The Uppsala Cykel Hus project aimed to improve the bicycle
parking experience at the Uppsala Central Station bicycle garage,
to promote sustainable and well-designed urban spaces for
commuting. While the garage was built with good intentions,
our team discovered key usability and service flaws.
Through iterative, co-creative design, we worked to enhance
both digital and physical touch-points, especially the confusing
check-in/check-out system that often left users
frustrated or fined.
Our team of four university students used research-through-design
and participatory methods to identify problems,
validate insights, and prototype solutions. We engaged
real users, including students, senior citizens, and commuters,
in workshops and testing rounds to ensure the
solution felt grounded in real needs
Semla - my favourite Swedish fika food
My Role
While the project was highly collaborative, I focused on:
Designing high-fidelity prototypes in Figma.
Conducting user research and validation interviews.
Documenting findings and managing iterations using Kanban boards in Miro.
Co-facilitating design workshops and synthesis sessions.
Tools
Jira
Miro
Figma
Dovetail
SurveyMonkey
Methodology & Methods
We adopted a Research Through Design approach, using participatory and iterative tools:
Workshops: Conducted multi-phase co-creation sessions with diverse sets of users.
Observations: Spent time at the garage to understand real-world constraints.
MoSCoW Prioritisation: Used to synthesise and prioritise user pain-points.
Wire-framing & Prototyping: Low- to high-fidelity iterations, tested and refined with users.
Task Flows & Personas: Created user journeys and contextual tasks.
Validation: Interviews and scenario walkthroughs with users of varying digital fluency.
Design, Prototyping, Iterations & Testing
We tested three potential directions: two app-based, one analogue. After rounds
of user testing, we settled on a QR-code powered app,
enabling:
Real-time garage availability.
Slot pre-booking and time-based reservations.
Secure check-in using personalised QR codes.
Clear, confirmable check-out process to prevent overstay fines.
Major challenges included improving the onboarding experience and ensuring seamless handoffs between the app and the physical space.
Semla - my favourite Swedish fika food
Semla - my favourite Swedish fika food
Deliverables
Workshop & Research Reports
MoSCoW Analysis
Task Flows & User Journeys
Clickable Figma Prototype with Booking, Check-in, and Check-out Flows
Semla - my favourite Swedish fika food
Key Takeaways
Co-creation works: Involving users early helped ground the design in real-world behaviour.
Design is service: We weren’t just building an app, but reshaping a service ecosystem.
Iterate, then iterate again: Every prototype test gave us new ideas to refine.
Team trust matters: Role clarity and communication were critical, especially under deadlines.