Enabling a simpler way to plan trips with a large group of friends
-Travel Planning-
Duration
3 months
My Role
User Research, Concept generation, Prototyping, Wireframing, User Journey, User Testing, Optimal, UI Design, Rapid prototyping, StoryBoarding
Team
3 Designers
Overview
We designed a product that facilitates planning among friends and family who are traveling in large groups. Utilizing a new AI feature, we were able to hone into the endless possibilities of travel planning and make it accessible to the users.
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Have you ever had a hard time planning a trip for a large group of friends?
After identifying the problem through personal experiences, we set out to validate whether this was an actual problem or not for users. After defining our target audience to be young adults (aged roughly between 25-35), we began conducting interviews and surveys to gain further insights
7+
Interviews
To understand the consuming habits of trip planning apps
15+
Survey Participants
To understand the user's Goals of planning trips
What were our findings?
Meet
Touristy Tom!
Who are we designing for?
We were able to develop our persona with the insights from our primary research
SYNTHESIZING THE DATA
We learned about their planning habits
🤳
Users often had to toggle between multiple apps while planning trips
🥷🏽🦸♂️🦹🏼🧛🏼
Users had issues coordinating with large groups
🗺️
Most users are flexible in planning their itinerary and are looking for unique and customizable experiences
How might we help Thomas in his collaborative planning for the group trip he is planning with his friends Trisha and John?
With the help of our 'How Might We' statement, we were able to brainstorm concepts that would help enable Tom to finish his task of planning a trip with his friends.
With this, we went on to do a competitive review. For the review, we analyzed 6 websites, looking at specific features like - collaboration and sharing, community and reviews, itinerary management, etc. This allowed us to identify opportunities within our product.
USER TESTING
Testing our Wireframes
With our initial wireflows, we performed user testing to understand how the product translates with our target audience and whether the features can be understood or requires additional explanation. We asked the participants to complete the following flows:
Task 1: Try to understand what the app is used for and Sign up
Task 2: Starting from the homepage, try to curate a specific itinerary for you.
Task 3: Add people to the collaborative group then add events to the collaborative itinerary
Task 4: Find a location you want to visit and share or broadcast it with your friends.
Task 5: Collaborate with your group in finding a place to visit by sharing your filter settings.
ITERATION
Making the fixes
Feature 1:
Understand the app features through the intro
Goal: To give a gist of what to expect within the app and how to use it
Test Findings:
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Users wanted an introduction to the app and an understanding of how to use it
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Users wanted a way to skip the ‘Sign In’ process and browse the app.
Feature 2:
Use Magic AI tool to fine-tune your plans
Goal: To allow users to curate custom plans that fit their requirements.
With the use of the AI feature, the users are able to have a conversation-based interaction similar to asking a friend for suggestions.
This feature allows the users to ask any question related to travel for example 'Do I need a Schengen visa for my layover in France?'
Test Findings:
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Users were not able to interpret the Magic wand icon, one of the participants assumed it meant ‘refresh’.
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Participants had difficulty finding the prompt for the AI generator.
Feature 3:
Collaborate with your group better
Goal: To enable creating groups and collaborative planning
Features:
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Users are able to keep track of their upcoming trips
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Easily add groups and itineraries from saved bookmarks.
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Having a group chat allows users to discuss about the plan easily and efficiently.
Test Findings:
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Users were not clear on whether the budgeting was for the group or individual.
Feature 4:
Share and broadcast your favorites with friends!
Goal: To eliminate the need to switch between multiple apps.
Easily share the great finds with your selected groups, even adding a message to describe what you like about the place.
Members of the group are able to like the shared result, which can be reflected in the saved page.
Test Findings:
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Participants were not able to understand the icons used.
Fixes we made:
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The icon was replaced with a symbol that is easy to understand and familiar to the users already as a send feature popularly used in social media.
Flow 5:
Share filter settings with groups.
Goal: For a unified searching experience
Making sure everyone's voice is heard has never been easier. Members of the group are able to add/remove filters, this helps everyone see the same results and find something suitable to everyone's needs.
Test Findings:
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They were able to perform the function but questioned how the other group members would know about a change made to the filters.
Fixes we made:
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An additional screen was added to show that when a group member changes a filter, all the group members get a notification.
REFLECTION
Projected Impact:
- The need to toggle between apps is eliminated, allowing for a unified experience.
- All members of the group feel heard and their suggestions considered.
- Eliminates the experience of everyone seeing different things and causing confusion.
- The use of AI allows for a spontaneous and customizable experience for those who are interested.
Future Scope:
- Create a character for the AI, "Ask Al" (Short for Albert). This would allow for the AI feature to be more approachable and the experience would feel more conversational.
- Ability to match calendars so planning dates is simplified