March 2021 -
June 2021
IoT
App Design
Client:
Nitin Dua
Anup Cheruvathoor
Akash Mittal
Agency:
Venky Hariharan
Isra Safawi
Jenya Singh
Vinay Arora
Project Lead
Research
UX Design
Figma
Qubo creates IoT devices powered by advanced artificial intelligence in order to make lives better. Having worked with the team previously to create an app for their smart home products, this time we were tasked with designing an app for their new vehicle tracking device.
Launching in 2022!
In the initial phase of the engagement, my team and I spent time studying apps in competing spaces. We looked at direct competitors and also did analogous studies. By learning about the features these apps provide, noticing the patterns and evaluating how they differentiate themselves, we were able to gather a lot of insights.
We also spent a great deal of time reading reviews of the apps on the Play Store and App Store. This helped us get insights on what users are saying about the apps directly; understanding the reasons they either liked or disliked an app.
01
Effective Colour Palette
The use of orange as an accent color provides a feeling of courage, confidence, friendliness, and energy; reflecting the purpose of a workout app successfully.
02
Smart Statistics
The app promotes personal progress with bold statements. They provide the user with all their achievements over a specific time period. This helps motivate the user and visualise their journey.
03
Community Building
Strava’s community encourages users to perform various outdoor activities and suggested routes/workouts helps user interest up in the game.
01
Designing for Scale
Uber's presence is in over 10,000 cities all over the world. In order to keep the brand language consistent across all their LOBs and communication, they have built a very sophisticated design system that is simple, clear, and effective.
02
Focus on Safety
A focus on the privacy of the user and driver safety at every stage. The in-app emergency button can be used to call and get help if required. The app displays the location and trip details, so the user can quickly share them with authorities.
03
Share Trips
Users can set up Trusted Contacts and create reminders to share their trip status with friends and family in real time.
01
Information is Crisp and to the Point
Since all relevant data is shown where needed, the screen looks clean and decreases any clutter that might distract a user. Not only does it make the information present coherent, it allows a user to check only what they need while overlooking other thing.
02
Subscriptions are not Pushed
The app experience counts on luring the user towards a subscription plan rather than forcing them to pay for premium features. This small detail gives the semblance of an uncluttered and uncrowded experience.
03
Dedicated Safety Tab
Since the application is a family tracking app, having a separate tab for all safety features adds to the experience of the app and promotes the feeling of safety.
01
App that Stands Out
Through a fresh approach on the UI design, Matchpoint has managed to create a unique and memorable app. They have challenged the status quo with catchy copy, unique colours and fonts, resulting in a higher brand recall value.
02
Focus on Sharing
Information throughout the app is easy to share with people and across devices. Users can share the status of their vehicle rides, the summary reports, complete (or view only) access to the app.
03
Comprehensive Vehicle Profile
Matchpoint allows the user to input a lot of details about the vehicles they own. An interesting differentiator is the ability to upload documents. This means you can access your license, insurance papers and get reminders when it’s time to do a PUC.
01
Option to Email Value Reports
The app allows the user to schedule and email themselves and others’ reports of the statistics of the vehicle on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to keep a track of the values.
02
Distinguished Categories of Tracking
The app allows the users to select between different types of tracking modes, i.e. track all relevant items, only track users added to groups, or only track vehicles.
03
A Dedicated ‘Discover’ Page
This allows increased visibility and discoverability of features that can be at times hidden in the app and such helps the user experience the entirety of the benefits they can receive.
Flashtag AR
By Dulomo LLC
01
Connecting People in New Ways
Everyone is familiar with the concept of laser tag, but who knew that you all you needed to play was your iPhone. The developers managed to think about the phone in a new way that provides for an extremely joyful experience.
01
Poor Marketing
I found this app only after doing deep research in the realm of AR apps. It is made by a small team of developers who may not have much budget for advertising. However, it is important for them to come up with some kind of strategy for more people to find out about it.
02
Haptic Feedback
Everytime you shoot, get shot, or die, there is some form of haptic feedback. This is particularly helpful because in the middle of an active game in low light, it becomes diffficult to keep track of text on the phone. Haptic and audio feedback provides for a more authentic and successful experience.
02
In Game Progress
While haptic and audio feedback does give you an indicator of how you are playing, there are other key points of data, such as ammo and health that are not highlighted clearly enough.
03
New Way of Seeing
This app uses the iPhone as a tool to help people complete their tasks. When in active game mode, the screen assists people by removing focus from uneccessary objects in the environment and highlights the other user’s points.
03
Success Feedback
Once a game is completed, the celebratory animation is underwhelming and doesn’t match the fidelity of the rest of the app. There could be more cohesion amongst the two.
Primary Audience
Families & New Car Owners
Secondary Audience
Fleet Owners
Inspired by Uber, Google, and Any.do, this moodboard aims to be modern and familiar in its visual language. It boasts a breathable and minimal look with a flat, and 2D scheme. Round corners and smooth shadows are used to soften an otherwise stark look. We created three different directions for the moodboard and spent most time evaluating the colour of the map for optimal readability.
The colour palette was derived on the basis of the product's positioning. The primary target audience was women and families. So we created a pleasant and balanced palette with the use of solids and gradients.
We chose the typefaces based on readability and approachability of content. We wanted the text to seem friendly and trustworthy.
We used an icon set from Iconly that we felt was best in line with the positioning of the app to support the visual language.
Asking the Hard Questions
The Qubo team came to us with a Product Requirements Document that listed all the features they wanted. Before they had decided their target audience, they had already planned what the app would require. My team and I did our best to communicate the importance of research and insights in order to inform product decisions and were able to create a more successful final product.
Don't Underestimate Organisation
This was the first time I lead a project of this type and scale. The deadlines were tight and the client was demanding. In order to make sure that my team's efforts were well spent, I made and closely followed a Project Plan. It helped me realign with the client when timelines were pushed and allowed my team to successfully deliver the project in time.
Leveraging Team's Strengths
Working with new people requires adapting. Understanding every individual's strengths and interests was the first thing I addressed. I tried my best to create an open and safe environment for my team and wanted them to be excited and challenged throughout the journey, so that we may be proud of our outcome and celebrate collectively once it's over.
Hello! I'd like to personally thank you for stopping by my little corner of the internet, I hope you enjoyed your stay. I thought it might look cool if I had some fine print here at the bottom of the page. Ok, bye. Isra Safawi © 2022
