Background
Wishpoints is a burgeoning travel platform that aims to empower users with personalized tips and advice that will help them make their travel wishes come true.
Design Challenge
Prospective travelers rely on travel advice from friends, family and trusted bloggers.
However, this content isn't centralized, and planning often requires users to visit multiple sites, talk to multiple people, and compile their findings themselves.
Our task was to conduct user interviews and research to understand what types of travel advice were most useful to users, how they compiled that information, and how we could make this journey easier. We then used that data to develop sketches, wireframes, and a high-fidelity prototype of a responsive web site.
The Squad
I had the pleasure of collaborating with fellow UX designers Lauren Chong and Ryan Hale on this project.
On this project, I served as the primary point of contact for our client, and took the lead on user research.
Browse Page on iPhone and Desktop
Responsive Web Design
Design Process
TOOLS
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12 user interviews with frequent and prospective travelers
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Affinity mapping to synthesize research findings
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Persona development to help client understand and relate to research findings
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User journey creation to understand WishPoints' place in our user's story
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Design Studio to squeeze every possible idea out of our brains
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Lo-Fidelity Wireframes and inVision Prototype
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Round after round of user testing
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High-fidelity mockup and prototype
KEY FINDINGS
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Frequent Travelers
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love sharing their travel experiences, usually through photos uploaded to social media
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are willing to go the extra mile to help friends who are planning a trip, and enjoy sharing the story of their trip
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often mention wanting to start a travel blog, but don't follow through due to concerns about required time and energy
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Prospective Travelers
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like information that's curated by friends, family, and familiar sources (like trusted bloggers)
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crave "authentic" experiences that they couldn't have anywhere else
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want travel information that has context, e.g. itineraries and best-of lists.
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DESIGN DECISIONS
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Provide users with a way to tell stories about their travel adventures that's fun for them.
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Help travelers create engaging content that will be useful for prospective travelers who are planning trips
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Prioritize ease-of-use over everything else, to mitigate the negative associations with blogging and accentuate the positive associations with storytelling
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Provide prospective travelers with information that will help them make informed travel decisions
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Allow prospective travelers to save and share articles that interest them.
PERSONAS
Using the data we collected from our interviews, we developed personas that represent WishPoints' primary users. These personas guided our design decisions, and we kept each in mind while developing our Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Deliverables
DESIGN PROCESS
Because we were developing a site that would live or die by it's user-created content, we knew we would have to design a highly intuitive content creation system — something that travelers would actually want to use to record their travel experiences.
In order to clear this high bar, we employed a highly iterative design process — going through five cycles of design, user testing, and implementing changes before landing on our final high-fidelity mock.
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Reflection
IMPACT
The client felt her needs were met. She was overjoyed to have research to rely on, and personas to help her tell her brand's story to investors.
She also plans to implement the site we've developed, pending further funding.
WHERE WE EXCELLED
Our team had a really strong working dynamic. We were equally able to put our heads together to ideate and design collaboratively AND hand off sections of the project to develop individually. We were able to count on one another to work efficiently and effectively.
I also came away from the project feeling like I learned from my teammates. We didn't only flex our strengths- we shored up one another's weaknesses. Rather than simply taking over sections where I felt strongest, I tried to teach my teammates what I was doing. They did the same for me; by the end of the project, Ryan had helped me begin to master Principle.
WHERE WE CAN GROW
Over the course of this project, we learned a lot about managing client relationships. If we could go back to the beginning, I believe we could do a better job of setting project expectations. It took us two meetings to fully understand what the client wanted, but if we were to do it again, I'm certain we could come to a mutual understanding by the end of the first meeting. After going through the process, I have a better grasp of what questions need to be asked in order to get a clear understanding of a client's underlying needs.
HIGH FIDELITY SCREENS
Create New Article Page in action
Given our 2-week deadline, we had to work hard to prioritize what features were necessary for our MVP. We used the MoSCoW (must have, should have, could have, won't have) method to prioritize, and created a Trello board to stay on top of our assigned tasks.
First, we designed the "Create New Article" page to make Brian's life as easy as possible. Every small detail, like allowing users to drag photos directly into the page, auto-populating the experience's location based on the photo's metadata, and saving the article to finish later, are designed to minimize busy work and maximize thoughtful reflection, so he can record his trip in a way that will be meaningful to him, and useful to prospective travelers like Michelle.
Browse Page
Next, we designed a Browse page that allows users to browse articles based on location, category, article type, or using specific tags. The browse page then shows relevant articles in a card layout, which can be further sorted by "Most Recent" or "Most Popular". The cards make it easy for users to understand exactly what the article is about, decide whether it is relevant to them, and save or share if desired.
From the Browse page, users like Michelle can easily access any article that interests them.
When Michelle clicks on a card that looks interesting, she will be taken to a Published Article page. The Published Article page displays a trip itinerary in full detail, allowing readers to learn all about trips that they might be interested in taking. From that page, they can save or share the entire article OR individual experiences that may look interesting. Additionally, at the bottom of the page, Michelle will be able to check out related articles, that may be of interest to her while she plans her big trip.
Published Article Page
