Goal

The focus of this project was to provide users with a convenient way to get their kids to school that works for their schedule. The app needed to be flexible and easy to use so that parents can join carpools without a hassle.
The number one priority was the safety of the children. The app must make the users feel that it is secure and trustworthy, and live up to those expectations.

Challenges

• Safety barriers need to be in place to protect sensitive information.
• Designs must be equitable and accessible.
• Develop an in-app culture that encourages safety and protection.

Competitive Audit

Research began by look into apps other carpool apps that shared the same target users as my app. By reading the reviews of those apps I learned which demographics would need to be represented in my personas, as well as what other app’s were lacking.

From this I created three personas to represent each user’s situation/demographic.

Pain Points

My research also revealed these pain points in the competitor’s apps.

Other apps...

• Do not consider the number of seats available in a carpool.
• Do not show a list of carpools the user has joined.
• Do not let you refine results based on schedule, or individual child.

All of these pain points would be addressed in my final prototype.

Paper Wireframes

User Flow

My initial user flow for creating a new carpool. The final app does not include the ability to search a school before getting to the create carpool form.

Low Fidelity

While the final homepage will be heavily iterated on, the core idea is the same. However, the other pages remain true to their final designs.

Design Iterations

First iteration

Second iteration

Final iteration

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Breakthrough

A major breakthrough point for me was designing the card customization. I was struggling with feelings of insecurity with my designs. I felt that they were too bland and amateur.

I came up with many designs for the card’s, and not all made the cut. I altered the color palettes for clarity and consistency several times until I felt it would be interesting but not distracting from the information. The addition of these cards took the Homepage from dull to vibrant.

This is the final component set, with 7 color choices, and 5 patterns:

Final Prototype

The final result was a comprehensive carpool app that allowed users to create or join carpools, and communicate with drivers or passengers through an in-app messaging system.
Safety features:

1. sensitive information like addresses, or phone numbers are hidden unless the user has approved for you to view it
2. in app messaging system allows parents to coordinate meet ups with drivers and passengers

Carpools can be viewed on the homepage, and results can be refined by schedule, school, or individual child. Users manage their carpools in one place with ease, making leaving carpools or deleting carpools simple. Top bar allows users to reach the notification center, messages, profile, create a carpool, or return to home from anywhere in the app.
Notification center tells drivers or passengers of any changes to carpools, as well as new messages, and information access requests.

This was my first design project ever. I learned everything about figma and design from creating this app. It taught me the whole design process, begin to end. It also gave me confidence and experience with designing, which is priceless.
It was deeply satisfying to see the final product after all my hard work. I really enjoyed brainstorming all the possibilities and needs of my users, and then getting to bring my ideas into reality. My app got bigger and more thorough as I went along and it was a lot of fun.
What I learned:

1. How to establish trust with users
2. Ways to pretect information with design features
3. How to fit a lot of information into a small space
4. All the steps of the design process, from beginning to end
5. Most importantly, how to use Figma!