Project In Progress...

Overview

NeedsResearch

Findings

Following Others

Most people find experiences by looking at what others have done, this includes:

- asking friends

- watching Youtube Influencers

- Getting info from online blogs & social media

- Reviews and recommendations on Yelp, Google, Google map

​

Unified experience 

Users desire to have the experience of finding events and route-finding to be unified in one place.

- Users think that by combining the planning part and action part of the experience, they could get a quicker and more convenient experience

​

Personal

Users want more customization in all aspects, this includes:

- Recommendation results

- Filters choices

Users want the system to remember who they are with customizations so that they don't have to start fresh each time

​

Local

Users want more local experiences that are not always organized by the city. 

e.g. Drag show at a bar, moon cake making event, Parties, Birdwatching, etc.

​

​

Features

​

A surprising way people find new experiences is to search up "Attractions" on Google Maps. This could be a potential solution for our User need of having a "unified experience for planning & action"

Users

Users keep bringing up the idea of having a customed feature that shows them the reviews, events, etc. that are related to their personality and interest. 

Based on these feedbacks, the idea of a platform that shows users similar people's travel plans started to emerge.

Business Studies

Market Validation

Reviews

It is easier to gather review if the related "transaction" happens on the platform. One can directly ask users to provide feedback after the "transaction" take place.

​

​

Relationship to users through user habits

When the system takes in user habits and provides relevant outputs, Users feel more engaged towards the platform.

​

​

Learning from Failed Travel Startups

Why Startups Failed:

​

Market Knowledge

Travel data is complex, it's hard to keep the User experience simple.

​

Adapt to Changing Landscape

Consumers have high expectations for usability, convenience, and immediate information. The geography and traffic information is constantly changing.

​

Vulnerable Business Model

When are returns going to be generated?

​

Volatile Customer Memory

Users don't travel all the time. How do we leave a lasting impression on the users so they come back next time they travel?

​

Now that we have an understanding of what the market needs, market size, and existing products & problems are, we can clearly define our users and design objectives

Target&Users

Target Goals:

Connective - connect with user-generated content, real people, and real experiences

​

Unified - A planning to doing all together app

​

Personal - Customizable & tailored experiences

​

Local & within the nation - Discover life right around you (nation to nation would be a future design focus)

​

​

Focused User Segments:

Local explorer

Young single user 

Young small group users

Travelers (city to city)

​

RoughIdeas

Discussion

& Decisions

Platform - Mobile

Mobile app is chosen as the platform because our product is about real-time connected experiences. It is for younger independent and more spontaneous users. An app allows the flexibility and freedom such users and experiences require.

​

Features:

​

​

Questionnaire & System Memory

When an account is made, users would go through a short questionnaire to present their lifestyles and interests. 

The system would then continuously update the user's interest profile according to the user's recent activities.

​

​

Suggested Routes & Experiences & map

Experience and route suggestions are the main components and would be closer to if not on the home page.

They should be visually connected to the map and be easy to access from the map. Trip overviews and the "start trip" action should also be easily accessible from the suggestions.

​

​

Create, Share, Review

Users can create their own routes and experiences, share them, and give reviews to other users' experiences. 

​

​

FlowChart

WireFrames

Initial Wireframes

2nd Stage

Wireframes

Made changes & edits on selected frames based on the user feedback

 1st Stage Wireframing

& UserTest Feedbacks & Changes

Love Friends' activity feature & seeing others' routes

" I want to be able to see what people I know are doing and maybe join them if I don't know what to do on a Friday afternoon."

" I would go on here just to stalk on what other people are doing."

Users confused about whom the routes on the map belong to and when they were made.

​

Users were curious about what determines the categories for suggestions (they are suggested to and selected by the users during the profile making process.

​

Overall Users feel that there are too many frames

​

​

Search location suggestions are too short, and the “refine your search” section is too long

Users would finish their search first, then select filters, so why let filters appear so soon?
 

user: "Why not hide the options under 'refine your search' and show them only when users click on refine your search?"

Tackled in 2nd stage Wireframe 

Simplifying the Design

We realized the suggestion tab and the suggested routes on the map are 2 different visual representations of the same function. Thus, we got rid of the suggestion tab entirely.

​

This gives us the space for filters on the first page, which allows users to apply filters on their current location without any location input (which would result in more spontaneous results)

List View

List view button is introduced to retain the clear visualization that the previous suggestion page design provides.

The Argument of the Search Bar

We neglected to be intentional about the search bar and questioning if it is necessary.

After long discussions of where filter options should be in relation to the search bar, we realized that we haven't look at the search bar itself.

​

Search bars indicate defined locations and at the most abstract, the category name of the place a user is looking for (e.g. coffee shop). These ideas are not what our objective and feature is about at all. 

Our search feature is about inputting the type of experience users are looking for, perhaps an area where the experience is based, but never the exact locations. After all, this is not a navigation app, but an experience finding app.

Not to mention, having a search bar would limit the results users get because users would feel the need to sceificfy exactly where they want to go.

​

When users tap on a route, details for each experience on the route would appear, This allows users to tap on the individual experiences instead of the whole trip. 

This function was not utilized by the users because the changes on the map were too small to satisfy them, by then they already want to go to the next page

​

Change on Design: 

We deleted the process of showing details of each experiences on the rout entirly

Repetitive Screens & Designs

Users were confused by the number of frames and the function of each. Users get lost and couldn't reach back to the home screen.

Tackled in 2nd stage Wireframe 

Home Button

To prevent users from getting lost, Home Navigation button is added on top left of all the screens. When activated, user can select path options from the Navigation Manu

Screens combined

Current Trip Planning, Saved Experiences, and Saved Trips are combined as tabs on one main page. Now users can quickly switch between these pages to add experiences to a trip they are planning.

Trip History is separate because it is viewed in different contexts.

User Feedback

Analysis Form

New FlowChart

Prototypes

Project in Progress,

Check back in 2 weeks!

Thank you!