Day Plan
A an organizing tool to help users make the best out of their travels by creating an itinerary based on their booked experiences.
Overview
Long gone are the days when we spend hours creating a spreadsheet itinerary, that takes too much to time create and turns out to be of little help. If that’s annoying, just imagine spending your time figuring out how to customize a template on design platforms. When you least know it, you’ve turned into a spiraling-unexperienced-overly-stressed designer, trying to figure our the right color, spacing and typography. Planning a trip is stressful enough.
Day-Plan leaves the hard design work to the experts and allows users to focus their time booking and planning their travels.
The goal of this project was to develop a mobile app that helps facilitate the process of planning a trip by allowing users to: organize detailed itineraries, download/share itineraries and manage all upcoming trips in one platform.
Audience
Frequent travelers, travel businesses and everyone else
Challenge
My client contacted me with a common frustration, of everyday travelers, not having a tool to organize and share trips
Solution
I built an app that helps users upload trip details and organizes information into a generated template that is shareable.
Tools
Figma
Google Forms
Google Slides
Google Docs
Role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
Deliverables
Competitive Analysis Report
Personas, Site Map
User Flows, Sketches
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
Low-Fidelity Prototypes
Branding
Usability Testing Report
High-fidelity Prototype
Working in Scope
❌ Must not require advanced technical competencies (creating spreadsheets or customizing templates)
✅ Must compile data that is inputted by user to generate an itinerary
✅ Itinerary must be downloadable/shared directly from app
✅ Design must be straightforward and simple
◦ 3-week time constraint
◦ Limited capabilities to develop full functioning app
Process
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Discover
The research process for this project was divided into three parts to fully understand the market and users.
Market Research
First, I reviewed similar travel market reports to narrow down my target audience and discover trends in the industry. I attempted to create a few itineraries on different tools frequently used for organizing itineraries including: Google Sheets, Google Docs, Canva, Expedia and TripAdvisor.
Survey
Next, I conducted a user survey that contained questions relating to travelers experiences and preferences when planning a trip.
Interviews
Lastly, I performed follow up interviews to obtain clarifying information on their experience using organizational tools to create itineraries. This allowed me to establish a hierarchy of elements in the project to develop a MVP.
Research Findings
During the discovery phase, I was able to collect a lot of information about the main pain points and motivations of travelers. More than half of participants said that the most stressful part of traveling is planning a trip. When they were asked why, during the interviews, they stated that planning a trip is usually followed by browsing to find and booking the best activities specific to their travels.
Lastly, when plans are confirmed, they spend several hours trying to create an itinerary that is organized, easily accessible and helpful. Most of them stated that they organize their itineraries using several platforms such as digital calendar, planners and spreadsheets to manage confirmations, notifications, and locations. This supports the need for organizational tools that consolidate and categorize travel information.
Define
Personas
Based on the market research, survey results and interviews I created two personas that reflect the both ends of the travelers spectrum. Each of the personas highlight motivations and pain points specific to their lifestyle.
User Stories
After defining the user motivations and pain points, I compiled a list of user stories that deliver an effective solution.
As a traveler I want to organize my trip information so that I can access it during my travels.
As a traveler I want to view all of my upcoming trips so that I can request time off at work.
As a solo traveler I want to share my itinerary with my family so that they know where I am at all times.
User Flow
In correspondence to my user stories I created a flow that reflects the process for using the app. Creating a flow helped me define the scope of the project MVP by putting all my efforts in developing an intuitive process for adding a trip. While viewing all upcoming trips on one platform is a significant advantage of this app, the process of getting to that is much more important, because that alone is not a big enough incentive for users to deal with challenges of inputting their trip details.
Story Board
The storyboard represents how users would adapt this product to their lifestyle. The product has to be relevant so users can use it with frequency and recommend it.
Develop
Sketches
I utilized the Crazy 8’s process to brainstorm solutions. By doing so, I was able to come up with general ideas for a simple design, including function buttons required during usability testing. It also allowed me to come up with a general idea of the flow and establish a hierarchy of elements.
Digital Wireframes
Digital wireframes help visualize the product and functions on the app.
Low-fidelity Prototype
The objective was to test the flow and define changes that needed to be implemented in the next iteration.
First Iteration
Made the date text-box cohesive with the rest
Included the option to add more days to itinerary
Allowed enter button function
Labeled text box according to corresponding details
Second Iteration (used for testing)
Included all necessary elements and information that would allow for effective user testing that previous iterations did not have. As pictured above, I included a brief summary to support the purpose of the app, I labeled itinerary section so it could be perceived as a new section, included the option to add additional activities and user feedback after saving a trip.
Deliver
Usability Testing
Performing usability testing to improve user experience and test viability of the solution. Participants were asked to complete three tasks that could support the MVP.
Where would you click to add a new trip? Can you take me through the process?
How can you view a list of your upcoming trips?
Can you show me how to view and download or share my itinerary?
Findings
As a result of usability testing, three key findings stood out relating to the limited functions of the app.
Needs the option to skip unrelated content such as hotels or flights that some trips might not require.
I updated prototype so it would not require specific information before moving onto the next step.
User must be able to save through the process of adding a new trip.
I updated prototype to improve clickability to allow users to save their trip details as they go. It allows for more flexibility and edit as they adjust plans.
Needs a section to add location/notes for activities or have the option to sync itinerary details to personal calendars.
Before
After
Participants also offered the following feedback:
App is easy to use and intuitive
It does not require many clicks to accomplish a certain task
90% of participants stated they would replace their organization tool with this app
Participant No. 3
“ I would definitely use this app. It is easier than creating spreadsheets.”
Participant No. 1
“I really like the app. It would be cool if it synced to my personal calendar for reminders.”
Branding
This is where I focused on developing all of the UI elements of the app including, color pallet, typography, logo and style guide. The client wanted he app to have a very neutral and organic feel. As previously mentioned, planning a trip can be overwhelming. The overall theme was based around creating a simple, organized and serene layout that would be easy to navigate and pleasant to experience.
Mood board
The color palette was inspired by the hues of natural landscapes.
Orange is often associated with enthusiasm, excitement and high energy. By using a muted a shade, I was able to establish those emotions and connect it to a natural occurrence like beach sunsets.
Green establishes the optimistic and refreshing emotion that we often feel when we look forward to time off, vacations, travels.
Blue represent the calming aspect that is much needed when handling complex information such as itineraries.
High-fidelity Prototype
In this iteration I have implemented the suggested feedback received during usability testing and included UI design.
Takeways
Positive
Working in scope allowed me to focus on specific functions of the app, instead of creating a new product
Target user’s priorities were clear after follow up interviews
Feedback helped me implement functions to improve experience specific to what users need/want
Opportunities
I had to overcome my fear of sharing my work with the client, it was very difficult in the beginning
Testing with real users is still intimidating because it requires critical feedback on my work
Alloting more time to develop quality work