Independent • Delivery • 2025
Independent • Delivery • 2025
DoorDash apartment deliveries
DoorDash apartment deliveries
Timeline
2 months
2 months
Role
Product Designer (Me!)
Tools
Tools
Figma
Figma
Origami Studio
Origami Studio
TL;DR
Over the summer of 2024, I kept running into the same issue. A Dasher reaches the right apartment building without trouble, then loses the delivery trying to find the right unit. I took it on as an independent project to see how far design could push that last hundred feet.
Over the summer of 2024, I kept running into the same issue. A Dasher reaches the right apartment building without trouble, then loses the delivery trying to find the right unit. I took it on as an independent project to see how far design could push that last hundred feet.
I interviewed four Dashers and two customers, checked the pattern against what people already post publicly, and reframed four recurring breakdowns into a single question about how delivery instructions are created and surfaced. The result is a two-sided change: a structured way for customers to write instructions, and a step-by-step way for Dashers to receive them in context.
I interviewed four Dashers and two customers, checked the pattern against what people already post publicly, and reframed four recurring breakdowns into a single question about how delivery instructions are created and surfaced. The result is a two-sided change: a structured way for customers to write instructions, and a step-by-step way for Dashers to receive them in context.
6
6
User interviews
User interviews
4
4
Recurring breakdowns
Recurring breakdowns
2
2
Sides of the marketplace
Sides of the marketplace
Solution
Introducing a new way to deliver and receive instructions
Introducing a new way to deliver and receive instructions
Structured instructions
Structured instructions
Instruction entry is broken into clear, sequential steps, so customers stay oriented, catch their own logical errors earlier, and carry less at once.
Instruction entry is broken into clear, sequential steps, so customers stay oriented, catch their own logical errors earlier, and carry less at once.
Flexible input
Flexible input
Text, images, and a location pin. Richer input types let a customer give precise context instead of trying to describe a building in one line.
Text, images, and a location pin. Richer input types let a customer give precise context instead of trying to describe a building in one line.
Step-by-step instructions
Step-by-step instructions
Dashers receive instructions in a scannable, step-by-step format that holds up at a glance while they are moving.
Dashers receive instructions in a scannable, step-by-step format that holds up at a glance while they are moving.
Spatial relevance
Instructions live inside the map rather than beside it, so guidance about where to go arrives with the spatial context it depends on.
Overview
DoorDash is the largest on-demand delivery platform in the US, and apartment complexes are among the hardest addresses it serves.
DoorDash is the largest on-demand delivery platform in the US, and apartment complexes are among the hardest addresses it serves.
This was an independent project, not client work. Over the summer of 2025 I watched the same failure repeat across my own orders and across public complaints: the Dasher reaches the building, then the delivery stalls. I used it as a chance to run a full process end to end — research, synthesis, ideation, concept testing, and a prototyped solution.
This was an independent project, not client work. Over the summer of 2025 I watched the same failure repeat across my own orders and across public complaints: the Dasher reaches the building, then the delivery stalls. I used it as a chance to run a full process end to end — research, synthesis, ideation, concept testing, and a prototyped solution.
Problem
Apartment deliveries often fail at the final step.
Apartment deliveries often fail at the final step.
Dashers arrive at the address easily enough. Once there, they struggle to locate the correct unit in time — and that last stretch is where delays and failed deliveries pile up.
Dashers arrive at the address easily enough. Once there, they struggle to locate the correct unit in time — and that last stretch is where delays and failed deliveries pile up.
User Research
Talking to both sides showed the same delivery falling apart for two different reasons.
Talking to both sides showed the same delivery falling apart for two different reasons.
I held six interviews — four Dashers and two customers — to understand where apartment deliveries go wrong and what workarounds people have already invented for themselves.
I held six interviews — four Dashers and two customers — to understand where apartment deliveries go wrong and what workarounds people have already invented for themselves.
I then reviewed public posts about failed apartment deliveries to check my early assumptions against a wider sample, and looked at how adjacent products handle the same wayfinding problem.
I then reviewed public posts about failed apartment deliveries to check my early assumptions against a wider sample, and looked at how adjacent products handle the same wayfinding problem.
In-app navigation
In-app navigation
DoorDash’s navigation relies on a single pin, which omits everything needed to reach the correct unit once you are on site.
DoorDash’s navigation relies on a single pin, which omits everything needed to reach the correct unit once you are on site.
Confusing layouts
Confusing layouts
Apartment complexes vary widely in layout and signage, so Dashers arrive with no reliable way to orient themselves.
Apartment complexes vary widely in layout and signage, so Dashers arrive with no reliable way to orient themselves.
Incomplete instructions
Incomplete instructions
Customers often leave vague or partial instructions, which forces Dashers to guess where to go.
Customers often leave vague or partial instructions, which forces Dashers to guess where to go.
Instruction credibility
Instruction credibility
Bad instructions in the past teach Dashers to skip them entirely — even the useful ones.
Bad instructions in the past teach Dashers to skip them entirely — even the useful ones.
How Might We
Help Dashers reliably reach the correct apartment unit by improving how delivery-critical instructions are created and surfaced at the moment of arrival?
Help Dashers reliably reach the correct apartment unit by improving how delivery-critical instructions are created and surfaced at the moment of arrival?
User goal
Reduce the delays and failed deliveries that happen at the last step?
Reduce the delays and failed deliveries that happen at the last step?
Business goal
Ideation
With the problem framed, I explored a range of approaches and put them in front of participants early.
With the problem framed, I explored a range of approaches and put them in front of participants early.
I sketched against both goals and ran lightweight concept tests rather than waiting for anything polished. Cheap concepts meant I could drop the directions that read well on paper but fell apart the moment someone imagined using them in a stairwell.
I sketched against both goals and ran lightweight concept tests rather than waiting for anything polished. Cheap concepts meant I could drop the directions that read well on paper but fell apart the moment someone imagined using them in a stairwell.
Two ideas survived, and they turned out to be two halves of the same fix: an instruction is only as good as the way it is written and the way it is read. That split shaped the rest of the work.
Two ideas survived, and they turned out to be two halves of the same fix: an instruction is only as good as the way it is written and the way it is read. That split shaped the rest of the work.
Design Mockups
A closer look at the screens.
A closer look at the screens.
Outcome
In concept testing, every participant expected the change to make apartment deliveries noticeably easier.
In concept testing, every participant expected the change to make apartment deliveries noticeably easier.
Participants pointed at the same three things: clearer guidance at the door, less guesswork about where to go, and better context at drop-off. This is a concept rather than a shipped feature, so the measure is whether the direction survives contact with the people who would use it — and it did.
Reflection
What I took away from this one.
What I took away from this one.
Lead with empathy, not fault.
Lead with empathy, not fault.
Through the research, customers and Dashers each blamed the other. It took a while to see that neither was really the cause — the product quietly encouraged the outcome, and that reframing is what made a solution possible.
Through the research, customers and Dashers each blamed the other. It took a while to see that neither was really the cause — the product quietly encouraged the outcome, and that reframing is what made a solution possible.
Test concepts while they are still cheap.
Test concepts while they are still cheap.
Lightweight concept tests caught the ideas that sounded right but collapsed in a real stairwell. Testing early cost me a day and saved the direction.
Lightweight concept tests caught the ideas that sounded right but collapsed in a real stairwell. Testing early cost me a day and saved the direction.
Curious to know more?
This is just a small part of the design process — for the full story, get in touch