Applying the UX Design Sprint for a Land Transport Mobile App

The Project Brief

The task involved identifying problems and opportunities within the existing MyTransport.SG mobile application. A design sprint was applied, a fast paced and time constrained five-phase process used to define goals, generate ideas, and build an interactive prototype for testing within five days. This approach enabled a rapid progression through the understand, ideate, decide, prototype, and test stages in a single week.

About MyTransport.SG

MyTransport.SG was developed by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore, a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport responsible for leading land transport developments in the country. The mobile application provides information and e-services for all land transport users, including real-time bus arrival timings.

Design Sprint, a process of ideating and solving the big challenge by prototypes and testing with the participants within five days.

Map

Noting Down the Shared Feedback

The sprint began with an "Ask the Experts" session to gather insights from team members and identify potential problems with the product. Current users were analyzed, and new target audience groups were proposed. Finally, the future vision of the product was explored, considering what it could look like in two years and what an ideal scenario would be.

Each team member wrote notes beginning with "How might we ..." to shift perspectives and transform problems into opportunities. Once all HMW notes were compiled, the team voted to select one HMW to focus on for the Design Sprint. The decider was allocated five votes, while the remaining members each had three votes.

What is a big problem?

The HMW with the most votes was:

HMW help foreigners/ travellers navigate around Singapore.

A voting tree was created by organizing all the selected HMWs hierarchically, with the highest-voted items at the top. This approach helped identify the most important challenge to focus on.

Voting Tree

Aspiration in 2 years time

Next, a Long-term Goal was defined by considering where the product should be two years from now. To achieve this goal, several sprint questions were developed. The facilitator then set a five-minute timer for voting, with the decider's vote marked in orange.

In 2 years time ...

The Long term goal with the most votes was:

The app will be the number one choice for foreigners and travellers, and able to reflect all the necessary pricing and information.

Long Term Goals

Figuring Out the Biggest Challenges

Each team member listed two sprint questions, and the group collectively voted to select three. The facilitator allocated ten minutes for writing down 2-3 sprint questions, while voting was limited to only five minutes.

How Can We Fail?

The sprint questions, mainly focusing on traveller and tourists were:

• Can we ... include an auto translation tool for foreigners?
• Can we ... link up with tourism board to come up with tourist spot and interesting stories to catch tourists' attention?
• Can we ... have accurate pricing on bus fares/mrt fares/ERPs?

Sprint Questions

Choosing the Target from a Map

Finally, probable user flows consisting of 5 to 15 steps were mapped out to illustrate how different user groups interact with the product. At the beginning of the map, the key "Actors" involved in the user journey were listed. These actors represent the primary customers of the product, including Tourists, Expats, Local Commuters, and Foreign Helpers and Migrant Workers.

The HMW notes were then matched to the corresponding steps within the user flow. Reviewing the Long-term Goal, Sprint Questions, User Map, and HMW notes, the decider selected a target user and the associated user flow on the map.

The selected user flow focused on the Tourist, who was identified as the target user.

Design Sprint Map

With this focus in mind, the team proceeded to the sketching phase.

Sketch

Finding the Inspiration in a Flash

Each team member was given three minutes to share one to three products considered inspiring examples for learning, conducted remotely due to the COVID-19 situation. Ideas were gathered from digital products such as Airbnb, Citymapper, Google Maps, Spotify, and SG Buses.

Lightning Demos

While reviewing these examples, several notable features and insights were recorded as potential ideas for adoption. The following list highlights the inspirations identified by the team.

Ideas and Inspirations

Tangible Ideas

Part 1 — The next 15 minutes were dedicated to note-taking. Referencing the Long-term Goal and Sprint Questions, team members documented their favorite Lightning Demos presented earlier, allowing ideas to flow freely.

Part 2 — The idea generation phase began with 20 minutes of doodling. Based on the notes previously taken, each team member selected one feature to explore and started sketching their ideas.

Part 3 — The tempo then shifted to the Crazy 8 exercise. Each team member selected one idea to focus on and expanded it by sketching eight variations within eight minutes. The activity encouraged rapid creativity, with everyone working against the brief time limit.

Part 4 — Finally, the process moved to the 3 Step Concept. Each team member was given 45 minutes to prepare three A4 sheets for sketches, showcasing the best ideas developed during Crazy 8. Annotations were added alongside the sketches to ensure clarity, and a catchy title was placed at the top to capture the team's attention.

Example of a 3 Step Concept

And it was time to make decisions.

Decide

Heat-Map

• With the sprint questions in mind, each concept was reviewed, and interest was indicated by voting on the ideas deemed most valuable to pursue. Additionally, each concept was further developed by adding extra ideas and features alongside the sketches.

Speed Critique

• Ideas receiving the highest votes were highlighted, and the facilitator quickly presented each concept along with the central idea behind the sketches. The facilitator also addressed any concerns or questions raised by team members.


• The facilitator also inquired whether any votes were cast for reasons different from those explained or if there were additional considerations behind votes that had not yet been discussed.

Straw Poll

• In this section, each team member received one blue dot, while the Decider was allocated three. Each member cast their blue dot vote on the concept considered the strongest and provided a brief explanation on sticky notes beside the sketches. The Decider then determined how to allocate their votes.

Supervotes

• The Decider was allocated six Supervotes (green dots). Sketches receiving the Supervotes were selected as winners. The prototype was then planned around these ideas and prepared for testing.

What were chosen?

The Decider eventually selected a revamped homepage featuring additional transport options such as Bicycle, Walk, LRT, Ferry, and an Explore function. New pages, including Recommended Attractions, were also added. The team planned to display estimated travel fares to destinations on the map and explore adding a map in the Bus section to guide users to the nearest bus stop.

Prototype

Preparing the Storyboard

The prototype ultimately included a feature for searching places of interest. Recommended attractions were provided to assist users who had not yet chosen a destination. It also offered real-time traffic notifications.

Tourists could read reviews of various attractions and view travel prices to multiple locations on the map, based on their preferred mode of transportation. Multiple route options to the selected destination were displayed and suggested. Once the journey began, the user's location was updated in real time to provide accurate directions.

Initial Sketches on Storyboard

Converting them into Realistic Screens

At this stage, the initial sketches were transformed into ten realistic, higher-fidelity screens. These screens were then uploaded and linked in MarvelApp to enable interactive navigation between them.

Test

Outcome of the User Test

Before engaging users to test the prototype, an internal trial was conducted to ensure that icons, arrows, attraction locations, and other content remained consistent throughout the design. Once this review was completed, the prototype was ready for user testing.

For the testing phase, the 5-Act Interview method was applied. The process began with a friendly welcome, followed by light conversation to better understand each participant. The prototype was then introduced, and participants were asked to complete specific tasks. The session concluded with a debrief to capture their thoughts and impressions of the product.

Participant feedback was recorded on sticky notes and categorized into negative and positive comments, using orange and green post-its respectively.

Analysis of the collected data revealed several patterns:

• Participants were uncertain about the purpose of the NEW icon. Although the feature was well received, many suggested improvements to make it more intuitive.
• Participants appreciated the Explore function, describing it as useful for discovering Singapore and nearby attractions.
• The yellow arrow used as the Call-to-Action to begin the journey was unclear to participants.
• Participants appreciated the feature that allows them to read reviews of various attractions.
• Participants also suggested including real-time traffic news in the prototype.

Looking Back at our Long Term Goal

In 2 years time, the app will be the number one choice for foreigners and travellers, and able to reflect all the necessary pricing and information.

The review concluded that the prototype successfully captured the key criteria, including essential transport information and pricing. Reviews from other travelers were also incorporated to provide additional context. However, further improvements could enhance the design and simplify routing options. Additionally, offering multiple language options could better serve non-English speaking foreigners and travelers.

Upon completion of testing, the Decider opted to make minor amendments to the prototype while retaining the core content. Moving forward, the feedback could inform a subsequent design sprint to develop a second iteration of the prototype for another round of user testing.

Conclusion

Within a short span of five days, the design sprint facilitated the identification of a problem to address and the creation of a testable prototype to gather feedback from potential users. The fast-paced activities promoted continuous action, keeping the team agile and ensuring steady progress.

Throughout the sprint, a multitude of ideas were generated and debated. The team's diversity contributed to a broad range of design possibilities during discussions. The strength of a design sprint lies in the ability to quickly create and test ideas. Delivering an interactive prototype for user testing within four days provided rapid insights into which concepts resonated with users and which did not. If a proposed solution proved unsuccessful, significant development time and effort could be avoided, allowing focus to shift to other potential ideas.

Takeaway

The design sprint emphasized the importance of remaining flexible and not becoming overly attached to initial ideas, as solutions may evolve or transform entirely during the process. Although intense, the time pressure generated focus and urgency in addressing the original problem.

Decisions were guided by multiple voting sessions, ensuring a democratic approach and preventing prolonged deliberation that could hinder progress. In an era of rapidly changing consumer demands, acting quickly to meet users' needs is essential.