In this project, I made an app that simplifies the process of planning a trip to start attracting new users and improve the conversion rate to enter the market.

Challenge

Objectives

• Reduce the time users take to plan a trip.

• Adapt a trip according to the preferences or needs of each user and their level of experience making trips.

• Design an app with the most relevant and accurate information about a trip without resulting in information overload.

The first part of the research consisted of approaching people who planned their trips to understand their mental models.

I also read travel blogs to see all the recommendations experts had for beginners, so I could understand what was important for them to keep in mind when traveling.

For this task, I spoke with three people and saw 5 blogs of experts, and the main ideas are in the post-its next to this text.

Research

Understand their mental models

Competitive analysis

I wanted to know why people don't use planners as much when many people enjoy traveling.

For this analysis, I experienced how other apps perform the task of planning a trip. I also looked for the comments of other users to see their reviews and made some discoveries:

• Most of them offer users a timeline that they can use to add places, but it's not accurate with the city users want to visit.

• None of the sites provide weather information, things to pack, information for transport, or personalized suggestions.

For this phase, I used three techniques to organize all the information I had about users:

• A user-centered business canvas to gather all the vital business-related questions as well as information on the target users.

• Two empathy maps, since I was eager to work with extreme users.

• Two personas, Caring Johanna that is a beginner when planning trips and likes to trip with her family, and Explorer David that does more than five trips a year alone.

Definition

For the ideation session, I started making the content prototype to understand better the interaction between the user and the interface. I also made a user flow according to that.

• Login before starting is relevant so they can save their trips.

• Making two options in case they know where to travel or not means they have some freedom in the app.

• Showing information about places should be one of the most visible things so they can familiarize themselves with the place.

• The itinerary should also be flexible in case they don't like the suggestions the app gives them.

Ideation

First, I sketched a low fidelity prototype according to the user flow that I made.

I started with the screen where users decide which place they want to visit or if they don’t know yet, and I ended with a full itinerary screen.

Note: This is just the happy path of planning a trip, more functionalities could be included in the next steps of this project.

Prototyping

Contact me to see the prototype in Figma, or visit my Behance profile to preview the UI Kit and some of the design.

I made a test on maze.com where 7 people participated. It was a great experience because I could see all the click areas and the missed clicks, besides all the answers to the questions I made in different missions.

I also had short interviews where people could express more about the app.

So one of the important comments was about the fonts I put at first since it was difficult for users to read the information. There was also another problem with the gray color. It was too soft for text to be readable, so users didn’t see essential information.

Testing

Usability test

In wrapping up, my travel app project had a clear goal: to simplify trip planning, draw in new users, and make a splash in the market.

I faced challenges like cutting down planning time and tailoring trips to individual preferences without overwhelming users.

My research journey involved chatting with travelers and diving into expert blogs, which helped me craft personas and brainstorm features.

I then dove into prototyping, starting with a basic model and refining it based on user feedback.

Along the way, I learned a lot, like how important legible fonts and clear colors are, and I aimed to create an app that makes trip planning a breeze for everyone, helping adventurers explore with confidence.

Conclusion

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