Wayfarer | Travel App
Wayfarer is an app that I created for users to track the places they have been, journal down their thoughts, and share their travel experiences with others.
It was made to be simple and intuitive to allow users to easily share their adventures. Users are encouraged to upload photos, videos, and notes to the app so that they may share their trips with friends, family, and other travelers. The posts can then serve as inspiration or recommendations for those trying to plan their own trips. All uploads also serve as a great way for users to look back on their past memories.
End-to-end UI/UX Designer
2 weeks
End-to-end product of an iOS app that allows travelers to share and remember their travel experiences.
Step One: Research
Research Plan, Secondary Research, Competitive Analysis, Provisional Personas, and User Interviews
Research Goals
Gain insight on how users usually share travel experiences.
Discover how users document their travels.
Understand the impact of social media on travel.
Competitive Analysis
Since this idea was one of my own creation, there was a lot to unpack in order to better understand the problem I was trying to solve. Doing market research exposed to me the range of those traveling and driving reasons behind their trips. I also looked at current competitors in the market to see what needs they were meeting and where there were gaps in the market. I discovered there aren’t as many apps targeted on recording travel experiences since other social media platforms like Instagram serve as indirect, but big competitors.
User Interviews
With the target audience established and some provisional personas made, I was then able to recruit some people who fit those requirements to interview. These 1:1 interviews shed insights into the fact that:
Most of them are dependent on Instagram to post their photos. A few of them mentioned that they save photos on their computers but don’t really look back on them because it takes too much effort. As such, there’s an opportunity to create an app that would make it easier for people to look back on their photos and notes.
Many of the interviewees also mentioned either getting recommendations from friends or offering recommendations to friends who are traveling. Incorporating a way for people to share their specific travel details and locations could help differentiate Wayfarer from becoming just another social media platform.
If I see a nice photo, I’ll look up the area and
think to myself that I want to go there one day.
- People tend to post photos to a social media platform when travelling (instagram, snapchat, wechat, etc.)
- People enjoy taking lots of photos while they are travelling.
- People rely on photos to share their experiences with friends and family.
- People will ask friends for suggestions if they have gone to that place before.
- People prefer to travel with a small group of people as opposed to being alone.
Step Two: Define
User Persona, Empathy Map, Storyboard, HMW, Sitemap, Project Goals, Feature Roadmap, Task Flow, User Flow, and Product Requirements
User Persona
I created a persona that would represent the different user voices heard throughout the interviews. Any time I was uncertain about a feature or design, I referred back to Jason, the persona, in order to stay aligned with the user goals.
Framing the Question
With a better grasp at user needs, frustrations, and goals, I framed the questions that we were trying to solve.
Sitemap
Next, it was time to start figuring out how people would interact with the app and how it would all be laid out. I listed all the features that Wayfarer could potentially have into a roadmap and prioritized them by what I thought would be most critical to have. I was then able to take the highest priority features and compile them into a sitemap to think about the hierarchy.
User and Task Flows
Posting and connecting with others is a huge part of Wayfarer. However, interacting with other’s posts and using those ideas to fuel your own travels is equally important. As such, I created a task and user flow that would help ensure I fully fleshed out both of these aspects. In making these flows, it was also critical to minimize the number of steps a user would need to take.
Step Three: Design
Wireframes Sketches, Wireframes, Moodboard, Brand Style Tile, Logo Design, UI Design, and UI Kit
Brand Logo
When speaking to people about travel, they frequently expressed excitement and fondness for past trips. They also talked about being inspired by seeing photos of other's trips. To help capture these feelings, I established Wayfarer’s brand to be adventurous, active, inspiring, and inviting. Each component designed would help elevate these values.
Brand Style Tile
Wayfarer is meant to showcase the vibrancy of the photos and videos that users produce. As such, it’s important that the design chosen for Wayfarer compliments this purpose. That meant taking extra care in aspects such as picking colors that wouldn’t detract from the media content.
Wireframes
Referencing the product requirements, I began to sketch out where the features and components would all be on the various screens for the app.
Final Design
Step Four: Test
Hi Fidelity Prototype, Usability Testing, and Affinity Map
Usability Testing
Test Objective #1: Determine if users can find and use the app’s features.
Test Objective #2: Discover any issues with the flow and overall experience of the features.
Part A
Scenario: You’re browsing through Wayfarer on your time off. One of your good friends wrote about the Superbloom that she saw. You read up on her post.
Task 1: You’d like to remember the places she went to for future reference. Add her post to your bucket list.
Task 2: You’d like to look over the posts that you’ve added to your bucket list. Where would you go to find your bucket list?
Part B
Scenario: You’re on a trip in Italy right now. In order to stay connected with your friends and family, you decide to make a post that evening while you’re in the hotel.
Task 3: Create a new trip and write an entry that tells about your adventures for the day. You can publish it once you’re done.
Part C
Scenario: You’re at the end of your trip to Iceland. In the past few days, you’ve been making posts daily about your trip. You’d like to add one more entry to the trip.
Task 4: Create a new entry for the Iceland trip and then make a post.
Affinity Map
Overall, all five users were able to complete the usability test. However, there were a few common patterns that emerged.
Reflection & Next Steps
With the areas of frustrations addressed in the revisions, the next step would be to test the prototype again to see if the solutions meet the needs. Beyond just further testing though, there are a lot of ways that this project could grow and expand.
Users were curious to see how multiple entries would be displayed under a trip. Building out that design and interaction would be part of the next iteration.
There were also a lot of features that I had come up with for the feature roadmap. Due to time constraints, some features were designated to be built out in the future. Some areas that could bring more value to this app are allowing multiple users to create a trip and entry together. Further exploring in itinerary generators or personalized recommendations would also be a meaningful avenue to pursue.
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