Travel Journal
This travel app is a user-friendly and visually appealing platform designed to assist travelers in planning and organizing their trips. It offers features such as saving itineraries, accessing sample itineraries for inspiration, getting AI assistance for trip planning, and sharing itineraries with travel companions.
Challenges: Travel enthusiasts are overwhelmed by the amount of the travel information on the internet. It is challenging to filter through the vast amount of data to find relevant and reliable information that is also trustworthy.
Target Users: Users who love traveling and planning trips.
Time frame: 100 hours for essential screens (ongoing project).
My roles: End-to-end UX/UI designer (branding, visual design, interaction design, prototype, user interviews).
Project scope: End-to-end app design.
Goals:
Market Analysis
User Interviews
Empathy Map
User Persona
01 Research
Assumptions
Planning a trip often involves extensive research on destinations, accommodations, activities, and more. This can be time-consuming, and users might find it challenging to balance trip planning with their other responsibilities.
Discovering lesser-known or off-the-beaten-path destinations and experiences can be a challenge. Planning enthusiasts may need to invest extra effort to find hidden gems that aren't well-documented online.
Coordinating with travel companions to ensure everyone's preferences and schedules align can be challenging. Achieving consensus on the itinerary and logistics can sometimes be tricky.
Methodologies
Secondary Research: Market Analysis
Primary Research: User Interviews
Secondary Research
Market Analysis
“Wonderlog“
Strengths:
Wonderlog excels in providing personalized travel recommendations based on user preferences and interests.
It offers robust itinerary planning features, allowing users to create detailed, day-by-day plans for their trips.
“Trip Adviser”
Strengths:
TripAdvisor boasts a wealth of user-generated reviews and ratings, providing valuable insights for travelers.
It offers a wide range of information on attractions, restaurants, and accommodations worldwide.
Travelers can connect with others, ask questions, and share experiences through the platform.
Weakness:
Wonderlog may have less user-generated content (reviews, ratings) compared to TripAdvisor, which relies heavily on user input.
The detailed customization options may be overwhelming for users who prefer a simpler travel planning experience.
Weakness:
TripAdvisor's primary focus is on providing information and reviews, rather than comprehensive itinerary planning features.
While it offers some personalized recommendations, it may not be as tailored as Wonderlog in terms of trip customization.
“TripIt”
Strengths:
TripIt excels in automatically organizing travel reservations and creating detailed itineraries.
It offers a user-friendly experience for managing and accessing travel plans.
TripIt streamlines the process of consolidating travel information from various sources.
Weakness:
TripIt is primarily focused on itinerary management and may not provide as many trip customization options as Wonderlog.
While it uses automation, TripIt doesn't heavily rely on AI for recommendations, which may result in less personalized suggestions.
Primary Research
User Interviews
Using the Interview Guide that was prepared in advance, I conducted remote interviews with frequent travelers and those who like planning their trip asking questions about their process of planning their trips and what factors makes their process easier or more difficult.
Research Synthesis
Empathy Map
Organizing the results of the interviews:
Assumptions Validation:
Planning a trip often involves extensive research on destinations, accommodations, activities, and more which can be overwhelming. Validated: to plan a trip users use Google Doc and Notion but they expressed it can get messy and challenging to keep all the details in one place.
Discovering lesser-known or off-the-beaten-path destinations and experiences can be a challenge. Validated: users are interested in finding lesser-known destinations but they need to deep dive to find destinations and activities that are less touristy but at the same time safe and worth the time and money.
Coordinating with travel companions to ensure everyone's preferences and schedules align can be challenging. Partially Validated: 2 of 5 users are sharing their trips with the tripmates via documents and find it challenging to coordinate activities and keep track of expenses.
Insights:
-To plan a trip travel enthusiasts use TripAdvisor, blog posts, social media, and Google searches.
-To organize their trip users prefer Google Docs and Notion or just using phone notes or keep checking emails with the important information.
-Having a firsthand account from a fellow traveler sharing their experiences adds an extra layer of trustworthiness, as it provides valuable insights into safe and authentic destinations, something travelers often seek when making their travel choices.
Needs:
-An user-friendly app to plan trips and discover new itineraries.
-One of the user's requirements is to access reviews or interactive content related to travel destinations, which helps them gain confidence when booking activities and experiences.
-Important features that travelers are looking forward to in a travel app are budgeting and sharing your itinerary plan with tripmates.
User Persona
02 Strategy
Goals:
Site Map
Sitemap
In order to ensure a clear and intuitive user experience, I created a comprehensive sitemap to map out the navigation and structure of the app's features. The sitemap served as a visual guide, outlining the hierarchy and relationships between different screens and functionalities.
Goals:
Task Flow
User Flow
Wireframes
Responsive UI
Branding
Visual Design
03 Design
Task Flow & User Flow
Wireframes & Responsive UI
Lo-fi
Mid-Fi
Visual Design
I began designing the home screen by using different size rectangles as you can see on the right, this was especially helpful in balancing the loads of information on the home screen as travel apps can often get cluttered. The goal was to make sure things were organized but not too crowded, while also keeping it visually pleasing.
The tricky part was making sure the screen didn't look monotonous. To tackle this, I started with a big section at the top and then broke it down into smaller parts. I also added the ability to scroll horizontally to navigate through the sections and still keeping the essential information intact.
To make the sections look more attractive, I gave them a slight curve at the corners, and I kept this style consistent throughout the design.
Branding
For the branding choices, I carefully considered the primary and secondary logos. The primary logo prominently features the app's name, 'Travel Journal,' symbolizing its role as a platform for where you can document your travel experiences. The accompanying icon is simple yet fun, incorporating a location marker to convey its essence as being a travel app. You'll mainly find the primary logo on the login page.
The secondary logo is a shorter, more compact version that only displace the location marker to save screen space, making it ideal for the home screen. Additionally, for specific instances, I've introduced an airplane icon. This icon is reserved for sections where users can conveniently book flights and accommodations for their travel itineraries.
In terms of colors, our aim was to evoke a sense of adventure, warmth, and the spirit of exploration. To achieve this, I've chosen a warm and inviting color palette that embodies these feelings.
Regarding typography, our choices were driven by the desire to keep the focus on captivating photography and vibrant colors. I've opted for a clean and straightforward font that seamlessly complements the visual design without overshadowing it. 'Inter' is predominantly used for body text, ensuring a comfortable reading experience, while 'Poppins' takes its place in section names located in the upper footer
04 Prototype & Testing
Goals:
High Fidelity
Usability Testing
Results
Iteration
High-Fidelity
Usability Testing
I performed a moderated usability test using Zoom. Four people participated in the prototype testing where they added a sample itinerary (Flow 1), used AI to plan a trip (Flow 2), and shared their itinerary with a trip-mate (Flow 3). They also provided a rating from 1-5 on the easiness of the navigation through the flow: 1 - being easy and 5 - being difficult.
Results:
1.Logan
Flow 1, Sample Itineraries:
Found it easy to follow.
Liked the clean design and calming colors.
Rated it as "1, easy."
Noted that the "Sample" label made her pause briefly to read further.
Flow 2, AI Planner:Gave a rating of "1" but didn't provide specific feedback.
2. Judy
Flow 1, Sample Itineraries:
Offered detailed feedback on various aspects, including design and layout.
Found the features useful for planning.
Rated it as "1, very easy."
Liked the welcoming colors.
Flow 2, AI Planner:Provided feedback on design elements, navigation, and placement of content.
Rated it as "2" due to some confusion on where to add the itinerary.
Mentioned that she would use the AI feature because Google search can be overwhelming.
3. Grace
Flow 1, Sample Itineraries:
Noted issues with font size, layout, and content placement.
Shared feedback on various features and icons.
Rated it as "2" because interaction was easy but content was confusing.
Flow 2, AI Planner:
Found it pretty intuitive.
Gave a rating of "2" due to the small font of the travel journal itinerary.
Flow 3, Adding Tripmates:
Provided feedback on the layout of the to-do list.
Gave a rating of "1, easy."
4. Jessica
Flow 1, Sample Itineraries:
Liked the balanced colors and design.
Found the font size in the travel journal a bit small.
Rated it as "1."
Flow 2, AI Planner:
Found it very easy to understand.
Gave a rating of "1."
Flow 3, Adding Tripmates:
Found the sharing icon a bit confusing.
Gave a rating of "2" due to the icon.
In summary, Logan, Judy, Grace, and Jessica provided valuable feedback on various aspects of the prototype, including design, content placement, font size, and ease of use. Overall, most participants found the interactions easy but had some feedback regarding content clarity and design elements.
Iteration
After conducting thorough usability testing, I have carefully analyzed the feedback and identified areas for improvement in the designs. As a result, the iteration process has encompassed several key changes, including font size adjustments and visual refinements. Recognizing the importance of legibility and accessibility, I have revised the font sizes to ensure optimal readability across the screens. Additionally, I have made subtle visual adjustments to enhance the overall user experience, such as refining color contrasts and streamlining interface elements.
These design iterations aim to create a seamless and engaging experience for the users, aligning the product with their needs and preferences.
Ending notes
As I conclude my work on Travel Journal, I’m excited to reflect on this personal favorite project. Designing an app from scratch for fellow travelers has been an incredibly rewarding experience. From conducting research and creating user flows to designing screens and testing prototypes, every step has deepened my passion for UX/UI design.
Integrating AI features into the app was a thrilling challenge, allowing me to explore the latest technologies and enhance user experience in innovative ways. This project has not only helped users organize their itineraries effortlessly but has also been a fun and enriching process for me.
I’m eager to continue developing Travel Journal and see how it evolves in the future. Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout this journey—I can’t wait to see travelers benefit from our hard work!