Overview
This is to assist Muslims in locating the nearest surau (small prayer halls) or masjid (mosque), particularly when they are unfamiliar with the area.
Ideation
User story 1:
Azlan — As a TNB technician, Azlan repairs road lampposts. One day, he found himself in Putrajaya, filling in for a sick colleague.
He realized he hadn’t performed Asar yet and nearly missed it. Since he was unfamiliar with the Putrajaya area, he didn’t know where to go. He was aware that the nearest building had a surau, but he was certain that the guard wouldn’t allow him to enter since he was only a visitor without an appointment. [1] Non-public accessible.
With his limited knowledge of Putrajaya’s geography, he knows there is a surau near a petrol station. However, “near” in this case means 25km away, and with the limited time he has, he cannot make it there on time. [2] The location is too far. [3] Waste of petrol fuel and time to roam around without a destination.
User story 2:
Farhan — As a salesperson, he is required to travel to rural areas in other states for a duration of 3 weeks.
As a Muslim man, he needs to perform Solat Jumaat (Friday prayer) because he will be staying there for 3 weeks. However, he couldn’t find any masjid in the area where he works and stays. Only one surau is available, but they do not perform Solat Jumaat due to certain rules and conditions. He tried to search on Google Maps, but it didn’t provide much help. [1] Difficulty in finding a masjid for Solat Jumaat. So what he does is:-
Discovery & Proposal
A traditional way to find the surau/masjid- Asking people the directions → might get lost in finding it → might find the closed gate of the surau/masjid
Proposal to find surau/masjid- Entering user location → system will generate a list of nearby surau/masjid → select your preference → go to the location with the help of navigation
- Bonus, can see surau/masjid details and review that place before decision-making
Design Development
The enhancement includes rebranding the UI and improving the UX:
Search Journey:
The current user journey may be confusing, especially for first-time users. If they click on the search bar, they are immediately directed to the search listing. Thus, we proposed;-
- To add a preliminary filter from the search bar, including the option to select either ‘All’, ‘Surau only’, or ‘Masjid only’. The search results will then be listed according to this preference.
- When the user begins to input, suggestions should be pre-listed based on the entered characters. These suggestions could be for the location area or the building name. Users have two options: they can select the building name, which will redirect them to the details page, or they can explore the location area, which will take them to the result listing page.
- On the result listing page, there will be more filter options to help the user refine the result.
Enhancing the details page
- Initially, to find the surau/masjid, users could only search the listing, then copy and paste the location into Google Maps to get directions. Now, they can directly click on the location from the details page. The system will integrate with Google Maps and automatically input the latitude and longitude.
- The transparency of services provided by the surau/masjid helps users make better decisions regarding which building is more suitable for their objectives and preferences. Nowadays, many surau/masjids are kid-friendly. This is because parents often worry about leaving their children unattended while they perform their prayers.
- Another factor that aids decision-making is the availability of Solat Jumaat services, as not all Surau/Masjids offer them. This transparency could help Muslim men decide which Surau/Masjid to visit for Solat Jumaat.
3. Reviews from previous visitors can aid users in decision-making and establishing trust in a product. We, as social creatures, are often more interested in hearing others’ experiences than trying something for the first time.
Update surau/masjid listing with community.
- We are unable to include all surau/mosques in our listing on our own. Therefore, we are seeking community assistance to feature their favorite surau/mosque in our system. Given their familiarity with these places of worship, they are the ideal candidates to add to the list.
Prototype & Feedback
To evaluate the success of our proposal enhancement, we decided to conduct user testing with our close friends. In summary➖
- The enhancement of the search journey played a significant role in aiding the user to refine the results more effectively. This improvement, which involved making the search process more intuitive and user-friendly, allowed users to narrow down their search results more accurately. Consequently, they could find exactly what they were looking for in a faster and more efficient manner.
- The transparency of the services provided is a key aspect that greatly appeals to users. This clarity and openness in communication and operations encourage users to explore and obtain more details about the surau/masjid.
- Word of mouth has proven to be a powerful driver of our product’s growth. We are seeing a positive trend where people are excited to see the updated version and hoping more features will be included in the application. It’s a clear demonstration of how our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction is resonating with users and encouraging them to spread the word about our product.
