Chuno
NI Public Transport App
Project Completed
May 2023
Task and Planning
My final year university task was a project that was entirely up to me to ideate, design and prototype from the ground up. I decided to produce a working prototype of an all-in-one public transport application for both locals and tourists in Northern Ireland.
Ideation and Research
A simple brainstorming exercise was used to gather quick ideas for a project that could help people in a specific way. Some ideas that were jotted down were a day trip planner for tourists, an AR room planner for people with disabilities, a public transport app that improves upon Translink’s existing application and a dating app that aligns people with regards to their music taste. These ideas were presented in class and as a group they decided I should move forward with the improved public transport app.
My research began with providing a survey on public transport in NI to gather information of how many people use it regularly, what they think are good and bad things about it and what would they improve. I gathered these results and produced a user empathy map to have a visual representation of the user’s main issues with PT. This led me to look at our local apps and websites in NI and gather user reviews for Translink’s mLink app. I produced a priority matrix based on the negative reviews and conducted that the main issues with the app were due to poor UX design.
Afterwards, I produced a user journey map of a tourist wanting to only use public transport when visiting the country and concluded with the main pain points of frustration being the planning on Translink’s apps and websites. Finally, I applied the SCAMPER method to the current mLink app to demonstrate what needs refined or kept in regard to a public transport app. Other types of research used in this stage was finding articles related to electric vehicles, climate change and the current state of public transport in Northern Ireland.
Sketching
The sketching process included drawing up various wireframe concepts of each screen needed for the app. A user flow diagram was produced to get a sense of the journey the user would take to go from the home screen to a purchased ticket. I wanted it to be as smooth and quick as possible. After some iterations, I was pleased with the results of the sketches as now i could begin the digital design process on Figma.
Digital Design
The digital design was designed and developed via Figma, and constraints were used to allow a free-flowing map in the background while the user could interact and tap on buses, trains, and stops. I wanted the ticket screens to be on a single screen as to not confuse the user during the purchasing process and keep it smooth and simple. The prototyping stage used over 120 constraints and nearly 200 screens to make the app work and function properly. I was very pleased with the outcome and was happy to present my work at the end of the semester.
Challenges Faced
The biggest challenged i faced was during the digital design stage. Originally, I didn't use a real time map of Belfast to showcase the app but realised during the process that the outcome would not look as professional and aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped. This led me to produce a real interactive map in Figma. Another challenge was the branding, specifically the naming process. I had several names to choose from, and eventually landed on Chuno, a rough mix of Irish phonetics to mean ‘to go towards’. On reflection, if I had more time, I would’ve created a different name and logo.
Final Design
