A Travel App UX Case Study

Coming up with an idea

I have always been curious and adventurous. I particularly enjoy discovering the unique
differences and similarities between us humans and with my curiosity I developed a passion
for travel. I like to travel often and I believe some things in life we can only learn when we
travel. To travel and to not leave behind our misconceptions is akin to going to the gym and
expecting to return in great physical shape without working out.

My dream is to live in a world without barriers. Where we are all citizens of the Universe. I
believe the best way to break this mental and physical barrier is by giving people the
opportunity to travel more and to connect more with each other. The idea of creating an app
which connects people came from my own frustration when trying to book travel. I came to
find that I shared these frustrations with other travelers I met, and so I decided to focus
more on this issue.

Introducing Wayfarer
Wayfarer means a person who travels on foot.

Wayfarer is an app which connects people who love to travel and explore the world with
people who are passionate about their local community and are eager to share their culture
and experience. Wayfarer wants to change the way people travel. Wayfarer is for everyone
who wants to emerge themselves in an experience.
The Problem
Technology has made it so simple to book travel nowadays. You can do it from your
smartphone while waiting in a line to pay for your morning coffee. There are plenty of apps
in the market that allow you to book a flight anywhere in the world in just seconds. But what
happens after you book that flight? What are you going to do when you arrive to your
destination? People get frustrated and discouraged by the amount of research that needs to
be done before arriving to a new destination. Questions such as “What should I do when I
arrive?” “Where do locals eat?” “What should I prioritize?” “Is it safe to walk around at
night?” To find the answers for those questions you will have to spend and enormous
amount of time researching or asking around for advice.

The new traveler, however, wants more than just sightseeing. The new traveler wants to
travel around the world following the steps of a local. They want to experience what is like
to be a local in Paris, Barcelona, or Rio without any of the risk-taking or uncertainty. They
want to meet someone on the other side of the world that wants to share their love and
passion for their city. So the problem here is how to can we make this connection possible?

The Solution
My goal was to take out the middle man (the tour company) and to introduce these two
people and let them engage in a transparent conversation which could lead to the ultimate
travel experience. The traveler could choose to talk to the Insider (local tour guide) about
booking a group or private tour. It’s up to the traveler to decide what he or she wants to do
with his or her time with the Insider. The Insider would be there to guide the traveler and
to guarantee his time and money won’t be wasted on common tourist traps.

Research
I began my research by getting together a short survey and identifying the most important
information I wanted to collect. The questions were simple and to the point as I didn’t want
to bore anyone with a 10 page questionnaire. 103 people answered the survey in a 24 hour
window. This was enough data to give me a good start. It gave me the direction I needed to
dig deeper to find the answers I needed to solve the most common problems.

However, the result of one of my survey questions surprised me. When I asked people “How
many times a year do you travel?” Not one single person said that they didn’t travel at least
once a year, but 9% said they travel more than 10 times a year.

I selected 7 potential users who were interested in my research and willing to answer a few
interview questions. Again I didn’t want to be disrespectful of people’s time so I kept my
questionnaire short. I made notes and asked permission to record the interviews so that I
could reference them while continuing my research. Below you can find some key take
aways from my interviews. All this information was crucial and helped me further
empathize with my user.
Empathy Map
To continue to deeper empathize with my user I created this empathy map. This allowed me
to organize thoughts and feelings of what was going on with my users. It was a step towards
finding a creative solution for this issue.


Affinity Diagram
Based on my survey and interview results I made this Affinity Diagram to organize my
findings. This organization method allowed me to see trends and the relationships in the
data. You will find on the Affinity Diagram that I also created a list of features I wanted to
possibly incorporate into the app. Some of those features and ideas would go through tests
later on in order to design the best solution.

Persona — Lora the explorer

Knowing the competition

When I began my research on the various competitors, I couldn’t find any app which was
doing what I was proposing to do. Connecting people from different parts of the world who
wanted to share a moment. The curious traveler and the local insider. There are many
companies out there offering private and group tours, but what I was proposing was to cut
out the middle man and let the communication happen directly between the traveler and
the local insider.

I spent many years of my life working in the travel industry, and because I love traveling, I
had previous knowledge of the market, but this time I was looking at those apps with fresh
eyes. I didn’t want my app to be just another booking tool. I wanted to have a warm feeling.
My goal was for it to be the “go to” tool for all travelers and I wanted people to be able to
find a friend on the other side of the world. The perfect travel match. I searched for direct
and non-direct competition to find out how were they solving problems. Some of the apps I
used were excellent but were not touching this particular issue. I wanted to tap on that field
and make the world even smaller.
Mid-fidelity Wireframe
Before coming up with colors, typography and images. I wanted to define the information
hierarchy of my design. I wanted to put this layout to test to see how my users would process
this information without the distraction of visual design and branding.

Visual Design and Branding

To evoke a particular style I built a mood board with pictures. I believed it represented well
my target user and gave some brand attributes to it. The words fun, adventurous, curious
and friendly were the first ones to come to mind when I thought of Wayfarer.
It was important for me that every aspect of my app be meaningful. From the name Wayfarer
(a person who travels on foot) to the colors and the typography. As for the colors I wanted
for them to be vibrant, happy, and multicultural. As for typography I was inspired by the
meaning of the world Ubuntu. Ubuntu means “a quality that includes the essential human
virtues; compassion and humanity.” This typography was the perfect fit for my app.

Prototype and Testing

I performed tests after tests, over and over again during the designing process. It was crucial
to get validation from my target users. I wanted to design a product which had the potential
to change the way people travel. I wouldn’t be able to achieve this without seeing and
hearing what they had to say and what they were doing. So after countless tests I built a final
prototype using the screens you see below.