Role

UX Designer

Timeline

January - April 2024

Tools

FIGMA, FIGJAM, Balsamiq

Nandor Kofarago, Hui Xuan Lim, Julian Tham (National University of Singapore)

Team

TravelConnect — an app designed to connect travelers to locals

Connecting travelers with locals to help them discover hidden gems and non-touristy sports for their travels. In an increasingly globalised world, travellers often encounter challenges in fully experiencing the authentic and local aspects of a destination.

The reopening of countries post-pandemic has now led to the oversaturation of popular travel destinations.

To cater to overtourism, major tourist destinations such as Tokyo, Bali and Seoul have further commercialised, leading to a less authentic, less sustainable experience for travelers in search for them.

Local hidden "gems" are often difficult to discover due to a lack of information available online. Even when such information exists, it is typically written in the native language of the destination country and not tailored to international travelers.

Empower travelers to lead their journey: Instead of offering a fixed itinerary, encourage users to explore at their own pace and make their own choices. This approach acknowledges that people value control over their actions and seek recognition and impact from their decisions, making each discovery personally meaningful and rewarding.

Encourage incremental exploration: Introduce local experiences in manageable increments to avoid overwhelming users. Small, achievable steps help maintain motivation and consistency, allowing users to gradually uncover hidden gems and build a richer, more fulfilling travel experience over time.

Our findings revealed two key strategies that are scientifically backed and highly relevant to enhancing the traveler's experience:

Preliminary Research

Gathering User Research

We conducted surveys, 12 in-person interviews, and 4 contextual inquiries with participants aged 18-26. Our sample included a mix of genders and individuals from various regions, including Canada, the USA, the UK, and Southeast Asia.

Core Questions / Interview Topics
1. Background and demographic information
2. How often do you plan for trips?
3. What are the key factors that influence your decisions when selecting activities or places to visit during their travels? Why?
4. What are your thoughts on the quality and reliability of the reviews and recommendations you find on current travel platforms?
5. Travel Planning & Stories

By using affinity mapping to synthesize the interview results & reviewing survey results, we were able unveil three themes

#1: Users make decisions based on user reviews

Interviews and contextual inquiries revealed the importance of credible user reviews. Users like to rely on others' comments and reviews to make traveling decisions.

#2: Participants value exploration and adventure as most important aspects to traveling

When deciding whether to visit a location based on the information gathered, people emphasised the potential for exploration and adventure as the most important aspect. Other important factors for travelling to such locations include budget, accessibility and location, and the choice of cuisine.

#3: Respondents preferred medium to obtain travel advice is clearly text chat and forum based

The preferred medium to obtain travel advice is clearly text chat and forum based, which we incorporated into our key user tasks.

Ideation

User Persona

Setting Goals

With the insights, we have gained about our users, we proceed to create 3 tasks that our solution will support. This alignment increases the likelihood that the product will be adopted and valued by its target audience, as it directly supports their desired outcomes.

#1 Users should be able select their preferences on the kinds of travel information that they would like to see.

#2 Users should have a clear way of verifying the credibility of the information they get on the application.

#3 Users should obtain their travel information through a mix of forum and chat features.

Storyboards

With information regarding our user persona and 3 key users, we decided to work on 3 different storyboards that visualize possible user scenarios our target users may encounter while interacting with our application. Edge cases are also included in our consideration for user scenarios, e.g. if a user referred to a post for information, which they found to be unreliable due to different reasons.

Task 1 - Searching and Sorting Travel Info

Basic User Flow
Task 2 - Verify information

Check forum posts
Task 2 - Verify information

Label as incorrect
Task 3 - Forum and chat

Basic user flow

Our Design Process

With our user tasks and scenarios defined, we started to produce some lo fi prototypes. In parallel, each of us created a lo/mid-fi wireframe prototype to ideate on suitable layouts for our UI, 1 for 2 out of 3 user tasks. After developing our lo/mid-fi prototypes, we reviewed them internally within our team and identified strengths and weaknesses for each design.

At this phase of lo-fi prototype evaluation, we decided to adopt, keep and drop some features:

Saved Post & Itinerary Feature

To allow for better organisation of ideas for travel planning, we had decided to allow for posts to be arranged in folders and(E.g. Saved, KIV, etc). This allows the user to better emulate the real-life situation of collating places to visit before putting an itinerary together.

Anonymous texting features

To allow for greater comfort with sharing travelling and living experiences at various hidden gem locations, we decided to adopt a chat and rating system taking inspiration from Reddit, with a forum-based chatting feature and the freewill to vote, comment and start private conversations.

Iterations after interations

Having obtained a preliminary combined prototype, we employ two parallel methods of evaluation for further refinement- usability testing and heuristic evaluation.

Putting it all together…

We performed a second round of usability testing with a total of 9 individuals. They were tasked to perform the 3 User Tasks we have previously defined, and answer a couple of questions regarding the user experience of using the prototype.

Key Results:

Enhance interface aesthetics for a coherent look
Features available to users are comprehensive to travel planning and searching
Some prototype interactions were buggy or unnatural
Loss of focus on “Locals” as the primary target group

Usability Testing

#1 Users should be able select their preferences on the kinds of travel information that they would like to see.

#2 Users feel engaged and exhilarated while interacting with the app. The app should create an immersive experience that captures their attention through dynamic, intuitive controls, and rewarding feedback.

#3 Users should obtain their travel information through a mix of forum and chat features.

Final Prototype

A new way of connecting travelers with locals to help them discover hidden gems and non-touristy sports for their travels.

Try it for Yourself!

Reflections on making this product

The team on the last day of class!

By evaluating the needs of avid travelers and locals of travel destinations, we have created a solution that increases accessibility to authentic and local aspects of destinations, creates a knowledge hub encouraging interaction between travelers and locals, and helps locals discover other hidden gems in their own countries.

Being Open Minded is Key!

Being open-minded has been key for me in the design process of new products. It allows me to explore a wide range of possibilities and embrace diverse perspectives, leading to innovative solutions. By staying receptive to user feedback and remaining flexible in the face of challenges, I can adapt and refine my designs effectively. This mindset also fosters continuous learning and collaboration, enhancing both my problem-solving abilities and the overall quality of my work. Embracing an open-minded approach ensures that I create user-centric products that truly make an impact.

Not Your Expertise, No Problem

I've learned that not being an expert in every area is not a problem; in fact, it's an opportunity. Embracing this mindset allows me to step back and let others take the lead in their areas of expertise. This not only fosters a collaborative environment but also provides a chance for me to learn and grow. Watching and listening to experts in action, I gain valuable insights and skills that I might not have developed on my own. It’s empowering to acknowledge my limitations and rely on the strengths of my team, knowing that together we can achieve much more than I could alone.