Trafik: Navigating road chaos with finesse.

I designed this as a solo designer. I was in charge of research, flows, wireframes, UI screens, and all the deliverables needed for a design project.

Trafik is a traffic management app that provides real-time information on traffic conditions to drivers. The app is designed with the idea of a complex algorithm that uses data from various sources, including GPS, traffic cameras, and social media, to provide users with up-to-date information on traffic conditions.

Traffic management is a critical issue for cities and municipalities around the world. With the increasing number of vehicles on the road and the lack of proper infrastructure, traffic congestion is a common problem that affects the daily lives of residents and commuters. Trafik is a management app that was conceived due to this problem and can help alleviate these problems by providing real-time information on traffic conditions and helping drivers make informed decisions about their routes.

To kick things off, I conducted research with people who live in metropolitan cities to gain more understanding of the problems they face concerning traffic. While conducting the research, I discovered the user's pain points. The research drew me into the users’ world and from that I was able to gather insights. The insights gathered are as follows:

Users express a desire for real-time traffic updates, including road closures, accidents, and construction updates.

Users want to be told the most suitable means of transportation on a particular road to avoid wasted time & damage to their automobiles

Users prefer a user-friendly interface, with easy-to-read maps and clear navigation instructions.

Users prefer a user-friendly interface, with easy-to-read maps and clear navigation instructions.

As soon as I understood what the problems were and gathered some insights, I tried to figure out a way to design an app that is easy to navigate and at the same time solve user’s problems. This led me to ask some “how might we” questions.

During this study, I was able to gather some ways which are:

GPS

Traffic cameras

Social media

Update from other drivers

During this study, I was able to gather some ways which are:

Telling them the estimated time a journey might take them

Suggesting alternative routes

Giving directions on unfamiliar roads

This process holistically helped me visualize the project and provided alignment throughout the process of designing this app. It helped me in making informed design decisions that don’t affect users negatively.

One key factor that struck and guided me in this project was a statement made by one of the users I interviewed:

This process made me empathize with users more and aided me in designing a feature that suggests alternative routes for users and informs them of the suitable means of transportation on a particular route.

After synthesizing data from surveys, interviews, and competitive analysis; I proceeded to define a solution hypothesis for each identified problem area. They include:

Create a user-friendly interface that is critical for the success of a traffic management app, as users want to be able to quickly and easily access traffic information.

Keep users informed by telling them the estimated time they will use a particular route and the traffic conditions on the road

Provide alternative routes to users. Provide routes that are faster and better than the ones users are avoiding. Deliverables used to determine better routes are time, road condition, and distance.

Give directions to users who are taking an unfamiliar route. Users can take directions either by a voice assistant or by text. Users can also reroute or scan their area when they get lost.

Suggest a suitable means of transport for users on roads. The condition of a road and the distance will determine the kind of transport means that will be suggested to users

Give real-time traffic updates to users so they can make good travel decisions. Updates can be gotten from fellow drivers or the ones sourced by the app from different means

Allow for community input. Give users the chance to give updates such as reporting accidents and road closures, construction updates, and other up-to-date information. Of course, the information will be vetted before being put up for other users to see.

This is a project I so much enjoyed working on and I hope to keep improving on it.