UX DESIGN PROJECT
THE TRIP PLANNER
OVERVIEW
The brief given by the client was to redesign their tourism website and to add a new feature to facilitate users to turn the ‘Dreaming’ phase into the ‘Planning’ phase. A trip planning tool that could accommodate users to do a more constructive planning activity while having a more organised wishlist tool as the first step in the ‘Planning’ phase was desirable.
PROJECT SCOPE
1 MINUTE SUMMARY
THE CHALLENGE:
““How might we improve trip planning experience to be more structured and organised?”
TARGET USERS
As the tool would be deployed as part of a tourism website, the tool should be able to accommodate diverse target users while immersing the users in the state’s landmarks and culture.
This means the target user includes users who have prior knowledge about the state, users who have limited knowledge, and users who do not have any knowledge at all.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
I started the design process by conducting a competitor analysis to understand the trend and the standard practice of the planning tool implemented in other competitors’ websites. Extensive research on the current website was also done to help me understand how the tool would be connected to the rest of the content on the website.
Competitor 1: All the bookmarked places are dumped into the itinerary
Competitor 2: Very detailed and organised trip planning tool without bookmarking feature
DESIGN PROCESS
Using user flow, I discovered design opportunities such as how we can integrate the Wish List tool to be part of the planning process and not only serves as a box to populate attractive places.
Additionally, once users add a point of interest/destination, suggestions on places nearby or events would also be shown to help them in making the planning process more effective.
Wish List user flows
Trip Planner user flows
Formulate the design solution:
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Integrate the functionality of the Wish List to be directly connected with the planning process using the trip planning tool.
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Grouping inside the Wish List to make it easier to add items on the Wish List to the itinerary.
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Multiple ways to add items (destination, activities, etc) to the itinerary.
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Quick sketching and wireframing were done to help me brainstorm and visualise the potential design solutions.
Ideation through sketching
Wireframing
Behaviours in interacting with an interface such as dragging and dropping were also implemented to make it easier for users to select the items from their Wish List or from the map to their itinerary.
The design challenge in the project was not only to create a seamless interface but also to make the connection between the Wish List and Trip Planner features complement each other while keeping the flexibility in using the feature independently.
Keeping the accessibility of the tool in each screen real estate, the project forced me to be explorative and creative in designing the interface to be viable not only on desktop and tablet but also on mobile.
FINAL DESIGN
Insights from the user tests, then, were implemented in the final iteration.
Trip Planner Tool on Desktop
Trip Planner Tool on Mobile