Building an On-Demand App: Dec 2016 Meetup Recap
December’s meetup was another unqualified success!
Hosted again at Badir Program for Technology Incubators, we welcomed a large group of professionals from different fields but all interested in gaining skills and expertise in UX and seeking knowledge and opportunities for sharing ideas with like-minded people.
After a quick intro to UXBERT from our fearless, amazing, genius, super awesome and devastatingly charming leader (it’s performance review time, don’t judge me) Nadeem Bakhsh, we kicked off with introductions from each of the attendees and then dove straight into a content-rich presentation on “Building an On-Demand Uber-like App” led by User Researcher, Linah Aburahmah.
In order to build a successful app, you need to understand the basic characteristics of one. That seemed to be the most logical place to start off from so that’s what we did, getting the audience involved in a quick discussion about what on-demand apps are and our expectations of them.
Once we’d set a framework of understanding of what user’s expectations are in relation to on-demand apps, it was time to get our UX game faces on.
UX is always about designing for the user’s needs first. Applying the principles of the user-centered design process is crucial for your app to be successful. At UXBERT we have our own UX Process (shown below) that we follow when building an app, which we briefed the audience on next.
The key takeaway here is the application of user testing and validation at every stage of the process to ensure meeting the user’s needs.
UXBERT UX Process
The inspiration for the theme of the meetup was taken from UBER’s success. Therefore, it only felt appropriate to mention some of their business achievements and innovations. Just as important was to take note of failed cases, because there are just as many if not more lessons to learn from them. We covered problems faced in some startups that caused their business to shut down and followed with advice to avoid falling down the same path.
After practical advice and examples, we dove deeper into the UX aspects of designing a mobile app. The discussion mainly revolved around the importance of mobile UX principles and the design thinking process that need to be implemented to form solutions throughout development.
The second part of the meetup was led by our Engineering expert, Bilal Syed. He began by explaining the Engineering Architecture of developing an app using UBER’s on-demand service as a guide. He went on to explain more development-based aspects of building an app, including using BaaS and native vs hybrid apps.
Because we love challenges, we had to end the meetup with a Twitter challenge. We asked all attendees to tweet @uxbert their answers to the following question: “Can you think of an on-demand app that is needed by the Saudi Community and how this app can survive and grow?”
Ten minutes later, our Twitter account was flooded with awesome ideas for local developments.
@uxbert creating a middle ground app between renting a car app and buying a car app which is borrowing a car
— Abdalrahim (@Sanikiyoshi) December 19, 2016
@uxbert mothers of kids with disabilities lack the support they need from the society an app that could be all in 1 is an urgent need.
— أمل نمنقاني (@AmalNamangani) December 19, 2016
@uxbert On-demand electronic devices delivery, installation and setup and maintenance
— A.Rahman Shamma' (@A_Shamma3) December 19, 2016
#uxbert privet teachers , all the student can fined and rate eache one , adding all of Levels of study after a while
— Haifa Dwd (@HefDwd) December 19, 2016
Deciding on one winner was tough because of all the innovative ideas sent in but in the end, Amal Namangani (@amalnamangani) was chosen as the winner of our challenge. Her creative app idea won the opportunity to build, design and test her prototype for free in the soon to be launched UXBERT Startup Seed Program.
The meetup created a space for personal growth and interesting discussions on designing on-demand apps. Although we’ve tried covering everything here, it’s all about the first-hand experience of gaining knowledge at the meetup. Make sure you don’t miss out on future meetups by joining our User Experience & Design group on Meetup.com..
A special thank you to the team at Badir Program for Technology Incubators for hosting us in their home, and a huge thank you to everyone who showed up and shared their UX spirit with us.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all again in our upcoming meetups!
For any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to email us at [hello@uxbert.com]
At UXBERT Labs we specialize in UX Research, Design & Development services that deliver world-class experiences. With offices in Riyadh and Dubai, our team of UX Researchers, Designers, and Developers deliver custom designed and built software to help businesses succeed.
Looking for a UX agency in Dubai or Saudi? Email us at hello@uxbert.com and let us show you why we’re an award winning company.
