Swakirti Sidhu
Connect
An application that lets the travellers connect and contribute
Overview
Project Type:
UX research & design, product design
Tools: Illustrator and Figma
Industry: Travel and Tourism.
Methodologies: Iterative.
My Role:
I did competitive analysis and user research by conducting interviews and surveys, ideated, prototyped design and conducted usability testing
Skills:
Competitive analysis, user research, user interviews, wire framing, storytelling, storyboarding, prototyping and usability testing.
Duration: 2 weeks design sprint completed in March 2020 for User Interface Design course at my University
Team Size: One (an individual project)
Motivation behind the project
For this design project we were asked to select a theme from the choices given and decide three main tasks to design for. The three themes were:
-
Urban connectedness
-
Personal Finance
-
Mobile Medical Dossier
I decided to go with the urban connectedness theme because of my personal experience of travelling to new places and sometimes struggling to connect with that new place. Lack of information available or sometimes overwhelmingly presented information constrains me from exploring the new place fully.
The Problem
How do travellers travel and connect with either friends or strangers without sharing any personal details and without overwhelming themselves with maps?
The Solution
A mobile platform that sorts out the options for you and connects you with exciting events and places to go around you. You can also share experience without sharing any personal information.
Design process
I followed design process by conducting research, ideation, prototyping and evaluation.
-
Competitive Analysis
-
User resaerch
-
User interviews
-
User survey
-
As-is scenario
Ideation
-
How might we
-
Sketching new Ideas
-
Mid-fi Design
-
Guerilla testing
-
Storyboarding
-
Usability Testing
-
Next steps
Research
I conducted secondary research and further primary research was done by conducting semi structured interview and survey to understand current needs and requirements of the user. User selected were those who travel and use digital platform in order to explore the area.
Semi structured interviews
6 users who use digital platform while travelling
Survey
20 users who use digital platform while travelling
Sample interview and survey questions
-
Do you often use a digital platform for connecting with the local area while travelling?
-
Do you find the current digital application out in the market useful?
-
Do you value connecting to friends and strangers in the new area?
-
How is your experience with current travelling application?
Research Key Insights
1. Maps are overwhelming while searching
I found that 70% of the user using google maps and yelp found maps displayed while searching around a new place overwhelming.
2. No easy access to change location
80% of the user found easy access to change location option is missing
3. Information regarding public free events is absent
90 % of the users travelling to a new place want to connect with local free events but do not know where to find them
As-Is Scenario
Ideation
The Design Question : How Might We?
1. How might we design more options for the users so that they are not overwhelmed by the maps and find it easy to navigate
2. How might we design the application for the users so that they can change the location according to their requirement and also know about free local events happening in that location
3. How might we improve the experience for the users so that they can share and also know about the area they are travelling without any hassle.
Sketching and Bridging the Gap
I sketched three tasks according to user needs and requirement.
-
Contribute or read highlights of any place within 2 minutes of Logging In
-
Explore without getting enormous information on the screen.
-
Connect with the people around or who had similar experience at that place anytime.
Sketch of three tasks
Prototype
Mid-Fi design
I decided to design the sketches into mid-fi designs and completed guerrilla usability testing using think aloud protocol with 6 of my User Interface Design Course classmates.
total%20final.png)
Iteration
4 out of 6 users said "Three icons at the top of the contribution screen is confusing and repetitive"
Issue 1:
Information Architecture of the contribution page is not intuitive
Heuristic Violated:
Match between system and the real world
Iteration:
Removed top three navigation tabs from the contribution page.
I made sure the next iteration included easy access which is less confusing
Storyboards
The storyboards display Home screen which shows options according to user location. User location can be changed and according to the location content on the page will also change. The storyboards capture St George as the location of the user and according to that the options are shown on each screen.
Storyboards 1 and gaps reduced
-
Explore new places without overwhelming with maps
-
Free local events avaible on the Home Screen
-
Know more about the area or contribute yourself
-2-final.png)
Storyboards 2 and gaps reduced
-
Options are sorted into categories and not overwhelming users with maps while exploring.
Storyboards 3 and gaps reduced
-
Connecting with friends and strangers without having privacy issue
Design Specification
Colour
#000000
Foreground Text
#FFFFFF
Screen background and Foreground Text of interactive elements
#1F5DFB
Screen background of splash screen and interactive element background
#F2F2F2
Screen background of information regarding restaurants
Font
Category
Font Size
Logo
SF Pro Display 36
Headings
SF Pro Display 24
Sub-headings
SF Pro Display 18
Title of Icons
Details written below sub heading
SF Pro Display 15
SF Pro Display 14
The users who are using this application would be the one who are travelling and looking for some place to go on their vacation, it is their relaxation time and therefore soothing colours like white and blue are chosen for the design.
Evaluation
I completed usability testing with 5 users who use online applications while travelling anywhere new and conducted a semi structure interview after every usability test.
Users loved the colour scheme and consistency in the design. 2 users suggested that the contribute and explore screen can be combined while 3 users felt the current design helped them navigate through the design easily.
Next Steps
I would conduct more usability tests and iterate so that the product is designed according to the user needs and requirements.