Overview
Project Goal: Improve the experience of applying for a California driver’s license
Platform/Format: Mobile webapp
Primary Methods: Persona building, journey mapping, wireframing, paper prototyping, in-person interviewing and user testing
Details: Researched and produced as part of a team with two other UX design students for UI Design course at UC Berkeley Extension
Simple is best
Transforming an opaque, manual process into a seamless mobile experience
Addressing Multiple Personas’ Needs
In our research, the most commonly expressed pain points for DMV applicants were the volume and complexity of paperwork and the amount of time spent at the DMV offices. Throughout the development process, we had to balance ease of use for the applicant with the quality of data required by a government agency while also considering privacy and security. When mapping our users’ journey through our improved application process, we were very specific about what is asked of the applicant at each step of the process. This allowed us to present a less daunting, chunked interface while still collecting information necessary for the DMV to process the application.
We also made every attempt to mitigate the amount of time spent at the actual DMV offices. While certain tasks could not be done remotely (such a behind the wheel test), others were able to be moved to our web app to save users a visit to the DMV. We took a technical leap of faith in assuming that document submission could happen securely and accurately through a smartphone. This slightly futurist conceit enabled us to progress applicants from the very beginning of the process all the way to their first in person test without ever setting foot in a DMV office. Our models for this type of automated document reader was found in the check-reading ATMs that can process information in a standardized format while also taking reasonable safeguards against fraud.
Detailing app-enabled actions (gold), in-person tasks (grey) and backend DMV processes (blue) in our task flow document. Click for full version.
A quicker way to verify your identity with the DMV.
Taking the Design for a Spin
Hearing about testers’ real-life DMV experiences and watching them get hands on with our prototype.
For all of our planning, drafting and surmising, the true test of our design came during our in-person user testing sessions. We gathered three different groups to try out a paper prototype of our design. All testers had had recent interactions with the DMV office and the licensing process, and during preliminary interviews they confirmed many of our original suppositions about the frustrating nature of interacting with the DMV.
Beyond just being useful, prototyping and testing was also very fun and rewarding. We received validation of our concept and elicited joy and surprise with certain features of the app. Getting people to imagine that a better interaction with the DMV could be possible left both my team and the testers with a feeling of optimism.
We had lots of valuable takeaways about where our testers devoted their focus and which parts of the process could be made clearer or more direct. Honoring and evaluating their feedback helped us feel confident in our design decisions as we brought our design around to a final prototype.
Final Result
For our final presentation, our team produced this video highlighting the speed and ease of use of our design. Tackling a difficult and opaque process such as a DMV application was a great challenge and we were very happy with the results. We hope to see something like it implemented someday to make all our lives a little easier!