PackMe Buddy - Mobile Application
Travel with your personal buddy today!
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PackMe Buddy is a travel scheduling mobile app with an in-app buddy to pack on the trip! This was an individual challenge conducted over the span of 4 weeks, with the user research conducted with an additional UX designer (team of 2).
UX Research - data collection through user interviews, surveys, and external research on the industry and market competitors
UX Design - including brainstorming, wireframing, prototyping, testing, and iterations
UI Styling - logo and in-app designs and illustrations, selection of fonts/icons/imagery, implementation of high-fidelity prototypes
MY ROLE
THE PROBLEM: GLOBAL TOURISM
According to the UNWTO, the travel industry has been experiencing a sharp decline in global tourism since the outbreak of COVID-19, with a 72% decline in 2020 and a 69% decline in 2021. We have observed that people are struggling with their financial and emotional stress to find the most suitable deals, which is causing them to either travel less or constantly transition between different travel applications.
SOLUTION: A NEW TRAVEL APPLICATION
An in-app buddy can be a friend that helps travellers with building itineraries and offers support during the trip itself.
The purpose of the design is to address the following goals:
1: Extensive Schedule Building
Varying types of transportation, living, and food/entertainment can be booked and
arranged into personalized itineraries
2: Resolve Trip Concerns
AI buddy is available to answer any
questions that arise during planning AND
while users are traveling
3: Provide A Travel Buddy
A way for both solo and group
travellers to have a virtual companion
to lower stress levels
MY DESIGN JOURNEY
1- User Research
· Research plan
· User interviews
· External research
· User persona
2- Define & Ideate
· User insights
· Business value
· Features analysis
· User journey map
3- Develop & Testing
· User flow
· Wireframes
· Lo-Fi prototype
· User testing
4- UI Style &
Iterations
· UI style guide
· Prototype iterations
· Hi-fi prototype
5- Delivery & Future Outlook
· Key takeaways
· Areas for improvement
RESEARCH PLAN
Research Objective
As a user researcher, I want to understand what people value and prioritize about their likes and dislikes during travels.
Research Guidelines
Goals:
#1 - Understand how the pandemic has influenced travel decisions
#2 - Find out the areas of travelling that are inconvenient for users
Research Questions:
#1 - How does travelling before the pandemic compare to the present or the future?
#2 - What are users expecting from a travel experience, and how does that differ from reality?
USER RESEARCH
We conducted 6 user interviews and collected 46 online surveys over the span of 1 week. The criteria for selecting participants were:
between the ages of 24 to 55 and must have had travel experience prior to the pandemic.
Financial Issues:
Almost 50% of survey results and 67% of interviewees indicated financial concerns being a major impact on travel decisions.
Key User Findings
Why it matters?
We want to provide users with easy ways to book within their budget and review all their finances within our solution.
Top 3 Trip Irritations:
1) Losing Belongings (28%)
2) Getting Scammed (26%)
3) Flights Delayed/Cancelled (24%)
Why it matters?
Our solution ideas should reduce the potential for these problems to occur.
Pandemic Assessment:
· Most interviewees do not travel as frequently compared to before the pandemic
· Concerns include: mask restrictions, personal health, financial stability
Why it matters?
We want to explore methods that can relieve users of their current stress and concerns.
Top Reasons for Travel Locations:
1) The food, culture, and attractions
2) Vibes/atmosphere in certain cities
3) New travel destinations
4) Spending time with companions
Why it matters?
Being aware of what users enjoy during their travels can help us optimize our solution to encourage greater engagement.
COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS
In order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses in the market, I conducted an analysis of several major competitors in the travel industry.
Through a review of their mobile applications, I documented the onboarding process and comparable features between the different companies. From there, I was able to extract some of the key differentiations to highlight how “PackMe Buddy” would be an asset in the market.
USER PERSONA
Upon categorizing our research data into usable findings and considering user feelings through an empathy map, we developed a user persona that reflects user perspectives and expectations.
USER INSIGHTS
A traveller needs a budget-friendly and well-planned schedule to experience the most of a trip, because of the financial restraints that have grown since the pandemic and the limited time they can allot to travelling.
How might we develop an app that allows users to easily map out their travel itinerary without having to transition between different apps, in a time-efficient and stress-reduced manner to ultimately feel positive about their travel planning experience?
BUSINESS VALUE PROPOSITION
My organization is developing a mobile application to help travellers find the best travel options and prepare a travel schedule to reduce their financial and emotional stress.
We’re better because we can arrange complete travel experiences through scheduling and continual support throughout a trip.
We’re believable because we work in collaboration with reputable international corporations and have established policies to address internal and external affairs.
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
From there, I brainstormed ideas that can be implemented into the mobile application. After categorizing my ideas, I gathered feedback from other UX designers and potential users to vote on the strongest features, which were then prioritized for me to establish more focus on the potential solutions. All features were analyzed based on the level of difficulty in executing the feature and the value it brings to our users.
Top Features
The key features were identified along the low complexity and high-impact quadrant for more efficient and quality results. Within the area of focus, the top features were finalized based on those which had a stronger correlation with user expectations as per our research findings.
Creating Full Schedules
To reduce user frustrations with transitioning between different apps and will offer easy itinerary references.
Read Ratings & Reviews
Can provide insights for users to know what to expect, to hopefully reduce conflicts during the trip.
Popular Recommendations
To encourage excitement and desire for users to make reservations or plan their travels on the app.
USER JOURNEY MAP
The user’s thoughts and emotions were taken into account based on our understanding of user excitement and frustrations from research. This was applied to a journey map where we considered more extensively, how users will walk through an experience with the app.
USER FLOW
Next, a user flow chart was created for the onboarding process and the main feature: to plan and travel with the in-app buddy. This includes scheduling activities and asking the buddy questions, so that we can focus on how to add bookings, access itineraries, and connect with the digital buddy!
WIREFRAMES
After sketching out my thoughts, I drafted the low-fidelity wireframes to convey my visual design. Below are some of the core design decisions:
USER TESTING
Guerrilla user testing sessions were conducted with the main objective to identify any confusion or lack of flow in the navigation of the app. After 4 testing sessions, users were assessed based on the success rate within 5 different tasks. To gain further insights, I followed up with users during the session to better understand what they found to be pleasing in the experience and the types of struggles that hindered their navigation.
PROTOTYPE ITERATIONS
Based on the testing feedback, I analyzed the results to determine what changes could be implemented to strengthen the application.
UI STYLE GUIDE
HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
The visual design was applied to the prototype alongside the iterated changes. Below are the screens for some of the core features.
Try out the new mobile app for
PackMe Buddy!
DELIVERY & FUTURE OUTLOOK
Key Takeaways:
A wider collection of user research (both primary and secondary) can help with a more thorough analysis.
It’s important to refine our work at every stage because it always builds on.
Next Steps/Areas for Improvement:
To ensure consistent information across different sections of the app
Further establish prototype elements for more professionalism
Conduct more extensive research on the tourism industry to identify trends and current practices
