Overview
Sandbox is Northeastern's student-led software consultancy. In a previous semester, CarpoolNU was created. The site connects Northeastern students (drivers & riders) who commute to similar locations during their co-ops/internships into carpool groups. As part of the interview to become a UX designer for Sandbox, I was tasked to add a feature.
Understanding the Problem
I began with exploring the existing site, analyzing its features, pain points, and user flow. I really dug into how the old site worked, talked to people about what they loved and hated about it, and understood how users actually moved through it. What jumped out pretty quickly was CarpoolNU was great for connecting students, but it had a pretty big flaw: there was no way to hold users accountable. This led to no-shows, tardiness, and rudeness. Basically, it made it hard for folks to actually trust the platform. There needed to be a system in place to fix that without disrupting the existing user functionalities or CarpoolNU's established branding.
Further Research
User Research
Through user interviews, a clear pattern of frustration due to a lack of accountability was apparent. Users like Sarah, who experienced late drivers, and David, a driver fed up with no-show riders, highlighted the need for a solution. To consolidate these insights, I developed a User Persona to represent a typical CarpoolNU user, outlining their goals and pain points. I then mapped out the User Flow to pinpoint areas where users encountered issues and created a Storyboard to visualize these common frustrations. This research strongly indicated the necessity for features such as cancellation penalties, user ratings, and improved communication tools.
Competitive Analysis
At the same time, I looked at other ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft. I wanted to see what they were doing right, especially when it came to keeping people accountable and making the user experience smooth. I noticed how their rating systems really pushed people to be good, and how their communication tools make it easy for drivers and riders to chat. Plus, their cancellation rules clearly help cut down on those annoying no-shows and last-minute changes. Seeing how these established apps handled things gave me some solid ideas for CarpoolNU.
From Sketch to Structure
Given the tight three-week deadline, my focus was on a key design solution: creating a review system and integrating it with public user profiles. The goal was to boost accountability and build greater user trust.
To visualize these new features, I developed wireframes and lo-fidelity mockups. For inspiration, I looked at how established ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft handle reviews and profiles, adapting their successful approaches to fit the unique context of Sandbox and CarpoolNU.
Design Solution: The Review System & Profile
The idea was simple: let people rate their rides anonymously using a star-rating system and provide written feedback. I also incorporated common tags that users could quickly select to describe their ride experience (ex: "On Time," "Friendly," "Good Driver").
Beyond just reviews, I designed comprehensive public profiles for each user. These profiles would display essential information such as a user's picture, availability, general location, preferred carpooling times, and crucially, their average rating and the most popular tags they had received.
Outcomes
After asking users to use the new prototype, it was great to see how much they liked the review system. They felt it helped keep everyone accountable, and being able to see ratings and sort by them made it much easier to find the best drivers or riders. The fact that reviews were anonymous made people feel more comfortable sharing honest feedback, and having those public profiles added to the feeling of trust and openness when carpooling. I did get feedback on implementing a reminder system. In the future, I would like to implement a notification system with text reminders and updates.
What I Learned
Looking back on my first website redesign, the importance of doing my homework really stands out. Between exploring the current design of the site, reading design blogs, and actually talking to users, I got a much clearer picture of how to make the design better while maintaining the branding. Most importantly, research gave me solid reasons for every design decision I made, which was super handy during my case study interview. It paid off – I'm now a designer at Sandbox!
