Explored opportunities for leveraging app to connect gig workers on a digital platform
project
Graduate Media Design Practices Thesis
Scope
September 2020–May 2021
Role
UX Researcher
Deliverables
Use Case Scenario Video, Mockups, Website, 3D Design, Character Design
Mockup
Mockup Features
Campaign
Social Media Mockup
Website Mockup
Research Objective:
Map key stakeholders in the Ride-hail industry and recognize levers to influence driver behavior change to improve financial accessibility.
Project Challenge:
How might we design a digital service to drive better incentives for drivers to track profitability?
Methodology:
Human Centered Design Research
Design Process:
Insights from ethnography research methods were used to inform design concepts and the different design approaches were validated with stakeholders during contextual inquiry sessions.
Stages of the Project:
Ethnographic Research:
Research was conducted with key stakeholders: drivers and riders using contextual inquiry.
I observed users in their environment to understand their activities, what tools they use in their daily work and how they interact with these tools.
This framework informed the analysis and made the research more meaningful than conducting in-depth interviews.
Research Area:
Summary of final data
Data Collection and Synthesis
Understanding the Use of Tools:
Below is a spectrum of digital tools used in ride-hail and the objectives of their use.
Gig-Economy Ecosystem
Research Synthesis : Analyzing Insights
Insights were collected and documented with quotes and organized into four categories.
Profitable ride
Fuel costs
Full time driver
Part-time driver
Insights:
Lack of features within Uber driver app to track and manage costs, leads to uninformed ride decisions to be profitable.
Gig workers resist the apps gamified algorithm through oppositional play, known as Surge.
Gig workers lack a community platform to share insights, strategies, and experiences to unlock income and work together.
Research Synthesis : Emerging Themes
After collating the qualitative data, key themes emerged. Themes relevant to the research objective and problem statement were prioritized to be presented as the voice of the stakeholders.
Co-creation workshop with stakeholders
Research Synthesis: Persona Profile
Synthesized research into key personas, to highlight goals, aspirations, frustrations, motivations, experience levers and discovered initial opportunity areas for digital service touch points.
Journey Map
Opportunity
In an unorganized Ride-hail ecosystem, drivers incur large operating costs and are under-compensated for the long hours of work and low incentive. Apart from estimates, there is no standardized way to measure ride profitability and fuel consumption and incentivize drivers for their work.
Combining digital tools could be utilized to improve decisions and communication channels for oppositional play using Surge.
With better insights, strategies, and experiences, drivers could outsmart gig companies to unlock potential income.
Design Principles
Concept Storyboards:
Concept Storyboards Using "What-If" Scenarios—Collective Power: Airport use-case scenario
Evaluative Research: Concept Speed Dating
Flowchart:
Wireflow
Lo-Fidelity Wireframe
Reflections
What new questions did this project unearth for you?
What would it mean for designers to support a community-based pedagogy of AI/ML design? Could it encourage acts of collective power?
What you might explore further in the future?
When I started working on this thesis, my goal was to enable Rideshare drivers to understand their earnings better so that they can navigate through challenging situations related to their profit with confidence and feel empowered through self-awareness and knowledge.
Through my research, I learned that these limitations are a result of the gap between the needs of Rideshare drivers and the capabilities of gig worker tracking tools and crowd-sourcing.
Finding Common Ground
I learned that when working collaboratively with different knowledge areas it is easy to have conflicting views. It is when both parties understand each other’s perspective, are they able to find a common ground resolve to a solution.
Conducting interviews
The more interviews I conducted, the more I learned how to ask specific questions and have a level of control with moderation.