Didi Share Bike Hub
DiDi Bike is a shared bike rental company operates over 5,800 bikes and 600 docking stations in Beijing. In a competitive market, user engagement is crucial for success. This case study examines how enhancing city exploration can drive DiDi Bike’s growth.
This project was created for DiDi's 8-week Innovation Challenge, aiming to drive user growth, but how? What’s the focus point? The kickoff was full of unknowns—no requirements, no details, just a prompt. I tackled the challenge solo and ultimately won 2nd place out of 32 participating teams - Excellent Project Award 🏆.
8 Weeks
Solo Product Designer
Solo Project
Innovation Challenge
Mobile Design
Designed the new feature
to an existing product
The Problem
Biking in historical city areas like Beijing offers freedom from parking hassles and traffic congestion, easy access to distant landmarks, and exploration at your own pace.
However, city explorers like me struggle with planning, finding hidden gems, and personalizing routes.
I came to wonder, how can we enhance the biking experience to make city exploration more flexible, personalized and unforgettable?
Discovery
Starting with my own experience, I saw the unsolved needs in city exploring. But is this real? Knowing I needed to validate my observations, I sought more data. With this business goal in mind, I explored different directions through my discovery research, reading industry reports, and sending out 64 surveys.
Research showed strong market demand for city exploration but low brand loyalty.
This was the "aha" moment where I saw the opportunity: city exploring offers vast growth potential for DiDi Bike. Addressing the specific needs of city explorers can help DiDi stand out in the market.
User Painpoints
To better understand city explorers' challenges, I conducted nine interviews and created a user journey map. This map identifies key moments that need improvement and highlights design opportunities to enhance the experience.
1
Planning Puzzle
Newcomers or outsiders to a city struggle to research attractions, discover routes, and create personalized itineraries, especially when seeking unique, hidden spots known mostly through word-of-mouth.
2
Distracted Riding
Frequent app switching for navigation and photos taking while cycling raises safety concerns.
3
Lack of Flexibility
If users wish to stop and explore, they are compelled to find a new bike, which disrupts their route and hinders their ability to explore the city at their own pace.
4
Sharing Struggle
Users cannot save or share their discovered interesting attractions with friends.
Story Map
I envision a new shared bike riding experience tailored for city explorers. This innovation aims to seamlessly transform city exploration into an engaging and shareable adventure, catering especially to adventurous Gen Z users.
Site Map
The sitemap is based on the new story map and organizes the three key task flows that the high-fidelity prototype will focus on:
1. Finding exploration route recommendations
2. Navigation and temporary parking during riding
3. Sharing.
The sitemap framework and the user insights collected so far will guide future design decisions.
Iterations Highlights
The challenge of working as a solo designer is making design decisions without team feedback. Involving users at every stage allows me to make confident, user-centered decisions.
Armed with rough sketches and a clear information map, I quickly experimented with different UI layouts and user flows. Initial concept testing with 5 users showed their quick understanding and excitement for using DiDi Bikes for city exploration. This feedback validated my design direction and gave me the confidence to iterate further.
However, they had different opinions on the route editing and sharing flow, making me question whether to include the route intercept feature.
Design A: No Route Intercept Feature
Pros:
Quick and easy process for publishing routes.
Cons:
A lengthy route may discourage other users
who don't want to ride too long.
✅ Design B: Include Route Intercept Feature
Pros:
Concise routes highlight the most exciting routes and help users hide their private addresses.
Cons:
More steps that may be cumbersome
for user to publish.
I decided to move forward with Design B and make the intercept feature optional.
My design goals are to motivate and attract more users, avoiding any discouragement that prevents users from starting to ride. This approach avoids the cons of Design B while providing users with flexibility and customization.
I addressed the cons in Design B by introducing a quick pin-based drag-and-drop interaction, allowing efficient route edits.
I found that users often skipped the step of manually inputting routes when publishing their own. To resolve these issues, I implemented a quick pin-based drag-and-drop interaction. This change allowed users to edit routes efficiently without manual input, resulting in a streamlined process that encouraged more users to publish their routes.
Before: Typing
After: Drag Pins
Solution 01
The bike community feature simplifies route planning by letting users share and discover routes. Prominently displayed city view pictures and route graphs attract attention. Users can view route type, duration, and cost, then save or start the route immediately by clicking on the map. This intuitive flow matches users' mental models, making route planning quick and easy.
Solution 02
An all-in-one bike app seamlessly combines turn-by-turn navigation with photo capture, eliminating the need for app-switching while riding to enhance safety. Considering that users will look at the interface while riding, I used large typography and visuals for the map.
With temporary parking, users can stop and go at their own pace or explore nearby attractions, enhancing their flexibility in exploring time and route.
Solution 03
Users may start by consuming content and recommendations from the community and then become content providers if they find it useful. Inspired by their discoveries, they share their adventures and contribute custom routes, highlighting favorite stops and hidden gems. Fellow explorers appreciate their creativity and enthusiasm, eager to follow their paths.
Reflection
For a real project, I would set design success metrics with the PM at the start to measure whether my solution helps DiDi Bike increase user growth in the new market.
1. Number of trip requests
2. 7-day retention rate
3. Weekly active users
These metrics capture engagement, revenue, and long-term value creation, solidifying a balanced approach that benefits both users and the business.
If I had more time on this project, I would also ensure that all my color contrasts meet the WCAG accessibility standards, promoting an inclusive and user-friendly experience.