why

Driving has been one of my favorite activities since I first got my learner’s permit. There’s nothing more freeing than getting into the car with no destination, and just driving. When I moved from my hometown in Vermont to Colorado to get my Master’s degree, I suddenly didn’t have my favorite quiet back roads to visit. I had to explore my new city, and it got me thinking about how I could learn about Colorado from the automotive enthusiast community around me. While there’s nothing better than finding a great new road yourself, sharing your knowledge of the perfect, quiet stretch of asphalt is pretty great too.

With driving and automobiles being near and dear to my heart, it was especially important to remove myself from the process. I needed to be objective and cater to the needs of my audience, rather than my own needs.

what

This app is designed to help both new arrivals and longtime residents of different areas find new fun roads to drive. When I made the cross-country move to Colorado, I left behind all the roads I had cataloged in my mind, and had to begin anew, exploring one canyon or back road at a time. However, with the sheer abundance of paved roads around me, it has been a slow process. The realization that I could leverage the knowledge of fellow car enthusiasts gave birth to my UX and visual design study, “DriveMap.”

Fans of auto racing will recognize the color palette used in this design: Pantone 291C and 165C - better known as Gulf Racing’s colors. The freedom afforded to me by this project made it the obvious choice. A subtle callback to all the famous vehicles that have worn that livery would be appreciated by any auto enthusiast.

how

My design process began by asking several fellow car enthusiasts how they found their favorite driving roads, if and how they currently saved the routes, and what features they would use in a driving-focused app. Several suggested music integrations, ratings systems, a space to post photos of the road, and more. After evaluating possibilities, I decided that a private roads library, a sharing area, an exploratory map, and a profile tab would provide the most cohesive and understandable interface. Stretch goals like music recommendations and more social features would come later.

After defining the needs of my car enthusiast friends, I began sketching my ideas for layouts and designs. Several ideations landed me on a more defined wireframe, which I then turned into a more concrete mid-fidelity wireframe. I used this wireframe to get feedback from my users and helped me fine tune my designs. Finally, I produced a prototype in Adobe Xd to give my users a chance to directly interface with my app, and further ideate on my design.

learnings

While designing this app, the potential for distracted driving was always in the forefront of my mind. Building technology for use around or relating to cars is a practice fraught with pitfalls and dangerous decisions. It’s important for designers to evaluate and understand the environments their products will be used in, and change their strategies accordingly. In the case of DriveMap, I knew users might be tempted to use their phones while driving. By integrating Google Maps navigation and giving the user data and information upfront, I hoped to minimize this distraction. By eliminating the need to check back on the data, or look at the map (in favor of voice-based directions), the user should be less inclined to physically handle their device. Finally, once arrived at the desired road, the app reminds the user of why they use the app in the first place: to drive.