POV Statements: Design from understanding

As I explore different points of views on apps, and form POV statements, I chose 3 different apps from 3 different industries to work with: Bank of America, Spotify, and Uber Eats all in that order. “A Point Of view (POV) is a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner. Your POV captures your design vision by defining the RIGHT challenge to address in the ideation sessions. A POV involves reframing a design challenge into an actionable problem statement. (Rikke Friis Dam & Yu Siang Teo)

App 1: Bank of America mobile

Positive comments

• “The App is fine and works as well as you’d expect. It gives you the answers to questions the bank wants you to ask”.

• “I’ve used all the banks in my area and finally decided to trey BOA about 4 years ago. I’m so glad I did. The app is my brick and mortar bank now”.

• “I like the convenience of the mobile app. Especially when I don’t want to go out to deposit a check”.

Negative comments

• “The new Bill Pay section is poorly designed trash that has ruined the app experience. Not only is it ugly, it does a poor job of visually integrating with the rest of the app. BOA has definitely taken steps backwards with this update”.

• “I have banked with BOA for over 20 years. The BillPay system was great. It made my life easier.  – I am now looking at other bank systems. Their policies have ruined the best bank payment system”.

• “Hate it. Your app never seems to work. Every time I go to open it, it no longer recognizes my user ID or password”.

Suggestive comments

• “I am not sure why the notification button has to be out on its own on the upper left side of the screen”.

• “There are two things about this app that I would change if I could. 1: It would be easier if recent payment information was listed under each payee when you are in the online bill pay screen in the app. 2. I wish I did not have a monthly mobile deposit limit”.

• “I think it’s a little dated to think you can’t change your due date with the app. Shockingly enough, you can’t even do this in the online account”.

2 POV statements

• Users need the Bill Pay system to go back to the way it was before the latest update, because it was convenient for them as end users and they dislike the new system for that specific feature.

• Although convenient for many people, users need the app to function correctly without glitching because having crashes and glitches ruins the user experience no matter how well designed it may be.

From these comments we can see that the new update for the Bank of America app was not that popular, and that allowing for ease of use and older (yet popular) features would greatly benefit the UX and development teams in terms of app popularity and reception.

App 2: Spotify

Positive comments

• “All I can say is this app is positively amazing”.

• “I love this app so much. I use it every day almost constantly. It always works for me and has all the music I want”.

• “I immediately fell in love with this app when I got it! The pros of this app are that the large variety of songs and artists are spectacular”.

Negative comments

• “I’ve been a premium user for at least 5 years, almost 10 probably, but this new update is enough to make me want to switch platforms if it’s not fixed”.

• “I think the idea of the app was spot on. I think the execution was terrible. The app is up to date and on top of these songs but is a pain to work with”.

• “The queueing system is really buggy and causes headaches”.

Suggestive comments

• “Love the app. I love the algorithm. I love how easy it is to discover new music. But I don’t like how the home screen triggers my OCD. It feels cluttered and unorganized”.

• “I love this app. So much music is available, you can download for offline listening – However I really wish is could take a lead out of Windows Media Player’s book and figure out the whole temporary playlist/que thing”.

• “This app is very easy to use and, obviously, the content is fantastic. I would give it 5 stars if not for one significant problem: the app’s inability to effectively control shuffle mode and repeat mode”.

2 POV statements

• Users really love this app, but it needs to not be so limiting in certain functions such as options for playing songs and playlists.

• As great as the app is, Users need the app to work properly, and easier to use when on different plans or free plans because right now it is very confusing.

The popularity of the Spotify app is never one would consider in question. The app is however difficult to navigate and use for beginners and from the data gathered, it seems that a more simplified UI with additional options for playing music would be ideal for users.

App 3: Uber Eats

Positive comments

• “Like the regular Uber car service, your experience with Uber Eats will mostly vary with the quality of driver you get. I like the fact that I can see where my driver is so that I can meet them out front so that the dogs don’t go crazy when the doorbell rings”.

• “Uber Eats is my favorite app, whether I’m ordering food at home in Miami, or to my hotel in Bangkok Thailand, I can always rely on Uber Eats to find me good, fresh made lunch & dinner”.

• “I have ordered from Uber Eats about 7 times now. I have ordered full hot dinners, gourmet burgers, desserts, ice cream. – Happy customer”.

Negative comments

• “If you are hungry, do not use this app. I have had problems in one form or another with every single one of my orders”.

• “The app itself is honestly trash it has the same bugs it had months ago, and I can’t even use it anymore”.

• “The map on the app is not accurate either. It would say the driver is down the block, and the indicated driver would be there for a good 20 mins sitting down the block”.

Suggestive comments

• “The biggest problem I have with the app is when you open it, it does not default to your current location”.

• “The app usually leaves the address from the last place you ordered from; I disagree with this”.

• “I wish the company trained their staff to understand sometimes it’s best to take a short-term loss for a long-term gain with retaining customers”.

2 POV statements

• Users expect customer service for an app that deals with food delivery because of the logistics involved and the errors that could be made.

• While the app is very popular and has many satisfied customers. Users need to understand that service may vary from restaurant to restaurant and driver to driver because while Uber Eats may have a strong service, it works with other services that may not have the same service standards.

Uber Eats is one of those hit and miss apps when it comes to user experience, but the most interesting idea from the data collected suggest that if customers/users understand that Uber Eats is not the only company at play here and that errors can and will happen, it will allow consumers to view the service differently as long as customer care is of the highest quality.