erova notebook • a user experience blog by Chris Avore

UX Remix: UPS Tracking Screen

Jared Spool’s January 3rd, 2009 Plugging Holes in the Experience, Sort Of questions the layout, language, and design (and ultimately the audience) of UPS’s package tracking screen.

Spool then is interested to see if his readers have any better ideas that could make the screen communicate more information easily and concisely.  As someone who regularly (maybe obsessively) tracks packages, I was eager to spend a few minutes using simple design patterns and prioritizing user-centric  information and seeing how a new layout could benefit UPS customers.

My attempt:

New layout emphasizes customer-centric information

Though this particular screen shot is for a package already in route (I already have a few things on their way so I just used live info), it should be easy to see how a package that has been requested to be picked up but has yet to be shipped could be communicated.

I also attempt to emphasize the delivery date, which, curiously, is often unfindable on a tracking screen.

And while I’m fascinated to learn my new t-shirt has made a pitstop in Kansas, I’m usually more interested in when it will arrive at my door.

This entry was written by Chris, posted on January 7, 2009 at 9:46 am, filed under Design, Usability, User Experience, UX Remix. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • http://www.uie.com/brainsparks jmspool

    Really nice! I think the timeline at the top really tells the story nicely.

    Great work!

    Jared

  • http://www.uie.com/brainsparks Jared M. Spool

    Really nice! I think the timeline at the top really tells the story nicely.

    Great work!

    Jared

  • http://twitter.com/erova Chris Avore

    Thanks for checking it out, Jared.

    It’s definitely not rocket surgery, but it seems like it solves a few problems…

  • http://www.erova.com Chris

    Thanks for checking it out, Jared.

    It’s definitely not rocket surgery, but it seems like it solves a few problems…

  • Daunerparty

    You said you used simple design patterns. Could you describe what patterns you used and how you applied them?

  • http://erova.com/blog Chris Avore

    Sure, of course.

    The most specific pattern is the sequence of steps to completion at the top (Tidwell 76). Here I just take the chronological order of the four steps and and lay them out left to right (as vertically would make reading the lowest one difficult and wouldn't be inherently clear if the first step should be on top or the bottom), and provide visual confirmation of what has been completed and what has yet to be finished.

    Less specifically, but still regarded as a design pattern (Tidwell 100), is the visual framework of the page. I moved the expected delivery date to the first row of the summary of data, and bolded the text to emphasize its importance.

    I then used the alternating row colors to distinguish one row from another, and didn't bother retaining the bold “In transit” that UPS bolds. Simply put, I've already seen that the package is in transit (especially since it's not here yet), and it's not as important as the expected delivery date.

    It should be noted that when using the sequence pattern, a web implementation usually provides an active state of the current step, which isn't appropriate in this case.

    If I added “In Transit”, that text would look unique from the completed steps and the steps that are yet to be completed. However, if the package has been picked up, and yet to be delivered, most people will understand that package is on its way.

    Hope that helps!
    Chris

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