CrossWalk
ROLE
Lead UX/UI Designer
DURATION
8 weeks
Spring 2025
TEAM
Melody Chang
Jason Nguyen
Sejal Pawar
Harrison Tran
Rubi Valenzuela Uriarte
SKILLS
UX Research
Product Design
Project Management
01
PROBLEM
CONTEXT
How might we design for social good?
This project was created as part of Design at UCI's Spring Project Teams, where our theme focused on designing for social good. My teammates and I bonded over our own struggles with the permit and license process, which sparked the idea for our project.
THE PROBLEM
Driving for the first time can be both exciting and terrifying.
Teenagers in California (aged 15-17) often face major barriers when first learning how to drive, such as confusion around permits and licensing, limited awareness of DMV policies, and a lack of motivation to properly study the rules of the road. These challenges leave many teens without the knowledge or confidence they need to become safe and responsible drivers.
02
RESEARCH
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
We started by analyzing existing driver education apps to understand the current space and identify key areas for improvement.
SURVEYS
55+ teens were surveyed to determine quantifiable trends in their confidence levels and overall preparedness.
58% of participants were not confident in their ability to drive safely.
32% of participants who had gone to the DMV had forgotten documents.
12% of participants had thoroughly read through the DMV handbook.
USER INTERVIEWS
6 teens were interviewed to better understand their attitudes, behaviors, and experiences when starting the driving process.
Some notable quotes include:
“I know people that have failed their permit tests since they weren’t as prepared and I’m scared of that happening to me.”
“The most confusing part would be some of the controls in the car, like the blinkers and accidentally flipping the wrong one.”
“I’m nervous about going to the DMV and figuring out the necessary documents required.”
KEY TAKEAWAY
Teenagers lack confidence because they lack proper driver education.
From our research, we found that some teens are unsure of what to expect at the DMV, others lack basic knowledge of how to operate a vehicle, and many don’t even know where to begin. This lack of clarity contributes to hesitation and uncertainty in their attitudes toward driving.
03
SOLUTION
OUR SOLUTION
Introducing CrossWalk, a mobile app that supports teen drivers at every step of the driving process.
Whether you're studying for the permit test, preparing for the behind-the-wheel test, or strengthening your road knowledge, CrossWalk provides the tools and guidance to support you at each progress level.
FEATURE INTEGRATION — HANDBOOK LESSONS
Turning DMV handbook information into fun, digestible content.
Teens aren't interested in reading the handbook because it is too long and information-heavy. Therefore, we decided to implement interactive readings and lesson activities to boost engagement.
FEATURE INTEGRATION — DMV AND VEHICLE GUIDANCE
Walking teens through the DMV policies and vehicle logistics.
Finding and understanding the DMV requirements and car symbol meanings can sometimes feel impossible. By keeping DMV and vehicle information in one unified place, teens can feel at ease.
FEATURE INTEGRATION — DRIVING LOG
Tracking driving hours and ride statistics to encourage consistent practice.
Teens who are obtaining their licenses need to meet a specific number of practice hours. This feature aims to keep track of hours while motivating teens to hone their driving abilities.
04
DESIGN
MOCKUPS
We created low and mid-fidelity mockups of our app screens, which served as a foundation for our final high-fidelity prototype.
We utilized blue and yellow in our branding to convey a sense of professionalism and playfulness. We also created our mascot, Doug, to serve as a personal guide for our teenage users.
USABILITY TESTING
8 user evaluations allowed us to observe issues in our prototype and iterate until errors were effectively minimized.
Only 87% of users completed the card flip lesson correctly.
2 out of 8 users had trouble identifying the navigation bar status.
6 out of 8 users had difficulty locating the symbol scanner.
We kept the cards unflipped in the card flip lesson to minimize confusion.
We highlighted the icons on the navigation bar with a bright background to increase contrast.
We enlarged, labeled, and moved the “scan” button on the Car Symbols page to the bottom corner.
100% successful task completion!
05
OUTCOME
DEMO VIDEO
Welcome to CrossWalk!
RESULTS
Our team was honored to receive the Audience Choice Award and place second overall against 8 amazing teams.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Revisiting the user research phase is not a step backward.
Throughout the design process, my team and I encountered several moments of confusion and uncertainty when making key decisions. Due to the pressure of time, many of these concerns went unaddressed, causing us to miss valuable insights that could have better justified our feature choices.
From this project, we learned to embrace a cyclical design process and continue iterating until our decisions are clearly grounded in user needs.