Testing with part of the team
During this phase, we spoke to users who are part of the team to understand how they search for Air quality on the map and also to understand some of the frictions they face when searching for air quality.

What users say
All users believed that the search feature could be improved by conveying more specific information such as;

• Search by AQI range

• Suggested searches

• Recent location history

• News & air quality of other African cities.
  *This particular request if applied would require the introduction of a whole new feature of the app hence feature loading

When asked about the fastest way users could find the AirQuality of a location using the app;

• 1/3 of the users would refer to the map before making a cold search.

• 2/3 of the users would do a cold search to find the location.

Once the usability issues were resolved, We moved on to design the final screens in Figma. Our goal was to create a feature that met the criteria of the Loveable product framework while also addressing the concerns brought up by the users that we interviewed.

During this phase, we designed two iterations of the feature. We followed the design guidelines of the already existing products of the organisation so that the feature could remain consistent with not only the app but also their other products, their Web App and their website.

We kept the design light focusing on the results of our user research. We added filters, recent searches and search suggestions.

We also tested the search page, where we asked the users to test pages that showed different types of content. This mainly aimed at finding out 1) What content was important to users while searching and 2) The layout of the content.

The first content option was suggestions based on the user's nearby locations and the second was Explore African Cities which prompts the users to check on the Air Quality in other African cities.

The members preferred the Recent searches to suggest the African cities option better.

This was because of the following reasons.

• It connected more with the organizational vision which is Clean Air for all African cities.

• It allowed users to explore the air quality readings of other African cities.

This process brought us closer to version 1 of this feature. The solution we came up with after this was based on the results of this testing.

Implementing these new changes is currently underway and will be made available to all users in the next version of the AirQo Mobile app. We can't wait for users to explore air quality data from African cities like never before.

As the AirQo design team, we commit to continuously improving the search function to accommodate more Air Quality data needs & use cases. That's it for now, breathe clean!