go with an orange aesthetic that suggested playfulness and drew similarity with traffic cones.

Files: Presentation | Higher Fidelity UIs

5. Refining and Animating

Feedback from critique indicated that text size needed resizing, and the design language would be more effective by reflecting the bus stop environment. A moodboard was created to account for it, and a grungy metallic graffiti aesthetic was used. Animations were created using Keynote to demonstrate functionality for selected scenarios on selected screens.

Files: Presentation | Mood Board

Final Design

Feedback from mockup pitch was evaluated and used to create the final pitch presentation, process documentation, and design specification.

Files: Final UI Screens | Personas and Scenarios | Design Specification | Final Pitch with Animations

Select where you are, capture a photo and post a rant

See who is following you, commenting on and encouraging your rants

Future of Grumble

People feel better about themselves by looking at others’ miseries. Grumble hopes to become addictive by leveraging people’s desires to feel good about themselves. By allowing them to post, comment and ‘like’ rants, Grumble keeps commuters entertained. As public transportation problems are widespread, Grumble can be scaled up to major cities such as Los Angeles, and accommodate for other means of transportation such as subways and trams.

It can be monetized by building relationships with cab companies and offering discounts on cab rides. It can also be monetized by building relationships with local consumer businesses that are located at bus stops e.g. Starbucks could encourage people to drop by for a quick cappuccino while they wait for the next bus.