A travel app for home or abroad on the cheap
Vagabond was born of a concept project that means to explore the possibilities of the open road. The consistent theme in my research was that participants were not motivated by commercial endeavors or tourism but sought travel as a way to encapsulate unique moments of the human experience.
To further index traffic, travel patterns, and activity in the world as an analysis for how people choose to travel. The purpose of which is to provide travelers an increased awareness of their potential recreational and social opportunities, while curating the ephemeral ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ feeling that many travel experiences aspire to obtain.
I determined from interviews that the traveler was looking for cheap, culturally-enriching experiences in domestic and foreign locations. Favorite activities are exploring ‘cities without an end’ like Tokyo or Mexico City. Thrifty, environmentally conscious, and more likely than most other travelers to be carrying a backpack on his shoulders.
I became acquainted with the process of design thinking. This was a solo project - I was product manager, UX researcher, interviewer, and designer. I used a Miro board to organize my thoughts, make affinity diagram of the results of the interviews, and used Adobe XD to make Lo-Fi and Hi-Fi wireframes..
My biggest constraint was my initial starting ability. This was the first time learning these techniques and putting them into practice. Between honing my interviewing technique, moving through the design cycle, understanding Adobe XD to create prototypes, while learning the specifics of design thinking was a challenge of no small measure. We completed and iterated this project in three weeks to the an earlier state than is available currently.
The ones who agreed to be interviewed are male and Caucasian. All of them had done some traveling so I was able to summarize their feelings and insights into an empathy map, to identify their pain points and preferred activities. I transferred that into making and organizing wireframes into a hypothetical task flow. I was able to comprise the login screen, main menu, and search function of the application. I researched comparable applications and studied their user flows as a point of reference. I arranged materials into a lo-fi prototype and tested with users to address potential oversights. This led to a round of iteration and then into the creation of hi-fi prototype mockup images. This was tested and iterated another time before the project concluded.
I was able to understand user flow and how it may be used to order screens and processes within an app. I iterated the product several times and would like to iterate it more. Initially I was caught up in the minutiae of what I was doing that I found it difficult to make any headway. After the initial learning curve I found myself getting more and more expedient in the creation of this process. I would like to return to this project in the future to update it with my current skill set and increase functionality.
