Product Design Case Study
Swap Station's Mapping App
App do Piloto (Pilot's App)
Product name
16 months
Duration
Interaction and Visual Design, and Research
Role
Context
From February 2020 to September 2024, I worked at Origem Motos Elétricas as a multitasking designer across various areas. The company pioneered electric motorcycle manufacturing in Brazil, renting motorcycles for different types of professional use, supported by a vast network of battery-swapping stations throughout Brasília.
This Case Study covers the collaborative process to develop the company's first mobile app.
Project Overview
This project was developed following the company's quality policies, with a strong focus on scalability and maximum efficiency. The process was guided by a Product Manager, ensuring alignment with the stakeholders' interests and maintaining a clear strategic direction throughout the development stages.
Alongside the rapid expansion of the battery swap station network, the lack of available batteries at key locations created significant challenges in closing new contracts.
Additionally, the internally developed batteries required a continuous rotation system to ensure even distribution across stations. However, this practice proved to be nonexistent in the current operation.
The key operational problems identified were:
How can we ensure product quality for both riders (end users) and managers (companies)?
How can we make the riders' daily operations, which rely on battery swaps, more efficient?
How can we encourage balanced use of different stations to meet the rotation needs of the batteries?
The Problem
The objectives of this product were defined through an intensive process of knowledge-sharing and collaboration across multiple departments within the company. A digital product solution emerged as the most strategic and practical approach to address the identified challenges effectively.
Within the project scope, we envisioned an app designed for riders with the following key goals:
Enhance riders' interaction with the battery swap station network, improving day-to-day operational efficiency.
Increase battery rotation across available stations to optimize resource utilization.
Elevate the perceived value of the service, delivering higher operational quality and reliability.
The Goal
I primarily contributed to this project as a Visual and Interaction Designer, focusing on creating seamless user experiences and intuitive interfaces. Additionally, I conducted user research, including secondary research and usability testing, to ensure the product met user needs effectively.
Given the multidisciplinary nature of the project, I also collaborated closely with the software and engineering teams, contributing to system improvements and aligning design solutions with technical requirements.
My Role
Research
With an always-active operation, we continuously received user feedback—both from end-users (riders) and secondary users (managers). These insights served as the starting point for understanding the underlying problem.
The most frequent complaint centered around the lack of available batteries at specific swap stations. A natural behavioral pattern emerged: most riders operating within a given area tended to frequent the same station repeatedly.
The reasons behind this behavior were unclear and potentially multifaceted. Our initial hypothesis was that the location of stations in high-traffic areas influenced this tendency. However, this assumption alone wasn’t sufficient to fully comprehend the issue.
Foundational Research
During this phase, I conducted secondary research, diving into urban planning and architecture literature. I came across the Theory of the Dérive—a concept that explains how individuals navigating urban spaces actively reshape the city through their routines, despite pre-planned urban designs.
This theory suggests that people naturally seek shortcuts and optimized routes to overcome physical barriers and streamline their daily routines. While the theory is deeply complex, one key takeaway stood out:
Riders are driven to favor certain stations if doing so offers tangible benefits, such as finishing their day earlier or completing more deliveries in the same time frame.
While location plays a role, we realized that user intent is dynamic and can be influenced through strategic design interventions. This insight became the foundation for exploring how we could intentionally shape station usage behavior to improve battery rotation and operational efficiency.
Key insights
Behavioral Patterns: Riders naturally gravitate towards specific stations based on convenience, not just location.
Dynamic Intent: User behavior is influenced by perceived efficiency gains, such as time saved or increased productivity.
Strategic Opportunity: It’s possible to guide rider behavior towards balanced station usage through intelligent design interventions.
With a technical workshop located at our headquarters, we frequently had riders visiting during work hours for routine maintenance and technical support. This setting provided an ideal opportunity for me and the Product Manager to interact with them, gathering direct feedback on this and other recurring issues.
These interactions were conducted in a casual and conversational manner, avoiding rigid scripts or formal interviews. Instead of traditional documentation, we relied on digital boards on Notion (which, unfortunately, are no longer accessible) to organize and visualize recurring complaints and observations shared by the riders.
User Research
Through this process, we began mapping patterns and identifying key pain points from the riders' perspective. This collective feedback became the foundation for aligning our findings with stakeholders, ensuring that the voice of the user was central to the discussions moving forward.
Once we had enough material to cross-reference with stakeholder insights, we shifted our focus to brainstorming sessions to explore actionable solutions in the next phase of the project.
Key insights
Continuous Feedback Loop: The opportunity for frequent and direct feedback from riders, facilitated by their regular visits to our workshop, provided valuable insights into recurring pain points and authentic user experiences.
Centralized Documentation: Digital boards on Notion became the primary tool for organizing and cross-referencing user insights.
Stakeholder Alignment: Feedback collected directly from users served as validation material for aligning strategic decisions with stakeholders.
Design
With the problems clearly defined, multiple teams began working on technical and operational solutions. As the Design Lead, I was responsible for overseeing the creation of user interfaces and interaction flows.
Our team focused on developing a consistent and scalable interface, ensuring seamless user interactions across the product. Additionally, several design assets and deliverables produced during this phase were successfully repurposed across other disciplines, enhancing collaboration and consistency across teams.
Through the creation of visual storyboards, we built coherent usage scenarios that illustrated how riders would interact with the battery swap stations. This approach not only facilitated a better understanding of user needs but also highlighted key opportunities for problem-solving.
A significant insight emerged during this phase: the app's role extends beyond the station experience itself. Even before interacting with the station or the motorcycle, the app should act as the primary interface for accessing relevant information about the network.
This realization prompted the software engineering team to prioritize building real-time integration systems. Their goal was to minimize latency between database responses and the app, ensuring a smoother and more responsive user experience for the riders.
Storyboards
We began by categorizing features into three groups: "crucial," "important," and "optional." This prioritization provided a clear foundation for decision-making throughout the design process.
Using these insights, I developed a series of wireframes to facilitate discussions with the Product Manager regarding the layout and application of the proposed solutions.
These wireframes served as the structural blueprint for the high-fidelity prototype, which would later be used in usability testing to validate design decisions and refine user interactions.
Wireframes
Usability testing
The usability tests were conducted in Brasília, Brazil, where the company’s headquarters is located. The participants were registered riders from our clients, all of whom worked in delivery services, operating both day and night shifts exclusively on the company’s electric motorcycles.
The chosen methodology was a moderated in-person usability test, where participants received simple tasks and prompts. The primary goal was to understand:
How riders reasoned through using the app.
How their interaction patterns compared with other navigation apps.
What motivated their choice of specific battery swap stations over others.
A total of 11 riders participated in the study, and their interactions with the app were observed and recorded.
Methodology
Many riders showed familiarity with the app's logic even before performing specific tasks, validating the core concept of the product.
Certain interface elements proved to be redundant. Riders largely ignored them, as they didn’t rely on those features to perform their tasks.
This was a clear case of "over-engineering"—where excessive information was added in an attempt to prevent any doubts during use.
These findings played a crucial role in refining the proposed design, leading to significant improvements and even inspiring new features.
Findings
One standout outcome from the usability testing was the "Battery Reservation" feature, a decision made by stakeholders after carefully analyzing the collected data.
Purpose of the Feature:
Enable riders to plan their routes more effectively.
Reduce reliance on unpredictable station availability.
Increase operational efficiency by reducing congestion at high-demand stations.
While the feature required additional effort from all teams, it was strategically justified by its potential to:
Ease congestion at critical battery swap points.
Significantly improve daily operational flow for both riders and managers.
Key Outcome
Design refining
The insights from user research, combined with the findings from usability testing, allowed us to reframe the entire problem statement. This deeper understanding revealed how user and manager pain points overlapped with the company’s operational challenges during the expansion of the battery swap network.
With this clarity, we focused on addressing the core issues that would deliver the most value for both users and the business.
Navigation Integration:
The app does not need to provide navigation routes to the swap stations, as riders prefer using familiar tools like Google Maps or Waze.
Station List Simplification:
While listing swap stations is valuable, excessive information can overwhelm users.
Displaying distances between stations was deemed unnecessary, as most riders are already familiar with the regions they operate in and can estimate travel times intuitively.
Key Design Adjustments
Battery Availability Signaling:
Beyond enabling battery reservations, it became clear that real-time availability indicators are crucial.
Riders need a quick and clear visual overview of station availability to make on-the-go decisions without depending on pre-booking.
This feature supports a more fluid user experience, allowing riders to quickly identify less busy stations and optimize their routes accordingly.
Accessible Communication:
Riders exhibited varied literacy levels, often skewing lower.
This insight emphasized the need for clear, simplified language throughout the app.
We actively avoided technical jargon and reduced unnecessary content to minimize cognitive load and ensure information is easily digestible.
These improvements were systematically integrated into the final design, which I then prepared for handoff to the software engineering team.
The entire design system was built and maintained collaboratively in Figma, where I provided:
Atomic components, designed for scalability and reusability.
Well-documented parameters, ensuring clarity and efficiency for developers during implementation.
This collaborative workflow ensured a smooth transition from design to development, aligning both teams toward a shared vision of the final product.
Final Design Implementation
The app's first official release took place at the end of 2023. Adoption was gradual, led by the operations team, who took on the responsibility of informing both existing and new riders about the app’s launch.
Launching the app
This project was a source of pride for all of us, whether directly involved or not. I gained countless valuable insights throughout the process.
The adoption of the app as the primary source of information for battery swap stations was a highly successful process. Continuous feedback from riders allowed us to iterate effectively, and by the end of its lifecycle, over 90% of riders actively used the app.
Unfortunately, Origem Motos Elétricas ceased operations in October 2024. However, this outcome was unrelated to the app or the operational processes, both executed with excellence by a talented, multidisciplinary team.
Impact
During its active period, the app delivered tangible improvements:
Delivery efficiency increased by approximately 10% per month, enabling riders to optimize their routes and productivity.
Battery rotation across the network reached an average of 70%, marking a 30% improvement within two months of the app’s full release.
We estimate that these results could have been even more impactful had the company continued operating.
Key Learnings
With years of experience in digital graphic design, this project marked my first deep dive into designing for a complex product ecosystem. It was an incredible opportunity to refine my critical thinking, prototyping, and problem-solving skills.
I discovered a genuine passion for interaction design, particularly in creating intuitive and user-friendly interfaces. This became one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling aspects of my role in this project.
Skill Development
The project involved multiple teams across the company, and this cross-functional collaboration was crucial to its accelerated development process.
Working closely with experts from diverse fields allowed me to grow professionally, gain new perspectives, and contribute with my own expertise. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to share knowledge and learn from others throughout the journey.
Collaboration
This project provided me with my first hands-on experience in user and product research. Direct interaction with riders during usability testing was a transformative experience, teaching me valuable lessons about interview techniques, data collection, and analysis.
Research Skills
Let's work together!
Have questions or a project in mind? I’d love to discuss how thoughtful design can make a difference. Reach out, and let’s create something impactful together.
contact@eduoliveiradesigner.com
+55 61 993 066 300
Brasília, Brazil.
