QuickOne Rider App UX Design Case Study

Project Overview

The Product
The QuickOne Rider App is a mobile application designed to empower delivery riders within the Kwieki delivery ecosystem. This is specifically tailored for the Nigerian market. The rider app provides tools for accepting and managing delivery orders, navigating to pickup and delivery locations, tracking earnings, and accessing customer support. The app aims to streamline workflows, making deliveries more efficient and enhancing rider experiences in Nigeria’s unique urban and cultural landscape.

Project Duration
January 2023 – June 2023

The Problem
Delivery riders in Nigeria face significant challenges, including inefficient order management systems, difficulty navigating through heavy traffic and complex road networks with informal addresses, lack of transparent earnings tracking, and limited access to real-time support. These issues reduce rider productivity, increase stress, and can negatively impact customer satisfaction. The Kwieki Rider App sought to address these pain points by providing an intuitive, all-in-one solution tailored to the needs of Nigerian riders.

The Goal

• User Goal: Equip riders with a user-friendly app that simplifies order management, offers reliable navigation suited to Nigerian cities, provides clear earnings insights in local currency (Naira), and ensures accessible support in multiple languages, enabling them to focus on delivering efficiently.
• Business Goal: Enhance rider performance and satisfaction to improve delivery times, increase customer satisfaction, and boost rider retention, ultimately strengthening the Kwieki delivery platform’s competitiveness in Nigeria’s growing gig economy.

My Role
As the lead UX designer, I was responsible for the end-to-end design process. This included conducting user research with Nigerian riders, creating personas reflective of the local market, sketching wireframes, developing low- and high-fidelity prototypes, conducting usability studies, ensuring accessibility, and iterating designs based on feedback. I collaborated with stakeholders to align the design with business objectives and prepared assets for development handoff.

Understanding the User

To create a rider-centric app for the Nigerian market, I conducted comprehensive user research to uncover the needs, motivations, and challenges of delivery riders in Nigeria. The research process included:

• Interviews: Conducted one-on-one interviews with 15 delivery riders from Lagos and Abuja to understand their daily workflows, pain points, and desired app features. Questions focused on navigation challenges, earnings transparency, and support accessibility.
• Surveys: Distributed surveys to 100 riders across major Nigerian cities, including Port Harcourt and Ibadan, to quantify common issues and gather broader insights on app preferences and technological familiarity.
• Competitive Analysis: Analyzed rider apps from local competitors like Gokada and Max.ng to identify best practices, such as real-time traffic updates, and opportunities for differentiation, like multilingual support.
• Field Research: Accompanied riders on deliveries in Lagos to observe their interactions with existing apps, noting real-world challenges like navigating informal addresses and managing battery life during long shifts.

User Personas

Based on research, I developed two primary personas to guide the design, reflecting the diversity of Nigerian riders:

User Research Summary

The research revealed that Nigerian riders prioritize efficiency, clarity, and reliability, with particular emphasis on navigation and support due to local challenges. Key pain points included:

• Navigation: Difficulty navigating through congested traffic and locating addresses that may not be formally mapped, often requiring local knowledge or customer phone calls.
• Order Management: Cluttered interfaces that slow down order acceptance and completion, especially during peak hours.
• Earnings Transparency: Lack of detailed, real-time earnings data in Naira, causing uncertainty about deductions or bonuses.
• Support Access: Slow or inaccessible support channels during delivery issues, exacerbated by language barriers or poor network connectivity in some areas.

Problem Statement

Delivery riders in Nigeria need an intuitive, efficient, and reliable mobile app to manage orders, navigate routes effectively in challenging urban environments, track earnings transparently in local currency, and access support promptly in their preferred language, thereby reducing stress and improving performance.

User Journey Map

For Chidi Okeke, a typical delivery journey includes:

1. Logging In: Accessing the app quickly to start the shift, preferably with mobile number or social media login.
2. Viewing Orders: Reviewing available orders with key details (e.g., distance, estimated earnings in Naira).
3. Accepting an Order: Selecting an order with minimal taps to maintain efficiency.
4. Navigating to Pickup: Using integrated maps optimized for Nigerian cities, with real-time traffic updates, to reach the pickup location.
5. Picking Up Order: Confirming pickup with clear instructions, supporting local language options like Yoruba.
6. Navigating to Delivery: Following optimized routes that account for traffic, roadblocks, or informal addresses.
7. Completing Delivery: Marking the order as delivered and viewing earnings instantly.
8. Checking Performance: Reviewing shift earnings and stats to plan future shifts.

Pain points, such as unreliable mapping, language barriers, or battery drain, informed design priorities to ensure a seamless experience.

Starting the Design

Paper Wireframes

I began by sketching paper wireframes to explore the app’s structure, focusing on simplifying the order acceptance process and integrating navigation seamlessly. Special attention was given to local contexts, such as incorporating traffic updates and offline map options to address connectivity issues

Usability Studies and Refining the Design

Usability Study Findings

Two rounds of usability testing with Nigerian riders provided critical insights:

• Round 1:
  • Map Integration: Riders struggled with map accuracy in areas with informal addresses and requested integration with local mapping services or offline maps for poor connectivity zones.
  • Earnings Clarity: The earnings screen needed to display amounts in Naira, including tax deductions, fuel allowances, or other local financial considerations.
  • Registration Process: New riders found registration lengthy, preferring integration with popular local platforms like mobile money accounts (e.g., OPay, Palmpay) or social media logins.
• Round 2:
  • Navigation Flow: Riders wanted quicker access to navigation controls and alternative routes to avoid traffic or roadblocks common in cities like Lagos.
  • Support Access: Users requested a prominent support button with options for local languages like Yoruba, Hausa, or Igbo to address communication barriers.
  • Accessibility: Some riders needed features to accommodate low literacy levels or visual impairments, such as voice-guided navigation.

Design Iterations

Based on feedback, I made the following improvements:

• Enhanced Map Interface: Integrated with local mapping services and provided offline map options for areas with unreliable internet, ensuring riders could navigate effectively.
• Detailed Earnings Screen: Redesigned to include itemized earnings in Naira, with clear indications of deductions, bonuses, and fuel allowances, tailored to local financial practices.
• Streamlined Registration: Added options for registration via mobile money accounts or popular social media platforms in Nigeria, reducing onboarding friction.
• Support Access: Placed a prominent “Support” button on the home screen, offering chat and ticket options in English and major local languages.
• Accessibility Enhancements: Incorporated voice commands in local languages and larger touch targets to accommodate riders with low literacy or those using the app while on the move.

Mockups and High-Fidelity Prototype

The high-fidelity prototype incorporated these changes, featuring a polished visual design with a culturally resonant color palette inspired by Nigerian aesthetics (e.g., green and white from the national flag for success states and headers, orange for actions). Interactive elements, such as buttons and navigation tabs, were refined for intuitiveness. The prototype was prepared for development handoff, with assets organized in Figma (Kwieki Rider Figma). 

Visuals

The following visuals, derived from the provided wireframe designs, illustrate key screens of the Kwieki Rider App:

• Figure 1: Onboarding Screen – Features a streamlined registration process with options for personal information, vehicle details, and document uploads, ensuring a smooth start for new riders:

• Figure 2: Map View – Displays an integrated map with real-time traffic updates, rider location, and delivery points, optimized for navigation in Nigerian cities.

• Figure 3: Earnings Dashboard – Provides a detailed breakdown of earnings in Naira, including total earnings, completed deliveries, and withdrawal options.

• Figure 4: Support Interface – Offers quick access to support through chat and FAQ sections, with multilingual options to cater to diverse riders.

These visuals are part of the comprehensive design and are available in the Figma file for a detailed review.

Accessibility Considerations

Recognizing the diverse user base in Nigeria, including riders with varying literacy levels and those operating in dynamic environments, accessibility was a priority:

• Multilingual Support: Provided options for English and major local languages (Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo) to cater to riders with different language proficiencies, ensuring inclusivity.
• Voice Commands: Enabled hands-free operation in local languages for accepting orders, starting navigation, and marking deliveries, ideal for riders on the move.
• High-Contrast Mode: Used high-contrast colors (e.g., green on white) to ensure visibility in bright sunlight or low-light conditions common in Nigeria.
• Large Touch Targets: Designed buttons and interactive elements to be easily tapped, even with gloves or in a hurry, accommodating riders’ on-the-go usage.
• Audio Feedback: Provided audio cues for notifications (e.g., new orders, navigation prompts) to reduce visual dependency, supporting riders with visual impairments or low literacy.

These features were tested with riders of varying abilities to ensure inclusivity, drawing inspiration from accessibility best practices observed in similar apps.

Going Forward

Takeaways

The Kwieki Rider App project highlighted the importance of contextualizing design solutions to fit local markets like Nigeria. Key lessons include:

• Local User Research: Understanding specific challenges, such as traffic congestion and informal addressing systems, is crucial for effective design.
• Cultural Sensitivity: Incorporating local languages, payment methods, and aesthetics enhances user adoption and satisfaction.
• Accessibility: Designing for diverse abilities and literacy levels ensures broader usability, making the app accessible to a wider rider base.

Next Steps

Future iterations will focus on:

• Conducting usability studies with a larger, more diverse rider group across additional Nigerian cities like Kano and Enugu to validate design improvements.
• Exploring advanced features like AI-driven route optimization that accounts for real-time traffic data and road conditions.
• Integrating with local payment gateways (e.g., Paystack, Flutterwave) for seamless earnings withdrawals.
• Monitoring post-launch feedback to identify new pain points and opportunities for enhancement.

Conclusion

The QuickOne Rider App design demonstrates my ability to adapt UX design principles to emerging markets, addressing unique challenges faced by gig economy workers in Nigeria. The result is a robust, intuitive tool that empowers riders to perform efficiently and with greater satisfaction, contributing to the Kwieki delivery ecosystem’s success in Nigeria’s competitive market.

For a detailed view of the design process and final prototypes, explore the Figma file (QuickOne rider app Figma).