The goal of the research was to empathise with those who travel frequently and understand how and why they currently discover, share and record their experiences. It will also be important to understand their needs, wants and pain points both while out there travelling and when interacting with digital platforms.
User Research
4 participants were interviewed (3 female and 1 male), all of whom are millennials with experience travelling abroad for extended periods of time.
All users had a need to record where they went and recorded their travels in a note app on their phone. These notes are often then shared with people who are interested via email, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, but rarely used otherwise. Most travellers also use Instagram heavily to record their travels, and had a number of stories they loved telling people.
“
I kept notes of every place, day by day - bullet points of funny moments. More memories than I want to remember - what that person did when they were pissed, that game of volleyball, that person we met.
There was no other option - It’s a quick way to write stuff down without having to think too much about it. It does a job.
Notes are saved on my phone - I haven’t looked at it since I went travelling so it’s a bit pointless!
[Q: Whose opinion do you value?] A: Well travelled friends, who are like minded people, same age group so they probably liking the same things, financially probably in a similar place.
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Ideation Feedback
4 millennials who are experienced travellers were shown the storyboards and asked to comment on which they believe would hold the most value for them. This feedback then informed the wire-framing stage, which was put into a
paper prototype and sent out to the same 4 people for review.
“
I would remove yourself from Tripadvisor. Your USP is a response to a world of fake recommendations. The internet has become a minefield of lies when it comes to recommendations. Your app is real recommendations from real people that you trust.
Importing from insta is great. And whether you can save ‘favourites’ or highlights like insta does what be fun.
You have all the rigour I think it just needs to feel easy for people. Ask yourself quite literal questions like ‘how easy is this for someone to fill in? How much would I want to fill in after going on a holiday? When searching for a holiday how much information would I really want?’.
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Outcome & Reflection
This project was particularly challenging as the scope of possibilities was limitless. The research and ideation phase gave plenty of ideas to work from, but when it came to putting it all together in one interface there were lots of problems to solve.
The research indicates a valuable market opportunity for a growing sector and it was interesting hearing how many travellers still use basic means to record and share their experiences. It would be an interesting project to pursue further.