Discovery for James May
I was part of a small team that conducted research into an app to help learner drivers pass the UK Driving Theory Test.
The new app had a lot of assumptions behind its unique value proposition, so we set out research questions that aimed to validate those assumptions.
My contribution
In-person user research
Desk research
Low-fidelity prototyping
Workshop facilitation
The team (Web team)
1 × UX lead
1 × product designer (me)
1 × delivery consultant (part time)
Project length
6 weeks
The problem
Over 1.7m people take the UK Driving Theory Test annually, yet it has a pass rate of less than 50%. Two-thirds of people taking the test are under the age of 25; the largest age group is 18 year-olds (16%).
AND Digital was contracted by James May and his team to create a new learning app for the UK Driving Theory test. This app would be scientifically proven to have better learning methods, and would use his brand to appeal to the new driver demographic.
Our contract began with a six week discovery phase before moving into design and build, during which I conducted various research activities to ensure we fully understood the problem and were building the best possible solution.
The research plan
The proposed app had two unique value propositions:
Use learning tactics that are scientifically proven to be effective, therefore making users better drivers in the long-term.
Have a high-profile UK celebrity attached (James May), who is well-known for being linked to driving and cars.
From this we researched what the riskiest assumptions of the proposed app were, which led us to formulate the following hypotheses:
Users need a separate section for learning theory, discrete from doing practice questions
Users would value having learning methods that were scientifically proven to be more effective
Users would value having James May’s name and personality attached to the app
Based on these we planned to complete the following research activities to answer these questions over six weeks:
Intercept interviews with candidates coming out of test centres
Individual usability testing with members of target audience, to validate the concept
Wide survey of target group, to confirm findings and achieve statistical significance
Competitor analysis and target-audience analysis
Secondary research around best learning effectiveness methods
We had 6 weeks to execute this research plan, with a team of 2 full time UXers (myself, along with a UX Lead) and 1 part-time delivery consultant.
We spent a morning outside a test centre and approached 12 people on the street who had just completed their theory test for a quick interview. From these, we learnt how people had prepared for their tests, and gathered their opinions on the best ways of preparing for the test.
We then later scheduled usability testing sessions, during which we walked through a low-fidelity prototype that I created on Figma, in order to get feedback on the concept of the app.
Participants completed a set of 9 tasks using the app prototype, from which we gathered insights on what participants thought about the concept, the tone of voice, as well as the early-stage usability and high-level flow. This fed into the design and build phases.
We wrote a survey for people who had recently taken their theory test: how they prepared for it, how long they spent revising, how many attempts they’d had taking it, and so on.
The survey was tweeted out by James May to verify findings from our intercept interviews. We received a wide range of responses (over 600) surpassing the sample size needed to achieve a 95% confidence level of our target audience.
We also conducted a competitor analysis, which involved purchasing copies of existing apps, books and DVDs, and mapping out the flow that users went through when using those materials.
This was useful later on for the content design of the app. We learnt that the official book and app, as well as competing apps, all used the same categorisation structure from the DVSA. However, after speaking to users we learnt that this didn’t matter to them, so we changed how we categorised the same content, making it more meaningful and evenly structured.
We also conducted research into effective learning methods, and decided to proceed with a spaced repetition algorithm. James May’s team was keen to use this, as, combined with the celebrity appeal, they thought this would make our app more commercially successful if it genuinely helped people pass their test.
Workshops
Towards the end of the workshop, I facilitated a journey mapping session, where we identified opportunities for our app to have a unique proposition.
I also facilitated ideation sessions about the final visual design of the app, which will feed into the high-fidelity design and development phases.
Impact
At the end of the discovery, we had validated our assumptions, giving the client confidence to continue investing in the app. We also had a set of low-fi screens that had been through a first round of usability testing, which could be built on by designers and developers.
The app was a huge success: it became Apple’s App of the Week only two weeks after it launched, is the 4th best education app in the UK on iOS, and has been nominated for multiple mobile awards.
I’m incredibly proud to have worked on this project. Our team validated some key assumptions and helped propel the app to where it is today.