Myki 2.0

In 2008, Victoria transformed into a bustling hub of trains and buses, fueling Melbourne's reputation as the city that never sleeps. Day or night, public transport keeps the city moving, connecting families, friends, and colleagues across every corner of the network.

The challenge

1 APP 1 MONTH

My objective was simple. Enhance the app’s functionality and usability beyond their competitors & improve existing features.

How?

The foundation of the app is formed into 3 primary points to make it more:

User-friendly
intuitive
Efficient

THE APPROACH

FOCUSING ON GOALS

The objective was to enhance and refine the existing foundation laid by Myki. In order to achieve this, we looked outside the scope of Myki and noted some competitors. We stressed that engaging in a feature parity war was neither strategic, nor had the best interests of the app's users at heart. To differentiate in an already mature and competitive market, I needed to define a desirable role for the app and how it would meet the needs of users. I was thrilled by the opportunity to create something more meaningful.

Aarron Walter's hierarchy of user needs defines basic user needs that interfaces must fulfill before more advanced needs can be addressed.

RESEARCH

I started conducting research on a range of online travel and navigation apps. Along with PTV, I explored Opal, Citymapper, and Moovit.

For journey tracking, I assessed Google Maps, Uber, and Waze.

To expand my perspective, I examined global public transport apps, such as Hyperdia (Japan) and Trainline (Europe).

I interviewed 8 individuals across a broad age range to reflect on population diversity, avoid biases & understand trends across different life stages.

These were some of the memorable responses:

“A simpler design would make navigating the app a lot easier. I find myself making the same errors.”

“A way to message my friends, family and peers. It’s an inconvenience to switch apps.”
“PTV can often seem dangerous, as anyone can board it.”
“It’s like playing a game when entering a carriage. You don’t know if you got lucky.”
“Lack of interaction feedback & engagement.”

DEFINE

WHAT DOES “MYKI” MEAN TO YOU?

This phase allowed us to review the competitor landscape, analyze the insights gathered from user research and clearly define the problem.

My research revealed that myki as a public transportation system represented something different to users. Users' motivations for boarding public transport differed from user-to-user hinting at different requirements.

After designating persona types, I was able to prioritize who I would be focusing on supporting in the early stages. I used personas constantly throughout the project to guide design decisions, priorities, and create empathy amongst the users.

“I used personas throughout the project to guide design decisions, priorities, and create empathy amongst the users.”

My persona hypothesis consisted of 3 different archetypes which I used to facilitate discussions about users needs, desires and varying contexts of use. Through careful analysis of my research, I identified sufficient behavioral variables to segment our user audience. These variables could be categorized into: