Designers
Scholz & Volkmer GmbH
Year
2021
Category
Product
Country
Germany
Three questions to the team
What was the particular challenge in the project from a UX point of view?
Apart from actually implementing the functions, the biggest challenge is to give the app its own character. Users should enjoy opening and using the app and not see it as a tool or collection of functions. From our point of view, the most important ingredients are: the ease of use, absence of unnecessary features, comprehensibility and a clear yet emotional design – users should feel that the app was designed with attention to detail. An important physical part of the UX is also the in-house development of the QR code price tag, which is fully integrated into the app to allow payment with kilometres.
What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha! moment, was there a low point?
Our highlight was the basic idea not to display the app's status and information in a technoid way using status indicators or error messages, but to provide the information via an animated character. The cyclist icon welcomes the user, waits for him, prompts him, looks at the map when he leaves the campaign area and hops over cats lying in the way just for fun. The app therefore has a face – a "character". Many users have reported back to us that every time the app waves at them it puts them in a good mood. From the first animation mock-ups onwards, we knew that THIS is what makes the app unique.
Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
The app is very popular and is being rolled out to more and more cities. Along the way, we'll ensure that it remains easy to use, while providing it with more added value. A big topic at the moment is citizen science, which involves many citizens voluntarily contributing their personal data to generate knowledge that benefits everyone: Where are bike hotspots? Where are the danger spots? Where are bike lanes missing? With the consent of the users, this can become another powerful building block for increasing the use and meaningfulness of the app.
