We start with an "I'm Feeling Lucky Card," which embodies the original vision I had for what Rive could be when I first embarked on designing it. This card- which provides all relevant information for feeling comfortable with a place without actually knowing what it is- is key to bringing this concept to life. I'll talk more about this a bit later.
If the user isn't feeling quite so lucky, a swipe left or tap of the X button brings the next card in the stack into view. The user can now tap this card for details, swipe it left to keep looking for places, or swipe right to call an Uber immediately without leaving Rive.
This interaction flow solves what I perceive to be a key problem with location discovery services. By bringing the focus to binding decision making, I hope to guide users toward great new experiences they may have never tried otherwise.
UX Development Process
Original concepts for Rive focused heavily on taking the user somewhere cool without telling the user where he or she would be going until arrival. In addition, technological limitations meant the user would have to navigate there as well!
Whenever I tested the idea with friends, family, and others, the response was generally the same. It contained a mix of "Wow, that sounds really cool!" and "Wow, that sounds absolutely terrifying!" These comments general leaned more heavily in one direction than the other.
At first, I brushed these complaints aside. "They just don't get it," I'd tell myself. But the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a problem I could work to fix rather than ignore- while still fulfilling my original goal of empowering people to make quick decisions to try new places.
Over time, new developments in other areas of experience design- namely context curation and stacks of actionable options- emerged. With these I saw a great opportunity to empower the user to make quick decisions themselves without trusting Rive blindly. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" card was icing on the cake- bringing the fun and excitement of a surprise location while providing relevant information and additional options for the more conservative user.
Finally, the Uber API came out this Fall and solved the final issue of navigation. As a college student without a car, Uber has come in handy for getting around Los Angeles with friends on countless occasions. In addition, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" card, which is likely to make users apprehensive, becomes much less nerve-racking if someone else is taking care of transportation. Of course, I plan to also provide Google Maps integration for those who have the means to drive themselves. With direct integration of these services into Rive, the entire experience can be seamlessly fulfilled in just a few taps.
Conclusion
Though Rive still has a long way to go before release, and will certainly see plenty of further tweaking, I'm thrilled to have iterated so consistently on the design before diving deep into development. The new flow makes for what I believe to be an amazing and novel experience for checking out new places, and I can't wait until we have an Alpha release ready to go. In addition, there are a few ideas from the original Rive concept- like hints along the way for I'm Feeling Lucky and price/distance control- that I'd like to find ways to work in here as well. Expect lots of news throughout 2016!
Icon resources modified from thenounproject.com