The Megabus mobile app saves time and money for the tech savvy, low-frills customer that likes to take ground bus transportation to travel short distances across states. It gives the convenience of online reservations of making faster travel decisions and without having to visit the desktop site while on the go. My role was to research, design and test the UIs related to the project. I designed, developed and tested with live potential users to launch this project.

I learned about the process of creating an iOS app and all the logistics that go into designing from user personals, wireframes, and making use of resourceful design templates to improve the user experience. Mobile app design is pretty fun!

During the research process of learning about wireframes, I realized how important it is to keep the customer in mind and was genuinely surprised at how each decision to add or take away something had to be intentional. This was crucial in testing the usability because I wanted my tester to feel confident in completing the task without distraction or ambiguity in the design elements and features.

The most challenging part of this project was to not completely dive into the design or final steps right away, as my favorite part of the process.  I’m glad I took myself through the process of discovering how to create a better user experience from the ground up, as it helped me waste less time designing things that may not have made sense, or been necessary to come up with for the task at hand.

I measured the success of the product by replicating the original Megabus app screens with help of the InVision website app and testing the experience with the new and improved app experience I created. Testers used 50% less time than the original version to complete the same task and averaged more positive reaction through statements like “this is much easier since I don’t have to scroll through the options” and “the color palette made the experience more directed to a customer like me”.

Though I worked alone on this process, I enjoyed bringing the experience of bring the design to life with making decisions about what to iterate on each screen and then testing the designs and feedback on users. The snug feedback loop helped me rethink the ambiguity of some designs and it felt great to hear how confident each user was to complete the task and comment on the details.