From Overwhelm to One-Tap City Discovery
From Overwhelm to One-Tap City Discovery
Built a mobile app that turns scattered city guides into a seamless experience. Users can explore, plan, and enjoy a city’s best offerings without the noise.
Built a mobile app that turns scattered city guides into a seamless experience. Users can explore, plan, and enjoy a city’s best offerings without the noise.
Built a mobile app that turns scattered city guides into a seamless experience. Users can explore, plan, and enjoy a city’s best offerings without the noise.
The Problem
The Problem
When people are new to a city or want to see new places or experience the culture and social events, etc around them, they often are confused and overwhelmed by the number of apps, website blogs and social media content that they have to skim through which is time-consuming and may not give the ideal result every time.
When people are new to a city or want to see new places or experience the culture and social events, etc around them, they often are confused and overwhelmed by the number of apps, website blogs and social media content that they have to skim through which is time-consuming and may not give the ideal result every time.
Project Goal
Project Goal
To design a one-stop mobile application to easily explore all the things that a city offers and plan their journeys quick and easy.
To design a one-stop mobile application to easily explore all the things that a city offers and plan their journeys quick and easy.
To design a one-stop mobile application to easily explore all the things that a city offers and plan their journeys quick and easy.
Process
Process
Solution-Glimpse
Solution-Glimpse
Impact
Impact
Reduced the time taken to plan a Day-out by 20 minutes. Scroll down to read more about the research and design decisions taken to solve the problem.
Reduced the time taken to plan a Day-out by 20 minutes. Scroll down to read more about the research and design decisions taken to solve the problem.
Discover
Discover
To validate the problem statement and understand the exact issues people face while planning a day out, I started out by conducting research interview sessions to empathize with the participants and uncover pain points.
To validate the problem statement and understand the exact issues people face while planning a day out, I started out by conducting research interview sessions to empathize with the participants and uncover pain points.
To validate the problem statement and understand the exact issues people face while planning a day out, I started out by conducting research interview sessions to empathize with the participants and uncover pain points.
Also, during the interviews, I asked the participants various questions about how they plan their travels, how they find new places to visit, etc, and created a user journey map based on their responses.
Also, during the interviews, I asked the participants various questions about how they plan their travels, how they find new places to visit, etc, and created a user journey map based on their responses.
Also, during the interviews, I asked the participants various questions about how they plan their travels, how they find new places to visit, etc, and created a user journey map based on their responses.
Persona creation
Persona creation
Persona creation
Based on the user research, here is a persona representing the participants recruited for the user research which was created based on the answers given by the participants during the interview.
Based on the user research, here is a persona representing the participants recruited for the user research which was created based on the answers given by the participants during the interview.
Based on the user research, here is a persona representing the participants recruited for the user research which was created based on the answers given by the participants during the interview.
Journey Mapping
Journey Mapping
Journey Mapping
Goal: To discover something new to do during the weekend and plan a day out.
Goal: To discover something new to do during the weekend and plan a day out.
Time taken to complete the journey: 30 minutes. Overall experience: Negative.
The participant group validated the initial problem statement. Additionally, research also revealed a few other issues that the users encountered such as irregular content from social media influencers, no proper filter results in internet searches, and also, users had difficulty finding local events happening. Users also needed additional help to plan and organize their travels in a better way.
Time taken to complete the journey: 30 minutes. Overall experience: Negative.
The participant group validated the initial problem statement. Additionally, research also revealed a few other issues that the users encountered such as irregular content from social media influencers, no proper filter results in internet searches, and also, users had difficulty finding local events happening. Users also needed additional help to plan and organize their travels in a better way.
The user group confirmed the initial assumptions which were made in the problem statement. Additionally, research also revealed a few other issues that the users encountered such as irregular content from social media influencers, no proper filter results from internet searches, and users had difficulty finding local events happening. Users also needed additional help to plan and organize their travels in a better way,
Based on the interview responses and the journey mapping, I undertook qualitative analysis which included organizing the responses into themes and discovering insights.
Based on the interview responses and the journey mapping, I undertook qualitative analysis which included organizing the responses into themes and discovering insights.
Key pain points discoverd in the planning process are:
Key pain points discoverd in the planning process are:
Key pain points discoverd in the planning process are:
Unorganized content from social media influencers
Outdated news articles and vague internet search results
Users had difficulty to differentiate between similar places
Users needed help to plan and organize their travels
Unorganized content from social media influencers
Outdated news articles and vague internet search results
Users had difficulty to differentiate between similar places
Users needed help to plan and organize their travels
Unorganized content from social media influencers
Outdated news articles and vague internet search results
Users had difficulty to differentiate between similar places
Users needed help to plan and organize their travels
To check if there are existing solutions to the identified problems and find the gaps in the market, I conducted a competitive analysis.
To check if there are existing solutions to the identified problems and find the gaps in the market, I conducted a competitive analysis.
To check if there are existing solutions to the identified problems and find the gaps in the market, I conducted a competitive analysis.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive Analysis
From the analysis, it can be seen that there is no one-stop solution for all of the identified issues.
From the analysis, it can be seen that there is no one stop solution for all of the identified issues.
From the analysis, it can be seen that there is no one stop solution for all of the identified issues.
Define
Define
To solve the above-found issues I started to brainstorm ideas and decided to implement and design three major potential solutions.
User stories to resolve the pain points
User stories to resolve the pain points
To solve the above-found issues I started to brainstorm ideas and decided to implement and design three major potential solutions.
To solve the above-found issues I started to brainstorm ideas and decided to implement and design three major potential solutions.
Site Map and User Flow
Site Map and User Flow
In order to translate the design specs into wireframes and prototypes, I defined the site map in which there are three main screens: Explore, Guides, Itinerary with help of which users can plan their travels. Followed by sitemap I defined the user flow a typical user would follow in order to plan a day-out trip.
In order to translate the design specs into wireframes and prototypes, I defined the site map in which there are three main screens: Explore, Guides, Itinerary with help of which users can plan their travels. Followed by sitemap I defined the user flow a typical user would follow in order to plan a day out trip.
In order to translate the design specs into wireframes and prototypes, I defined the site map in which there are three main screens: Explore, Guides, Itinerary with help of which users can plan their travels. Followed by sitemap I defined the user flow a typical user would follow in order to plan a day out trip.
Ideation and Iterations
Wire-frame iterations
Wire-frame iterations
After defining the design specifications, I started sketching different variations of wireframes and translating them into Figma. Here are some of the different ideas and iteration of the explore screen.
After defining the design specifications, I started sketching different variations of wireframes and translating them into Figma. Here are some of the different ideas and iteration of the explore screen.
After defining the design specifications, I started sketching different variations of wireframes and translating them into Figma. Here are some of the different ideas and iteration of the explore screen.
To get started, came up with a basic and familiar idea of having all the places and activities categorized into different sections and colors on a scrollable map. However, decided not to implement this design as the main idea was to improve the discoverability and let the users make an easy decision to visit.
To get started, came up with a basic and familiar idea of having all the places and activities categorized into different sections and colors on a scrollable map. However, decided not to implement this design as the main idea was to improve the discoverability and let the users make an easy decision to visit.
To get started, came up with a basic and familiar idea of having all the places and activities categorized into different sections and colors on a scrollable map. However, decided not to implement this design as the main idea was to improve the discoverability and let the users make an easy decision to visit.
In order to properly solve the discoverability aspect, I’ve designed scrollable sections under different titles and based on the users preferences.
Finally, increased the card size and planned to include more information about the place/ activity so users can effortlessly scroll through till they find something worth knowing more about.
In order to properly solve the discoverability aspect, I’ve designed scrollable sections under different titles and based on the users preferences.
Finally, increased the card size and planned to include more information about the place/ activity so users can effortlessly scroll through till they find something worth knowing more about.
In order to properly solve the discoverability aspect, I’ve designed scrollable sections under different titles and based on the users preferences.
Finally, increased the card size and planned to include more information about the place/ activity so users can effortlessly scroll through till they find something worth knowing more about.
Design
Design
Design
Design System/ Sticker sheet
Design System/ Sticker sheet
High fidelity design
High fidelity design
User Feedback
User Feedback
To evaluate if the designed prototype effectively solves the user's problems, I invited some of the participants from the initial research study. I asked them to try the prototype to track their journey and how they felt using the app.
The users found the app useful and felt it gave them a much better experience than searching for places manually.
Here is a summary of how the final user journey would look like.
Goal: To discover something new to do during the weekend and plan a day out.
Time taken to complete the journey: 10 minutes. Overall experience: Positive.
To evaluate if the designed prototype effectively solves the user's problems, I invited some of the participants from the initial research study. I asked them to try the prototype to track their journey and how they felt using the app.
The users found the app useful and felt it gave them a much better experience than searching for places manually.
Here is a summary of how the final user journey would look like.
Goal: To discover something new to do during the weekend and plan a day out.
Time taken to complete the journey: 10 minutes. Overall experience: Positive.
To evaluate if the designed prototype effectively solves the user's problems, I invited some of the participants from the initial research study. I asked them to try the prototype to track their journey and how they felt using the app.
The users found the app useful and felt it gave them a much better experience than searching for places manually.
Here is a summary of how the final user journey would look like.
Goal: To discover something new to do during the weekend and plan a day out.
Time taken to complete the task: 10 minutes. Overall experience: Positive.
As seen by the above journey tracking, the overall time needed to discover and plan a journey has been reduced by 20 minutes by using the newly designed app.
A quote from one of the users: “It's a useful app I must say, I'll be definitely using this because it's more convenient than just using maps”.
As seen by the above journey tracking, the overall time needed to discover and plan a journey has been reduced by 20 minutes by using the newly designed app.
A quote from one of the users: “It's a useful app I must say, I'll be definitely
using this because it's more convenient than just using maps”.
As seen by the above journey tracking, the overall time needed to discover and plan a journey has been reduced by 20 minutes by using the newly designed app.
A quote from one of the users: “It's a useful app I must say, I'll be definitely using this because it's more convenient than just using maps”.
Takeaways and Further steps
Takeaways and Further steps
With the positive responses given by the users, as a designer, I understood how a small design change/ decision could create a lasting impact on the users and change the outlook of the entire product. I also learned the importance of research and finding the right themes/ drawing insights to solve a problem.
Given the rise of AI technologies, the next step would be to integrate AI model into the app to auto-recommend places/ activities to the users and also, I'd conduct in-depth usability testing and see how users follow the set paths/user flows to each goal and modify the app accordingly for the best results.
With the positive responses given by the users, as a designer, I understood how a small design change/ decision could create a lasting impact on the users and change the outlook of the entire product. I also learned the importance of research and finding the right themes/ drawing insights to solve a problem.
Given the rise of AI technologies, the next step would be to integrate AI model into the app to auto-recommend places/ activities to the users and also, I'd conduct in-depth usability testing and see how users follow the set paths/user flows to each goal and modify the app accordingly for the best results.
With the positive responses given by the users, as a designer, I understood how a small design change/ decision could create a lasting impact on the users and change the outlook of the entire product. I also learned the importance of research and finding the right themes/ drawing insights to solve a problem.
Given the rise of AI technologies, the next step would be to integrate AI model into the app to auto-recommend places/ activities to the users and also, I'd conduct in-depth usability testing and see how users follow the set paths/user flows to each goal and modify the app accordingly for the best results.