Process

Persona

Questionnaire

Even though I am a traveller myself who plans my own trips, I was having trouble thinking about the user outside my own perspective and experiences.

There are different types of people when it comes to travelling.  Such as those who plan in advance compared to those who like to figure it out as they’re there.

I am definitely not the type to not be prepared.

“I’m pretty laid back when I go on my trips and plan for them. I like to take things day by day, because the whole point of vacation is to be stress free. The most/only stressful part of planning a trip is the actual part of planning it. Figuring out the best dates prices and places are the most stressful.”

“I am a very organised person so I like knowing majority of my plan ahead of time. However, I believe unexpected things can happen and you discover new things when you are at a new place… plans change! So I am flexible and give wiggle room to my itinerary to adjust for those changes.”

This helped me to understand the type of traveller I was aiming towards, so I could cater towards their approach to planning. I identified their behaviours and motivations of travelling and planning. I came up with the ideal persona.

There is a traveller in nearly everyone

‍

Open Dataset: Wikivoyage

Wikivoyage is an open dataset, it is considered as the ‘world encyclopaedia’. The Wikipedia version of the world wide travel guide. I am quite amazed by this resource, I have never come across it by the amounts of rich and useful information.

Data and information used for my product/service will be sourced from Wikivoyage’s articles. It is the basis of material for the product/service I wish to deliver. This data would be helpful and useful for travellers.

I had trouble understanding if Wikivoyage was considered an open dataset. So I asked my friend studying a Masters’ of IT to not only check out how we can use their data for our own product/service, but to also help me (a designer lost in the digital world) understand how products can use pre-built data. They simplified it for me, which I really appreciate.

Let me tell you, I went through so much confusion.

‍

Value Proposition Canvas

I looked in the perspective from the traveller in their aim to plan and prepare their travels and what they already experience when doing this. Although there were many pain points, it was important that I only focus on the pain points that my product was able to solve.

My product couldn’t do everything at once.

Brainstorming the canvas helped me to visualise the pain points and ideate what I could do that was in my control. The final result of my Value Proposition Canvas helped to simplify what my product is bringing more clearly.

We’re getting down to what’s important - the Value.

‍

Storyboard

Feedback Validation of the Value Proposition

I sketched my product idea to walkthrough how the service works and its rough features.

From their feedback, it confirmed that my product is useful and clearly communicates the value.

Okay, good – my idea seemed pretty solid.

“But what if it could do this?”

There were suggestions to add features and increase the value to do more than it could. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I could develop those features. But as I was only focusing on the planning of activities, I kept it simple and straightforward to that task. Not let it cloud the main function and value it’s supposed to fulfil for travellers.

‍

User Stories

In this studio, I was introduced to a lot of methods and techniques. We used the storymapping technique to help develop the user story.

This made it easier to manage where my development was going. Because I wasn’t sure where to start. Building the application in the way the user thinks, building it from a user perspective with the parts you need to complete the story.

Navigating the user flow of how to plan an itinerary has been a challenge as I attempt to cater to people’s travel planning habits. Everyone might go a different way compared to others. However the basic essence of components in the user flow remains common. How they might go about planning their itinerary may run the steps differently. So I made an ideal basic user flow and try to make it such a simple process to plan an itinerary digitally.

‍

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

We build an MVP to ensure the minimum product meets the needs of travellers and continue to strengthen those priority features. Sometimes I would get too ambitious with the idea, for me to realise it’s something travellers don’t really need – which would have made it more complicated for me, the designer. Or it was too simple that turns out it’s something that needs to be included. I iterated this MVP so many times with many small changes throughout my development process when working on wireframes.

Look at me drafting the first version of my MVP while we're in at stay-at-home mode.

‍

Ideating through Wireframe Sketching

Identifying the user story and MVP, I had the information I needed to sketch the minimum wireframes and begin building the system for continuous iterations.  

When developing the service, I solely focused on the wireframing. The content, structure, functions, the layout needed for planning itineraries. And continued to iterate on this MVP. Ensuring there were features and buttons and functions to accommodate the toolkit of people planning. I didn’t manage to focus much on UI and brand styling, it’s something I didn’t prioritise.

‍

User-Testing

Doing this online when I can’t meet in person, the user couldn’t directly access my work. Screen-sharing on video calls saved me – communication for this was a slightly difficult encounter. I would have users leave comments and notes on my screens of their thinking. Or sometimes I observed what they would do, I ask them questions if they were having trouble and they would tell me their thinking on each screen. All with the goal of planning an itinerary.

This was about identifying useability issues within their interactions when selecting certain items or moving things around the screen. There were a lot of iterations each time to small things because often the users wouldn’t make the connection, or their first instinct wouldn’t be the intent I designed certain parts of the interface as. I tried to make it intuitively simple as I could. How?

By Letting the User Take Control

I let the user take control of how they would use the platform to plan their own itinerary by using it as a tool to how they would do it based on what was provided. Looking at what the user needed and ensuring I would be able to support that by providing functions or certain elements in the interface – I made changes like including the map and displaying the time on the itinerary, as they were both crucial.

The Proposition

Travail

A platform where you can plan your itineraries for your travel trips. Travail will allow future travellers to save time, ease the mind and make their lives easier. Designed to help organise their destination research and plan the activities of the itinerary easier and simpler. So travellers can gain a fulfilling travel experience.

‍

How does it make use of the Wikivoyage open data?

Research and Plan at the same time

Travail works to be a travel guide too. To provide travellers with information that lets them research, receive helpful advice or to learn more info about certain landmarks and points of interest.

Made by travellers, for travellers

Wikivoyage source is open content contributed by travellers around the world, the data is a reliable source of information and is made by actual travellers and locals to help other travellers.

‍

Retrospective

Dream big, start small! And FOCUS

There was always a common theme throughout this project. To remember to always stay on achieving the main core value, before expanding it further. We were only making a minimum viable product. I had to be careful to not go into too much detail in developing everything. I have a tendency to get too ahead of myself. That energy is good, but I need to remember to come back down to Earth.  

Simplifying the Complex

I found designing the system of planning itineraries was honestly a challenge and confusing when doing this on my own. It was complex and I wanted to make it as simple as possible for users! But that’s understandable of course! A complex, overwhelming task of planning travel trips takes into consideration many aspects into how users make their decisions. So it was important that the service followed a simple interface and process. But also ensure that there is a fixed system with flexibility for planning. Do you get what I mean? Hannah was confused a lot trying to break this down.

User Stories

This course constantly always had me looking in the perspective of the user. It’s like the user always informed what I was going to design. I was driven by stories that represent the understanding of the user’s world. I’m a traveller myself, the user and the designer.  There may have been an influence there, but I had to make sure it’s something that wouldn’t only satisfy myself. It’s interesting in trying to match the worlds together.  

Final Thoughts

I tried new techniques and frameworks to help brainstorm information and nudge my thinking. There is lots more room for improvement in this product proposition. An area I want to improve on is mapping information architecture and wireframing. Sometimes I would get lost on what I should do next. Whether I was doing the right thing?

There were lots of feedback validation involved. It helped make my design decisions. Understanding the value first helped the design process move forward and set the important goal, especially through a ‘fast’ iterative approach.

Overall, I would say there were lots of confusion, doubts, feelings of relief, reassurance involved that challenged my self-confidence, motivation and resilience. Combined with the impact of COVID-19, there’s something else I learned in general through this. I learned to be more open and welcoming. Learning to appreciate feedback/advice and consider this and give it a chance. Learning to appreciate my own and people’s differences. And also, Learning to appreciate the things we take for granted.

I hold this project very closely to my heart. It’s something I am very proud of. From the opportunity behind the idea to the progress I have achieved. A lot came with it. It was quite a journey.

‍