Category
Product Design
Client
Royal Mail
Products
App - Research, Wireframe, Mockups, Prototypes
As parcel delivery gradually becomes Royal Mail’s main business focus, today’s posties couldn’t complete their loops without a PDA (Postal Digital Assistant).
Despite staying active by walking over 15,000 steps each day, exploring the UI of my PDA to identify usability challenges has been an oddly fun way for me, as a postie, to relieve the stress of tackling the never-ending piles of post each day.
Problems
Research
Current UI of the Delivery App
1
Scan Routes
Scan route barcodes to download delivery and collection routes details for the day before delivering.
Thoughts
It is not immediately clear that the delivery and collection route fields require scanning the route barcodes. This lack of clarity can disrupt the post sorting workflow. 90% of the newcomers I worked with had no clue what to do when they're on this page.
2
Scan a Parcel
Postbox collections, displayed in the top half of the page, are part of the daily routine for posties.
Thoughts
The space being occupied by this list which is not very useful for the majority of posties could be better utilised for other important information or functionalities.
"Parcel collections" are important piece of information because they change daily. Posties need to check them each day and cannot afford to miss any. Currently, due to the challenge of viewing all collections at once, many posties resort to writing the information down on paper, which is inefficient and prone to errors.
3
Change Parcel Status
The 4 small icons on the left of the parcel details box inform posties whether the parcel requires a photograph or a signature and whether it can be left in a safe place or with a neighbour.
Thoughts
Some of the icons could be refined for better clarity, ensuring that users can easily understand their meanings and reducing confusions.
4
Select "No Answer"
Delivery statuses can be changed via a pop-up menu that appears by tapping on the parcel details box.
Thoughts
The accordion design on the pop-up menu is confusing for users. Nearly 50% of the posties interviewed found it difficult and frustrating to change the delivery status using this menu, both initially and even after years of use. One of them noted that this was primarily due to it being displayed with purely text and lacking visual aids.
5
Confirm Delivery
Delivery can be confirmed by tapping on one of the "delivery options" at the bottom.
Thoughts
Arranging action buttons in a grid layout increases user's cognitive load. The layout lacks a clear visual hierarchy, making it hard to prioritise actions or understand the relationship between buttons. There is also no straightforward way to select a “fail to deliver” status.
6
Read Instructions and Proceed
A delivery instructions and things to note page will appear for every delivery that requires a photo.
Thoughts
Having too many steps in a flow may overwhelm users by making the process feel cumbersome. Users may also struggle to find their way back or forward through many screens when trying to make changes. Such repeating information could be displayed in better ways to simplify the flow.
8
Submit the Photo
A small photo review box is alright for users to check the composition of the photo, but difficult to tell them if the photo is blurry due to it camera shake or being out of focus.
Thoughts
A small photo review is useful for showing the composition of the image, but it can be difficult to determine if the photo is blurry due to camera shake or being out of focus, which gives an unprofessional impression to customers.
Scan Buttons
Solution
I have come up with a set of user stories that are a combination of the existing functions and newly defined solutions to address pain points based on my research.
A quick wireframing ensures acceptance criteria are fully met and provides a solid idea of the initial layouts that address the pain points gathered.
Below is a mid-fidelity prototype that integrates the concept aimed at addressing pain points and fullfilling the user stories.
