Ola App Redesign
Challenge
To take an application I use every day, list pain points and find design solutions. I chose Ola — a popular ride-sharing and booking app that I use almost every day.
For the last 4 years I have been using the app, the design hasn’t changed much. This should be a strong enough reason for me to redesign it to make it better in my own way.
Goals
The experience should be seamless, simple and accessible for users. Obviously. Not to say the Ola app isn’t any of those now, however, I think more emphasis is needed on those parameters.
Pain Points
Mobile Reachability
Mobile devices nowadays are different from the desktop/laptop in terms of screen size and usability. 60–70% of people use just one hand to access their mobile. We can humanly stretch and reach the screen with our fingers only to a certain space on the screen. So its always a good idea for primary buttons to be placed at the bottom or at the top right corner of the screen.
Looking at the Ola app, the location search bar is placed all the way at the top of the screen, which is hard to reach if you are a one-hand user. Also, especially for users with small hands trying to reach to the top with their thumb could be exasperating. Uber must have thought of this and made a recent change in their home screen design with the location search bar placed at the center of the screen — closer to the thumb.
Driver feedback popup before every ride
Driver feedback should be asked the moment a ride ends, not when the user is trying to book a ride next, which could be few days after by which time the user will not be bothered to leave a honest feedback.
Fare details
In the current Ola design, fare details are visible only when you select a particular mode of vehicle and have to return to change your choice to find out a different fare for a different vehicle. I have tried to solve this issue in my design.
Who is riding
In the case of a user trying to book a ride for someone else, the majority of us book a ride and share the screenshot to share driver, vehicle number and OTP details. Even though Ola has a feature where we can book ride for someone in our contacts, this feature is not made apparent to the user. I have tried to rectify this issue in my design.
Confirmation
Not everything that is beautiful is always well-thought-out. The ride confirmation screen in the current Ola design is cluttered to say the least. Users might find it difficult to understand the many details, especially the OTP, which is normally confused with the vehicle number (both being 4 digit numbers). I have uncluttered the screen and gave the OTP more prominence.
Either the user can set their OTP like banking pins or OTP should be visible only when the vehicle is few meters away.
Conclusion
My intention was not to write a UX review on the Ola app design. I merely enjoy the process of redesigning established products and exploring new ideas.
