Bolt Walks

Highlights

Conducted user interviews with a focus on understanding women's safety concerns in the context of nightlife.

Developed a low-fidelity prototype for a mobile app feature using Figma, adhering to Bolt’s existing style guide.

Did prototype user testing and received constructive feedback that led to refinement of our concept.

Reflected on security issues and built a solution prioritizing user safety from the ground up.

Explored video storytelling and audio production for an engaging project video that conveyed the concept clearly.

Context

Tallinn, Estonia, is known for its vibrant nightlife. However, like many cities worldwide, it faces challenges with personal safety, especially for women who often feel vulnerable when navigating the streets late at night. Public transportation options, such as night buses, have been shown to be insufficient for providing a complete solution to this problem. Our challenge was to address this gap.

The Problem

Women in Tallinn's nightlife face various safety risks when traveling alone, particularly after bars and clubs close. With the unavailability of safe transportation options like Bolt rides, many women resort to walking home, which is associated with heightened concerns about personal safety. Additionally, the fear of being alone and vulnerable when walking through poorly lit or empty streets is common.

Solution

Safer Routes and Real-Time Ride Alerts: Our solution revolves around an add-on feature for the Bolt app. The key components of the solution include:

Safer Route Calculation: The app calculates the safest routes for walking home, prioritizing well-lit and crowded streets to minimize the feeling of isolation.

Ride Notifications: As users walk, they will receive notifications of nearby available Bolt drivers, allowing them to seamlessly transition to a ride if desired.

Optional Location Sharing: To provide a sense of community, users have the option to share their approximate location with others nearby, giving them peace of mind that they are not alone.

Design Process

We conducted interviews with three women in two different nightlife areas to understand their safety concerns and needs when traveling home at night. The insights from these interviews helped shape our solution.

We started with broad brainstorming, generating ideas like a night bus voting system, a buddy system for shared rides, and smart wearables for distress signals. Many were dropped due to security risks, scalability issues, or reliance on user behavior changes. A key realization was that security needed to be built in from the start. This led us to focus on enhancing nighttime mobility through safer walking routes, real-time ride availability alerts, and an optional feature to estimate the number of nearby users for a sense of security.

Using Figma and adhering to Bolt's existing style guide, we developed a low-fidelity prototype. This prototype aimed to showcase the core functionality of our concept, focusing on clear navigation and intuitive use.

We tested the prototype with a few users to gather feedback and validate the concepts. Concerns about privacy and security were raised, leading us to refine the optional location-sharing feature to ensure it didn’t expose users to potential risks.

Retrospective

What Went Well:

Security Considerations: I'm proud of how we prioritized security from the start of the project. It wasn’t just a feature added later—it was central to our design thinking.

Future Improvements:

More Iteration and Testing: Our prototype was rushed due to time limitations. More testing and iterations would have allowed us to perfect the user experience and address potential usability issues.

Broader Testing: While we conducted interviews with a few women, expanding our user testing group to a larger and more diverse sample would provide further insights and help fine-tune the final concept.

Conclusion

This project has been a journey of learning and growth. I’m proud of the impact our design concept could have on the safety of women in Tallinn’s nightlife. While there were challenges, especially around personal growth and team dynamics, I’ve gained valuable skills in design, prototyping, and project management. In the future, I hope to explore more social good projects and continue to develop my technical and soft skills to tackle real-world problems.