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ANWB

Creating a must-have tool for Dutch motorists

The ANWB (Royal Dutch Touring Club) is the largest travelers’ association in the Netherlands. In 2012 the ANWB introduced their first app, ANWB Onderweg, but 5 years later the app was still far from perfect.

As part of my studies at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, I conducted UX research and worked on improvements for the ANWB Onderweg app.

The challenge

The ANWB introduced the ANWB Onderweg app back in 2012, meant as an extra service for its 4.5 million members. With the app users can, among other things, get the fastest route to their destination, find parking spots and gas stations and get notifications when there is a traffic jam on their route.

However, even after a complete redesign in 2017, the app was still far from perfect and received mostly negative reviews. I was challenged to make an overview of the stumbling blocks for users and to come up with useful suggestions to improve the app.

The process

One of the main issues mentioned in the reviews, and one we found out ourselves as well, was that the navigation of the app was quite difficult to use; the only way to go to a different section in the app was by returning to the start screen and using the menu there. On top of that the structure of the app was overly complex which made navigating through the app even more difficult. Especially while sitting in or while driving a car, the app wasn't easy to navigate through. The first step we took was to conduct a content audit and see how we could restructure the app to improve the overall experience.

With a new structure we were able to start working on the next question: how do we make it as easy as possible to navigate through the different sections of the app or possibly make navigating through sections unnecessary (especially while driving)?

After brainstorming we came with a few possible solutions. Keeping in mind the feasibility we were able to reduce these solutions to four concrete proposals:

• Introduce a toolbar (similar to e.g. Instagram or Spotify) so users can easily navigate between the different sections in the app. This would solve the navigation issue.
• Restructure the app and merge/remove sections. This will make the app clearer and easier to use, especially with a toolbar.
• Make one view which shows all core functionalities of the app at once – for example in ‘driving mode’. Users can see their route, nearby gas stations, available parking spots, etc. in one view and don’t have to constantly switch between different sections in the app, which is especially annoying while driving.
• Improve the rest of the design so the tap areas are bigger.

Based on these proposals we worked on some mockups to show the app in the right context and accurately demonstrate the differences and improvements.

The result

Although the ANWB Onderweg app had the potential to become a must-have app for all Dutch motorists, it lacked a final touch that would convince potential users to download (and keep) the app. With the proposed changes the app can definitely become an indispensable tool that will be a resource for millions of motorists in the Netherlands.