Summary of My Role
I served as lead researcher and later interaction designer for DAT's mobile app redesign project. I partnered with Concrete's head of design to translate research insights into an improved trucker experience and a new unified app experience that would combine DAT's three separate trucker apps into one cohesive platform.
Research Objectives:
Understanding Current Mobile Usage Learn how owner-operator truckers currently use smartphones during their workday, identifying both helpful features and missed opportunities.
Mapping Information Networks Understand how truckers share information with each other and what sources they trust for different types of decisions.
Route Planning Behaviors Investigate how truckers plan their stops and evaluate locations for fuel, rest, weigh stations, and other necessities.
Research Activities:
- Competitive Analysis Evaluated existing trucker-focused apps to identify market gaps and potential opportunities.
- Field Research at Truck Stops Conducted guerrilla research sessions with truckers at their workplaces, involving DAT team members to build organizational empathy.
- In-Depth Interviews Carried out structured phone and in-person interviews with truckers about their app usage and daily needs.
- Design Validation Created and tested storyboards and interactive wireframes with truckers to validate new feature concepts.
Project Challenges:
Challenge 1: Finding and Recruiting Owner-Operator Truckers
Challenge 2: Bridging the Gap Between Current Apps and Trucker Needs
Key Contributions
Demonstrate Trucker’s Search Problem
This diagram from the final presentation demonstrates the gap between what truckers are currently being shown in apps, and what actually matters to them in making decisions.
Understanding Trucker Decision-Making
Created a simple but powerful diagram showing how truckers actually make fuel decisions, challenging common assumptions about their needs.
Design:
Developed new information architecture organizing features around trucker intent rather than location categories. (See an early wireframe of the feature below.)
Created an intelligent location-based search that considers truck routes and direction of travel, ensuring truckers only see relevant results along their path. (See early sketch of the feature below.)
Want to know more? Shoot me an email at uxnoah@gmail.com, or schedule a time with me here.