Case study: Having a dispute with friends over travel plans? My…
Parampreet Singh
User Researcher
Figma
Case study: Having a dispute with friends over travel plans? My UX study is here to help you out!
Hello there. Glad to meet you all again. So you might have been wondering, what new am I going to bring to the table this time😁.
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Published in
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12 min read
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Jun 19, 2021
Well, I was working on an upcoming project (which I will publish in due time😜) after my Design Thinking Project and Research Mini Project, I recently ran into an event organized by Growthschool.
Oh yes, yes. The event was a drastic one. Let me tell you, it might change the way we used to carry out our projects😆.
It was a 48-hour intensive event which we call Jugaad-a-thon. Quite an impressive name, right?
I know, it is funny, the name🤣. I was also laughing. Well, that is not the point. The point is, this 48-hour long (You will get to know why) event was given to us to come up with a solution to a business problem and that too in only 48 hours.
Sound interesting, right? Yeah, all teams were.
Introduction
So, time for the introduction. This was an intensive 48-hour long event to solve a given business problem and come up with a solution. So if you know, there are so many things which are taken to be care of while doing our project. This seems to be hard at first, but trust me, when you will finish reading this, you will know what I was taking about😁.
The event starts now!
The areas we were told to focus on were by our mentors:
Hypothesis
2. Brainstorming
3. Research (Primary and Secondary)
4. Research analysis
5. Wireframes
6. UI Design
Now, you know what we are going to cover up in this case study.
So, without further a do, let me introduce you the problem statement we picked✌.
Problem Statement
Design a feature for a popular travel booking app, allowing a group of friends to plan and book their mutual vacation.
Hmm, you must be thinking that it is too broad and you are correct, it is too broad! So we were advised by our mentors to narrow down the problem statement. Oh I forgot, we were divided in a group of 5.
But why this statement?
We thought that the nature of of this problem statement being broad will work in our interest because we could introduce so many subproblems and easily choose among them, which by the way was not the case with other case studies. So to remain flexible, we took this problem statement.
Well, this is what we thought, but.
Narrowing down the problem was itself a topic of concern, which continued almost till the end of the event😅. But, long story short, we managed to do that. But for right now, we decided that we should come up with some ideas and do some research first, in order to understand what has already been done to combat the situation.
I know, I know, it is a bit confusing😅, but there you go. We now know what to do and exactly where to head on. Lets start our journey, shall we?
By the way, first 2 hours are up⏰!
🎥Part 1: Ideation
At first, we all did some brainstorming on the ideas to come up with a solution. Here, was my contribution to the ideas.
My ideas to the solution
So, this is my contribution (well, others will mention theirs in their case study😁). Now, we have some ideas to go with. However, these were only to start with what we can offer to others.
The important thing is, we have ideas, but we don't know who will be the beneficiary in this. Therefore, we need to know who are our users. You must already know, how we do that. You are right, folks.
It is time do some research📙📘📗!
🎥Part 2: Research
Secondary Research
Well, yes, at some point, I did some research like this. Blindly typing the keywords to get some answers🤣!
Here were some of the insights I gathered.
From these, we got to know who are our users, what do they like, what apps are popular among them and what already has been done in this domain✌.
Now, all we have to do was to prepare a survey form to recruit users for interviews and know their experiences about their planning and bookings.
As we have successfully completed the secondary research, we can now start with the primary research✌.
Amigos, lets take some interviews😎!
By the way, first 6 hours are up⏰!
Primary Research
After framing some questions, we circulated the form through our networks to gather users for our interviews😎.
Below is the summary of the responses we gathered👇.
User responses from the survey
Now, we have the user responses. Lets figure out what should we ask them. Below is my contribution to the user interviews questions👇.
My ideas to the user interview questions
Among our team, we divided the number of interviews we can take in the remaining time we had. For which, I managed to get one user interview. Below are the insights from the interview I took👇.
Insights generated through the user interview, along with interactions for making a booking and the emotions behind the questions.
Now that, we have done our primary and secondary research, we know what are the pain points of the users🙃.
By the way, first 14 hours are up⏰!
🎥Part 3: Data Analysis
So far, we have the research in our hands. There was a lot of information to process😐.
Also, in order to narrow down our problem statement, we needed to analyze the data. So we decided that first we will write our hypothesis statements.
Hypothesis statements
Hmm, this is a new term for you. Let me explain this in simple terms. Hypothesis is a statement which is made based on the information we have (that can be through research or assumptions).
Right now, you need to understand only this.
Now lets see the final hypothesis statements. (Well, in this part I didn’t do much, to be honest😅)
Yeah, yeah I know. Now focus on the below statements👇.
1. Users have multiple platforms to book accommodation, transport tickets, but the navigation to multiple apps and carrying out their tasks is tedious and time consuming. 2. The other common problems people face is to agree on one common place to travel , Agreeing on a budget creates disappointing arguments. 3. Another common problem occurs during vacation planning is the number of days people gonna travel and where to travel?
After jotting down the statements, we decided to come up with the sub-problems the user faces.
Below are the problem statements👇. (Again, I didn’t do much in this either😅)
Never mind, focus on the below statements👇.
1. Users have multiple platforms to book accommodation and transport. The navigation to multiple apps and carrying out their tasks is tedious and time consuming.
2. The other common problem people face is to finalize one common place to travel. A discord may occur when: — Agreeing on a budget — Agreeing on availability
3. Hidden charges present in applications. 4. Package charges are higher in applications when planned separately. 5. Fear of monetary loss by a single individual when a group trip is booked in the case of last minute changes by other group members. 6. In group trips, there is a lack of accountability and ownership in terms of monetary payments. 7. Varying preferences based on group planning involves: — Useful amenities suggested at the accommodation — Good transport connectivity at the destination — Good weather — Fun-filled activities — Highlighting lesser known places in and around the destination for visibility.
Now, we know where the problem exactly lies😎. Also, by identifying these areas, we were able to skip User Personas and Empathy Maps, because we exactly knew where we needed to work on.
By framing the hypothesis statements, it got easy for us to where we should focus on.
So, we directly proceeded to HMWs. (Now you will see my contribution again✌.)
How Might We Questions
So we know what the challenges and frustrations the user is facing, which means we can now frame the How Might We questions.
After writing all the HMWs we came up with, we had a vote of confidence to what HMWs we should choose. Below are the HMWs which I contributed and was liked by other teammates👇.
My contribution to the HMWs (these are also among the final HMWs)
In total we had six HMWs, below are the other three HMWs apart from the above list👇.
1. HMW we be more transparent with our users?
2. HMW ensure users satisfaction to the fullest?
3. HMW me encourage accountability and monetary ownership among group travelers?
To solve the HMWs, we did some brainstorming again and came up with the bunch of solutions to every HMW. Below are the solutions👇. (Frankly speaking, I didn’t do much in this too.😅)
Yeah, yeah, I know. Now focus👇
Solutions to the HMWs
So, in the end, we decided to go for two HMWs.
1. HMW satisfy the decision of the users based on their availability and estimated budget?
2. HMW ensure users satisfaction to the fullest?
And here are the solutions to that👇.
Final solutions to the final HMWs
Now we have the final HMWs, it is time to prepare our designs😎.
By the way, first 30 hours are up⏰!
🎥Part 4: Design the Solution
At first, we will begin with wireframing and then we will prepare the UI screens✌.
Wireframes
Taking the HMWs into account, we decided to go for wireframing our ideas. Below are the low fidelity wireframes👇, thanks to our team member. Also, these wireframes are for 1st and 2nd solutions only.
Group travel selection for adding members
If the user wants to simply view the destinations based on the locations and budget, he can simply search. Below is the wireframe explaining the 3rd solution👇.
Wireframe for 3rd solution indicating the amenities, travel guides, etc.
By the way, first 42 hours are up⏰!
Now, we have everything we need📓. So, we went further to design the UI of the solutions. Below are the UI screens👇.
The 1st screen is home screen, 2nd screen is the login details and 3rd screen suggests the user to join a certain group or not.
☝The 1st is the home screen, which will explain the packages the user can opt for. Also, travel blogs are featured for the user to read and explore popular destinations. The screen also shows different options for booking such as flights, hotels, trains and buses.
The 2nd screen simply asks for login details from the user.
The 3rd screen suggests the user to join a certain group made only for discussing travels and bookings.
The left screen shows the details to create a group and other screen shows the group chat.
☝The 4th screen which is on the left side above, suggests the user to create a group with all the traveling details. Also, the user has an option to make the group public or private. In addition, the user can send invites to his friends or other groupies.
The 5th screen on the right shows a chat happening in by the users who are part of the group.
☝All the above screens were prepared by my teammates. Now comes my contribution to the UI screens😎.
Screen suggesting amenities, facilities, travel guides and other such information.
👈This is the 6th screen, which features a hotel in a destination searched by the user.
In this screen, destination has been entered for a specified date and for how many people. Accordingly, the hotel is being shown.
👈The first part of the screen shows that the destination appears in magazine called “HOTELS” (Please note that contents in this screen has nothing to do with the magazine), along with the reviews and ratings.
👈This part shows the amenities covered in the hotel.
(lets move on)
👈This part covers the various facilities which are being offered by the hotel in the destination.
👈This part covers the various interesting places which are nearby the hotel in the destination, along with the reviews and ratings. Also, the user can know if it is open or closed.
👈This part covers the different travel guides which are present at the destination, along with the reviews and ratings. The travel guide can be contacted through the mobile number and a certification which shows that the person is qualified for the job.
👈This part covers the other hotels the user might like, along with the reviews and ratings.
(Feeling the screen so long😅)
👈This part covers the various deals and offers which can be done while booking the hotel.
👈This part tells the user that the hotel is covid safe.
👈Last but not the least, this part suggests the selection of a room.
Finally, as we have done all the stuff related to our solution, only one thing was left to do and that was…..
…The presentation itself!.
Nah, we didn't do any PowerPoint. We simply prepared a video explaining the solution which thoroughly reflected our team effort in the project😎.
Well folks, this is the end of the project.
The 48-hours are up now⏰!.
Yes, indeed. The event only focused on delivering a solution to the problem (which we were finally able to do😪). As we have covered each and every aspect of the event, the project is now finished✌.
🎥After the presentation
We presented our video in the presentation call. The video was so good and entertaining, that our mentors couldn’t stop laughing! I wish, you could have been there. But nevertheless, it worked like a breather to our 48 hour long project😅.
🎥Final Part: Key Learnings 📚
It has been an enlightenment to work with different members having different experiences and have their perspectives in the project.
The pressure built in the event on the teams provoked us to come up with a solution in an unexpected 48 hours and that too from scratch.
At one point, you may feel so overwhelmed with the emotions that you may feel that you cant go ahead. But by participating in the event, I have learned that the desire to learn and unlearn can drive you to the destination you want to set your foot on.
Sometimes, there will be fights or disagreements or arguments regarding a certain topic or solution you might have suggested, don't see them as negatives but see them as an opportunity to improve yourself.
That's it folks😎.
We have covered everything and finished our project with flying colors✔.
Yeah, I was also very happy in the end😁.
Now, amigos, I rest my journey with you.
