The Tesla mobile app redesign solo project for the location and schedule feature aims to enhance the user experience of the existing functionality. The project will involve extensive research on user needs and preferences, as well as prototyping and testing to ensure that the new feature meets the desired usability and efficiency standards. The redesigned location and schedule feature is expected to be implemented onto the Tesla mobile app in the near future, providing an improved experience for users on both iOS and Android devices.
It started from a friend of mine told me that she has experienced problems while searching for EV charging stations. She downloaded numerous applications to search for available stations.
To discover how prevalent the issue was to other users and how might we help for a better experience.
My three goals were:
I put a questionnaire on reddit in a Tesla group and gathered 15 total responses. This survey was conducted using Qualtrics. The format combined both choices and write-in questions, both of which were useful in different ways. The short questions allowed designers to measure data objectively and the written areas allowed participants to vocalize their thoughts on a more personal level.
I observed three participant individually finding charger. Afterward, a 30-minute focus group discussion took place to gather valuable insights into the participants' pain points, goals, and thoughts. The drivers also talked about features such as vent display, charging stats, and customer service connection could be improved.
To explore and understand the pain points more, I looked at (as shown below) the reviews about features concerned on app store and google play store.
100% of users from surveys and interviews use other application to find EV charging stations.
People experienced frustration specifically in schedule feature(charge/departure) for various schedule in a week
Since the interface was based on the original one, only certain features were modified. It became the start of a fun but complex time to build the system to make it cohesive! Therefore, users do not need to spend more time to get themself used to the new interface.
By adding orange location indicates the EV charging stations also put the distance in orders (the first one will be the nearest to the car)
The current schedule feature for departure and charge can only set one clock time to all week or weekdays, but it is inconvenient for users who do not have a regular schedule. Also, every single time you plug in, it keeps defaulting to the first option instead of the second one to begin charging after a certain time. For those users, who have different schedules every single day, they need flexible schedule settings. Therefore, I redesigned the settings to have users set their schedule every single day, and they can also repeat the schedule for a certain day.
It became the start of a fun but complex time! Since the interface was not changed according to the original one, only certain features were modified. Therefore, the overall interface and experience for users has to be similar, so that they do not need to spend more time to get themself used to the new interface.
Once I had finished visual design and creating a prototype, it was time to put my design to the test. I sought out to do usability testing with two main objectives with 5 users in total
100% of users feel positive about the redesign after iterations.
60% failed completing the task before iterations for the schedule feature.
80% felt confused what orange the location icon means when they first see them on the map.
Through many iterations, reviews, and a lot of pixel pushing, I finally came to the prototype(screens) that presented below.
This project grew more complex the further I got along into it. The idea had started off simple enough but with one feature to focus on, then more feedbacks from users that I talked to. I cycled through many ideas of how I could make the experience better. After usability testing, I even restructured the schedule feature. Testing and feedback from users really helped bring this project to the next level.
Designing for consistency: I learned the importance of coming up with a common language and documenting component specifications. Having consistency for a brand's application is vital.
A living library: A design system needs constant development, maintenance and improvement. The biggest challenge has been to maintain one 'source of truth', and to keep the design library and components in sync.
Thank you for reading this case study! If you’re interested, feel free to check out my other projects below
