→ Rapid prototyping
→ User testing
→ Design sprint
1 week design sprint
From whiteboard drawings to cardboard to metal-based prototypes. The aim was to build functional prototypes of minimum viable products to be able to test the key features with real world E-bike users. These activities were carried out during a one-week design sprint.
The teams refined three charging station prototypes and tested them in real world environments with e-bike users, by bringing together subject matter experts and specialists from different backgrounds.
Throughout the design sprint interdisciplinary student teams received coaching to facilitate the successive refinement of the prototypes to test key features: safety, UX, robustness and user incentives.
week design sprint
functional prototypes
months until solution implemented
Just four months later, Smide decided to launch charging stations at selected locations across Zurich. Riders were offered incentives to drop off their bikes at the charging stations. This meant that the company successfully transitioned their business offering from a free-floating system into a hybrid system of station-based plus free-floating.
4 months later: product on the market