Travelry
The Problem
With COVID-19 regulations slowly being lifted, it is expected that the amount of travelling will increase beyond pre-COVID levels, but there currently isn’t a product that aids planning for group travel.
The Goal
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Increase the communication and coordination of the group
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Decrease the frustration and confusion between members
The Solution
Travelry is a mobile app, where travellers can easily message each other, while also being able to view and create shared itineraries, all in one place.
My Role
Lead UX Researcher & UX Designer
Duration
Sept - Dec 2022 (4 months)
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Secondary Research
I spent time looking up statistics on travelling, specifically for leisure rather than business, to understand just how important trips are to people and the relevancy of this problem.
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Planning Alternatives
I also did some competitive research on apps that help users plan a trip, as well as other alternatives, to understand what is currently available to users and see what works well versus what doesn’t.
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Challenge
There wasn’t much reliable information found about group travelling.
Solution: I gathered solo travelling statistics and reversed the data found.
The compared apps weren’t exactly what I was looking for:
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Tripline was more of a social app, sharing a trip’s timeline with others.
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Roadtrippers was specifically for finding interests along a road trip route.
Solution: I instead focused on what things I could include and avoid in my own design.
User Research
After interviewing several users who had travelled in groups of more than 3 people within the past year, I found that there were multiple different problems.
No shared information between all members
More than half of them had no group chat and had several individual chats, where they would just relay the information.
Frustrations on having to use multiple apps
Users complained about having frustrations due to switching between several apps for different functions.
No written trip itinerary
A few participants said that they didn’t have any written itinerary and would just try their best to recall or check their messages.
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Personas
After compiling information from my user research, I created a couple personas to tie together the results of my findings and visualise my end user.
User Flows & Paper Wireframes
After interviewing several users who had travelled in groups of more than 3 people within the past year, I found that there were multiple different problems.
Creating a new trip
Vital for the user to be able to do, as everything else is based on them completing this task.
Creating an itinerary item
Ensures that the user knows where to go and be able to create an itinerary for their trip.
Creating a poll
All my user interview participants mentioned wanting to have a voting option.
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I modelled my design after other messaging apps so that most users would be familiar with the format and had a menu bar for users to navigate their itinerary, calendar, and map.
Digital Wireframes
Prior to creating my wireframes, I conducted guerrilla testing and noted some pain points to fix, such as some of my wording and adding a priority rank.
Design System
Initially, I had chosen bright colours to represent positivity and the stress-free state that people would be when on their trip, but in the end, a duller yellow and light blue were chosen to give a calmer feeling.
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Challenge
Originally, there was a top bar navigation that allowed users to go between the chat, itinerary, and maps. This design felt like there were too many buttons cluttered together and didn’t work well with the visual information hierarchy.
Solution: The top bar was changed to a hidden sidebar. Most users felt that the hidden menu gave the app a “cleaner and organised” feel.
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Prototype & Usability Testing
I conducted five usability tests with users who had recently been on a group trip and found three main problems.
Original
Updated
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Deleting the trip
Contrary to what I thought, all the participants returned to the homepage to delete, which wasn’t implemented at the time.
Solution: A trip overlay was added to the homepage to allow for editing, archiving, and deleting the trip.
Original
Updated
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Adding an itinerary item
Many users tried to use the chat plus icon to add a new itinerary item. Some would return to the homepage and try from there.
Solution: The call button was exchanged for an itinerary button for users to quick add through the chat page.
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Updated
Priority ranking
Users were confused with the meaning of the numbers and said that the token style led them to believe that multiple choices could be chosen.
Solution: The priority ranking was changed to a slider and given different labels for clarity.
Another round of testing was done with most users rating the tasks completed easier than in the first round. While most of the app was seen positively, there were some small things to change to enhance the user experience, such as adding labels to the navigation icons and changing some icons for increased clarity.
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Future Steps
Research
There still needs to be more research done to justify certain aspects of the design, such as where the user should be sent when initially entering the trip (chat or itinerary) and which calendars, if not all, are really necessary for the user.
Notification page
With more time, I would also like to add a notification page, where users will be able to see major trip updates or polls made by other members.
Lessons Learnt
Through the process, I’ve learnt that it’s important to take a step back and be able to detach yourself from your design. Even if one design is my favourite and I’ve been working with that end goal in mind, there are other possibilities that are better for the user that need to be explored.
