SL App: GPS & Travel Improvements
Commuting should be predictable — navigating it shouldn’t be stressful. Through user research, this project identifies pain points in the SL app and proposes three design concepts to improve GPS navigation, live updates, and route prioritization, making travel more reliable and user-friendly.
Background
This project examines the user experience of the SL app, focusing on making commuting more reliable, intuitive, and stress-free. Through interviews and analysis, key pain points were identified in navigation, GPS, and route planning. Based on these insights, we developed concepts to enhance real-time positioning, live updates, and route prioritization for everyday users.
Visual Process
User Research
The team for this project conducted interviews with four regular commuters (young adults in Stockholm) and analyzed the data thematically, complemented by a simplified user journey map.
Pain Points
Key pain points emerged in three areas:
Reliability: Bugs, crashes, slow loading, and inconsistent real-time updates.
Navigation: Difficulty finding efficient routes, incomplete map information, unclear walking directions, and lack of guidance within stations.
Cost: High ticket prices and limited flexible options.
User needs
From these pain points, four key user needs emerged: reliable app performance, clear navigation, flexible route planning, and affordable, adaptable ticketing. Addressing these needs guided the design concepts developed to improve everyday commuting in the SL app.
Design Solutions
Based on the identified user needs, we developed three core design solutions: an improved GPS function with real-time positioning and illustrated walking paths, live updates and push notifications for delays and disruptions, and enhanced route filtering and prioritization to match user preferences. Together, these solutions aim to make commuting more intuitive, predictable, and stress-free.
Wireframing
As part of this project, I was responsible for developing the GPS function. I created wireframes illustrating real-time positioning, walking paths, and optimal train boarding guidance.
These wireframes allowed the team to visualize how users would interact with the app during their commute and directly informed the refinement of the GPS concept.
Current Version
Improved version
Illustrated walking path
Real-time positioning
Train guidance
Next Steps
The GPS improvements and wireframes are yet to be turned into prototype and tested with users to validate usability and effectiveness in real commuting scenarios.
Tools/Role/time
Tools:
Figma, Miro, Google Docs
Role:
Conducting user research and responsible for developing the GPS function, including wireframes and concept refinement
Time:
Project conducted over 3 weeks as part of a user-centered design study on the SL app.