3. Design in Daily Life
As members of the March 2020 UX-UI Bootcamp for Ironhack, we were asked to develop exercises and challenges that will allow us to delve into the world we will try to become professionals in. This is the fifth of this series.
What Makes Good Design Good?
Isn’t this the point we should be starting from always?
The goal of this exercise was to dive into the different models, standards, and models which have been applied to design during its relatively short period as a defined discipline. Some of these include
Design has been around since basically the start of humanity, we just didn’t focus on the fact that we’d been doing it until fairly recently. Even our profession, UX, is very young. We have just noticed that it doesn’t matter what we’re designing, we are always creating an experience. And that experience should be as positive as we can make it.
As consumers, we can generally speak about the positive and the negative experiences we’ve had with products or services. But now, looking at it from this perspective, we can really peel these experiences and get to the root of why, and try to use this in our new careers as UX Designers, trying to take the good and avoid the bad. Below are examples of some good and bad UX.
The Good
- BBVA
Throughout my fairly few adulting years, nothing has been the bane of my existence more than Banks. Long lines, Tedious calls, Horribly-designed apps; all to be able to obtain and dispose of money that’s already mine. This all got better with the UX for the BBVA bank. As all good UX, it’s so seamless it simply blends into my day-to-day and I come to rely on it for multiple things.
The experience at the physical locations, whenever I have to go, is simple and easy. They have a good deal of workers that are there to do a particular task. This is also the way the desks and turns are organized. You get in and out. Quick and painless.
But their goal is to keep you out of there as much as possible. They have set up multiple apps across your different needs that again, work perfectly and seamlessly. Any banking task you can think of can be easily done through here. Their hotline reply times are lightning-fast, and they seem to be aware that they are your bank and not the other way around. They also have innovated with the possibility of taking money out of their ATMs without a physical card. Inspired.
They have happily disrupted the archaic banking system most banks are currently stuck in. It’s truly a millennial-friendly experience.
2. Ben & Frank
They are a Mexican brand of Eye and Sunglasses.
Again, a milennial-oriented experience that disrupts the old system.
The process is simple.
Do you need glasses? You can either get your own prescription or go to one of their very nice, minimalistic stores, where an eye-exam can be performed upon walk-in. Once your numbers are in, exactly afterwards, you can place your order with the helpers. The models are there to be chosen, and the sizes, colors, and looks are all perfectly well organized and coded. Their UI is also lovely. If you already had your prescription, you can simply order online. The glasses are shipped either to the location of your choice, or their physical stores for pick-up. You then have a week to decide if you want to keep or return them. Not to mention they are very well-made and extremely affordable. They’ve got my loyalty down.
3. Econduce
Again, a Mexican-based company that has become intrinsic to my daily life in the city.
Their UX is also simple, efficient and elegant.They are an electric motorcycle rental service, not unlike Grin, Bird or Jump. Only with Vespas. The POIs are located around the city and the functionality, usability and service are quite good. I’ve come to rely on them for my source of transport around the city for a while now. They even let you know how much you’ve saved on both Uber, Gas and how you’ve helped the environment. Touches like this always help.
The Bad
- HSBC
Again, I must make reference to the cringe-worthy experience that is banking. Throughout my experience with multiple, despicable institutions, this has been by far the worst.
Where to even begin?
There are literally two of them in the entire city, for starters. And they each have a total of two workers, which are, of course, overworked and underpaid, which makes for terrible customer service. The physical locations are always overcrowded. Their online system is a joke. Their security system is quite breakable and impossible to deal with. Their cards constantly block as well as their app, which you then have to spend an average of 2 hours on the phone to try to get unblocked. Nothing has made me happier than realizing I could use a different bank for payroll and other payments.
2. Beat
I originally used Beat as the only alternative to Uber in Athens. It was already bad there, but they seem to be popular because they started operating earlier than Uber, at least in Greece. They have since brought it to Mexico with not much better results. The app itself is a mess. It’s not intuitive at all, it rarely has drivers available, you are never picked up nor dropped at the right place, and the customer service is non-existent. I have had the opportunity to work with their IT team and the corporate offices. They seem to have everything down, literally, except the UX. Which is, ultimately, the only thing that matters.
3. Postmates
Think of all the small things that make a decent food delivery app service, then throw them out. You’ve now got Postmates. In Mexico City, at least, it was always impossible to get your food. They would either not have enough delivery people, the order would get lost, the app had no option to call the delivery person, and they would charge you anyway. Attempting to get in touch with customer service was a joke, and you would ultimately never end up getting either your money back nor the food you had ordered in the first place. It’s no wonder they went out of service in Mexico.