In order to arrive at a final design, we had to solve for a frustration regarding our assigned topic of travel by creating ecology maps, conduct interviews, create mental models and personas and finally, a product that reflects our findings.
Our research identified 3 areas of frustration which we could develop:
1. Tour guides were losing their importance to travelers due to digital resources but also had no great way of communicating with each other
2. People were frustrated and bored by and during unavoidable travel delays
3. Travel became generic and boring with all tourists sharing similar experiences
We decided that the 3rd frustration had the most potential and we began working off of the premise that "Every Local Is a " and went from there. My role was to
- conduct user research
- create user flows and journeys
- create the SideTrek site map
- conceptualize the business plan
- create the final presentation
I used my experience as a working UX designer to make sure the site had the proper flow and information architecture and my past from business school to create the SWOT analysis and make sure the site would be profitable.
We started from the beginning of concept development and presented our ideas in an organized site map style.
We sketched some site layouts, personas and brainstormed on site names from Ask A Local to Travelmatch.
After our research was completed and our ecology map created, we decided to design for the leisure traveler and the things influencing them most which are friends family and unique experiences
We quickly identified that memorable travel experiences involved two parties, the traveler and the local (tour guide) and each had motivations and reasons of their own. However, they both needed ONE site to connect them.
SIDEtrek site map
There are 4 steps of interacting with the site:
-Awareness is how each party learns about it
-Information is how each party gets acquainted with the site and the information on it
-Interaction are the engaging elements of the site where users start creating their travel maps or seeing ratings & reviews
-Rewards giving users motivations and reflecting their values with the hopes that the traveler becomes the tour-guide
User flow showing the path of both the Local and the tourist and where they intersect.
*visual design created by Garrett and Casper
The user's profile shows their rating, their chosen and recommended hangouts as well as their itineraries complete with interactive maps, cities they are experts in, social media contacts and pending rewards, if any.
The interests locals and travelers have chosen upon site entrance are available for them on their profile and are used to match them to their local tour guide twin, much like a dating site matches people. Each user also builds an interactive suggestions map which locals can save to their itinerary and rate.
To protect users and make them feel safer, they have a choice to connect with the local and discuss their recommendations if they chose to. Communcation can me made by sending inbox messages or via Skype. Travelers can go as little as saving custom recommended itineraries or as far as hanging out in person (depending on their comfort level). However, the more the local is involved with the traveler, the more they get rewarded and help create lasting traveler experiences.
Locals get to partake in neighborhood pride and support their favorite local business. The rewards however, are points based and are not driven by the by the local business themselves as to not sway the local. The traveler gets to review the experience to make sure the local made an honest and proper recommendation.
The mobile nature of the travel experience also means that our entire site is available on mobile devices. This works especially great when claiming rewards.
We thought it would be great to book a local the way you might book a hotel or car at your travel destination and provided contextual links on travel booking sites.
