Introduction to OS Maps
OS Maps is a navigation app and website using Ordnance Survey maps and data to help more people get outside more often. The product helps users find routes for varies activities, create their own routes and record activities.
My role in this project
I was the lead designer on this project, working with a part-time contract designer. I project managed the redesign, and worked with our strategic product manager to evolve the design of the product. Between myself and the contract designer, we created a new design system and UI for the next version of OS Maps.
The problem
- There was significant technical debt with the current app build and it was becoming harder and harder to maintain and improve
- The UX was okay overall, but parts the experience were littered with bugs and accessibility concerns, making it near unusable in specific cases
- The UI was outdated and built solely in dark mode. Without the foundation of a design system their were inconsistencies and a clear mismatch with the core brand identity
Discovery and understanding
After speaking with our engineering partners, it was apparent that it would be too technically challenging and risky to update the existing build, so the decision was made to approach this as a brand new build rather than the typically preferred iterative process.
Research
Due to time constraints and the wealth of knowledge we already had of our users, we decided that there wouldn’t be any upfront new research to do for this project.
Instead we did a product team offsite to run a couple of workshops and solidify the approach and feature set for the first iteration. We first started wide - identifying all the current and highly requested features that we could add into the product. We then refined the list to an achievable first iteration for the next round of planning.
Review
With an already live app and millions of users, we were fortunate to have some great insight into how the product was currently being used and the key frustrations.
We took some time to break down the current experience and identify what we knew worked, and what didn’t - this could be anything from the map download functionality not being clear through to a particular view in the experience not being right for the activity.
Design at speed
The biggest challenge with this project was the fast moving pace. We didn’t have time for multiple rounds of wireframe iteration, usability testing or mock ups.
We had to leverage our knowledge of the current live version of the product, and the information we’d gathered over the preceding years to guide us.
We knew the experience we wanted to create, so between us, we had to design at speed having daily design and tech reviews of the work we’d created to not only ensure the UX and UI were heading in the right direction, but technically it was possible too.
What we created
Over the course of 6 weeks we iteratively designed the entire OS Maps app and website, supported by a new design system and style guide. To support our efforts we used our existing research and knowledge from our users, concept work that hadn’t been implemented yet and stakeholder reviews.
We were delighted with the end result, the experience was accessible, usable, simple and brought OS Maps into the present day with a UI that took design cues from the likes of Airbnb, AllTrails and Spotify.
On reflection
Unfortunately I left Ordnance Survey before the build was complete, so instead I’ll reflect on the design process.
This project was a major challenge, and a sudden step away from the typically iterative process we were used to as a product team. I think it’s credit to our other designer, engineering partners and our prior UX research that we were able to execute this quality of design in the timeframe we were given.
We worked side-by-side for nearly two months, having regular design and tech reviews and being incredibly honest about what was hitting the mark and what wasn’t with each others work.
It was sometimes a scramble, sometimes frustrating, but we closed off design for the first iteration of the app feeling incredibly proud of what we’d achieved.