Wandr Travel App

Role: UI Designer

Duration: 4 Weeks

Description

Wandr is a travel app case study done as an assignment for the Georgia Tech UX/UI Design Bootcamp. It is a mobile application which allows users to schedule their trips conveniently and efficiently, by providing an avenue to create fresh travel plans or find itineraries and promoted events to plan for in the future. This app also allows users to invite and communicate with travel buddies, properly budget for trips, and find travel suggestions based off of shared interests.

Design Process & Deliverables

Research: User Tests, Competitive Analysis, Initial Research

Define: Empathy Map, User Journey Map

Ideate: Information Architecture, User Flow Charts, Sketches, Site Map

Design: Wireframing, Prototyping, UI Style Guide

User Interviews and Pain Points

In doing qualitative research, I interviewed 4 participants ranging from ages 20 to 32 for no longer than 15 minutes. The goal of the interviews was to find common pros and cons amongst people who often go on trips or plan trips for others. I aimed to answer these following questions.

  1. What kind of people would find this app useful?

  2. How can we utilize this app for more than just travel? Ex: receipt gathering, sharing photos, reviews, etc.

  3. How do we encourage use of this app when traveling groups can easily communicate and plan through apps such as Facebook Messenger and GroupMe?

  4. Will solo travelers find this app as useful as people traveling in groups?

  5. How do we ensure that this app will be user friendly for everyone who uses it?

  6. What will make this app different from similar apps?

Below are my main takeaways from conducting user interviews

COMMON PAIN POINTS

  • Problems with planning a trip easily

  • Budgeting for the trip can be long and tedious

  • Inconsistent communication amongst friends and/or family

  • Finding things to do that interest everyone in the group

  • Seeing hidden fees after booking

Persona

KHALANI, 23

Motivations, Goals, & Needs

Full time college student who prefers not to spend too much time on things that can done faster. When on break from school, she likes to spend time with friends and family. She enjoys taking trips and creating lasting memories with the people in her life.

Pain Points

While she enjoys the idea of traveling, Khalani does not enjoy the stress that can go into planning it. Finding accommodations for everyone involved can be stressful, especially when the costs and fees are not plainly stated.

User flow & Journey Map

Sketches and Wireframes

After creating a user flow, I created sketches on an initial layout of the app.

INFORMATION ARCHTECTURE

Wireframes

UI Style Guide & Design Systems

SPLASH SCREEN & ONBOARDING

Welcome to Wandr, where your travel planning needs are met with ease! If you have any questions at all during your journey, feel free to contact us as help@wandr.come

Seamless Signup Experience

After a completed onboarding, users can create an account, or log in, using email/username, Facebook, Google, or with Face ID.

Upon entering a new email, users will receive a “success” alert if the email is valid, but will receive an “error” if it isn’t.

To show that users have successfully created their account, users will see a loading interaction followed by a check animation and “success”. I chose this interaction to convey to users that their information set up properly.

Tell us all about your travel interests, and we can provide you with other wanderers to follow for inspiration.

Upon selecting an interests, users can assume that selected options will have a highlighted arrow based off the original state

Home Screen

Menu

See everything pertaining to your personal account (favorites, trending posts, notifications, messages, etc.).

Suggested

Find more wanderers with similar interests that have recently been posted.

Posts

Users can make blog posts and upload photos from the page in a quick view.

-the activated heart icon will let users know they’ve liked a post.

Stories

See what other travelers are doing in real time or post about your own travels.

Explore

For You

Wandr provides travel spot suggestion based off of the users current set interests.

Section includes shows & attractions, activities, and hotel/resort suggestions

Itineraries

The top liked itineraries are shown for inspiration. Provides the details of the trip including the amount of people, costs, length of the trip, activities, reviews, and photos.

Create Your Trip

Users can create trips as well as view previously planned trips.

Screen when using for the first time

Top Arrow: The arrow navigates to the previous page. If users tap it before selecting the active “create trip” button, it will generate a modal window that says “would you like to save your progress first”, with a “yes” or “no” button towards the bottom

  • this will be interpreted by users as a way to come back and complete their trip planning later.

Date entry: The calendar form will generate an interactive calendar for users to select certain dates. A highlighted date indicates a selected date

  • the “done” button towards the bottom can be interpreted as an indication that the selected dates will be entered into the form by users.

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

As someone with no prior experience with UX/UI, the project was extremely fun and a great learning experience for me. I learned to be more open to communication with projects. I also had to remind myself often that making the app “pretty” isn’t the most important thing. I have an illustration background so getting into the habit of “research first, design later” was a huge adjustment

My idea for an app started off as too weak. It was originally an app based off of travel preferences, but I soon learned that that form of app would not go far in terms of research. I also didn’t expect the data gathering process to be as long as it was. I thought at the beginning to just ask a few questions and move on, but that isn’t the case at all.

I now have a better understanding of the testing process and why it is important, as well as comprehending the data in order to apply what’s been learned to the prototyping process.

Going Forward

These are the additional things that I would’ve done with the project if I had more time:

  • Built out the chat feature within travel groups

  • A frame with a detailed look on how users can add posts to the “Home” screen

  • A desktop or tablet layout

  • A “select language” option at signup