Designing a Frictionless Short-Term Luggage Storage Experience.
In this case study, I will take you through the design of a mobile app - Dropit that enables travelers to easily rent secure lockers at train stations, ensuring a hassle-free and enjoyable journey.
Quick Story
It was the final morning of an incredible three-day conference, and my return train wasn't until that evening. I had just checked out of my distant hotel, energized to make the most of my last few hours in the city. Then, reality hit me: I was tethered to a 40-pound suitcase and a bulky backpack.
Dragging them through crowded event halls was impossible. Trekking back to the hotel later would eat up half my day. Standing outside the central train station, exhausted before the day even began, I just wanted a simple, secure place to drop my bags. Instead, I felt completely stuck.
That heavy, helpless feeling sparked a question: why is finding short-term luggage storage such a massive hurdle for modern travelers?
Context
Travelers in major cities often struggle with finding secure, accessible, and flexible storage solutions at train stations. Key challenges include limited locker availability, security concerns, inefficient booking systems, and varying infrastructure across locations.
Problem Statement
Design an experience that allows travelers to rent lockers in train stations for a short- term period.
Core users
- Sophia is a tourist visiting a new city for the first time. She is staying in a hostel and doesn't want to leave her luggage in the room while she is out exploring the city. She uses the locker rental service to store her luggage while she is out and about.
- Current behavior - Hostels have personal lockers and so it is safe. Hostels also allow guests to store their luggage in a common area post check-out.
- Core use case - Has important items that needs to be stored. Hence, safety is a big concern.
- Percentage of users - 70%
- Items might store - Shoes, wallet, backpacks
- Jack is a business traveller who is attending a conference in a different city. He needs a place to store his luggage while he is attending meetings and events during the day. He uses the locker rental service to keep his belongings safe and secure. He might be afraid that he may not get a locker and also don't have time to book after coming on the station so he like to book in advance
- Core use case - User is staying for less than 12 hours in the same city.
- Percentage of users - 30%
- Items might store - Luggage, important documents, laptops
Getting users location
In order to showcase relevant train station getting user's location is a must. User can either search for a city or an area manually (users who are not comfortable sharing their location with the app) or they can do it via GPS.
Homescreen
The goal of this screen is to help the user choose the best locker location based on their immediate needs (distance, hours, or price). By showing critical information like operating hours and locker availability directly on the cards.
Card Anatomy
In order to showcase relevant train station getting user's location is a must. User can either search for a city or an area manually (users who are not comfortable sharing their location with the app) or they can do it via GPS.
Station Details Page
In order to showcase relevant train station getting user's location is a must. User can either search for a city or an area manually (users who are not comfortable sharing their location with the app) or they can do it via GPS.
Payment Methods
Payment Processing
Booking Success & Access Details
Pin generation
Edge Cases
In order to showcase relevant train station getting user's location is a must. User can either search for a city or an area manually (users who are not comfortable sharing their location with the app) or they can do it via GPS.
User Testing and Improvements
Closing notes
- This version of the app keeps things simple and focuses on the essentials. I could add many exciting features in the future, like moving belongings from one station to another.
- The problem statement was given by my mentor Chethan KVS (Sr. Product designer) and Debapriya Kar (PM) provided me with some valuable feedback.
- There's a lot of potential to expand this app with more features and tackle additional edge cases. For now, I decided to keep it concise.
Wrap up
- And that's a wrap. Thanks for reading! If you'd like to chat more about the design process or have ideas for improvements, I'd love to connect and discuss further.
