PlaNative - Travel App

Mobile Designer

UX Designer

UI Designer

Figma

Miro

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

Join my journey from flying up to the sky of "Fiverr for tour guides" to a safe landing in a nice place with great local people.

The Problem

Helping people plan their travel with local’s insights

The Solution

PlaNative- Travel planning app that connects travelers with local communities at their travel destination.

Tools: Google Docs, Figma, Zoom, Miro, Canva, Typeform, Usability Hub, Instagram Design System

Any plans?

First Idea, First Choice, First Love? First Lessons!

While reading the assignment, the first idea that just came up: was "Fiverr" for tour guides; with the pandemic effects, here is my opportunity to save the (traveling) world. With that in mind, I went straight to a friend that knows the answers to... almost anything -Google!

After a few hours with Google, I realized... These tour guides are not the users... So who are the users?

Less use of public transport Science Direct Our journeys will become more inclusive. National Geographic

Small communities will play a more significant role. National Geographic

Sustainability will be a driving force National Geographic

Travel advisors will become essential National Geographic

Expect fewer crowds and experiences at tourist magnets Washington Post

Discover The North Star

How Do People Plan Their Travel?

How long does it take?

What tools do they use?

What is important to them?

What information are they looking for?

What influences their travel experience the most?

Do they like to plan their travel?

Pack some information

SURVEY DATA - ANSWERED BY 22 PARTICIPANTS

Affinity Diagram

The survey data and the interviews clearly show that users consider locals' information valuable and are willing to pay for it. Most users would like to spend less time planning by using fewer platforms to get the information. Users have different preferences about how they like to travel and what they want to achieve while traveling. Most users are highly motivated to support local communities by empowering local businesses.

Show me your Passport

User Research Climaxes

Don't get too attached to your ideas

Think simple & read instructions

Google doesn't know your user.

Rethink! (Re is the new normal)

User First, Ideas After

Set Your Destination

Daniella travels to Barcelona with her spouse for a short weekend and she needs help planning her stay to maximize their time together in Barcelona to experience the local atmosphere.

Seasoned travelers need help with getting local information, saving time on planning, and enjoying the local experience.

"We believe connecting travelers to local communities from places they visit, will allow them to efficiently plan trips that answer their desire for the "locals only" experiences they seek while strengthening local communities."

How might we help our frequent travelers find local information for their travel planning, connect between travelers and local communities and plan their stay with local insights?

Ideation

Feature Prioritization Matrix

Upgrade to business class

The location-based deals & discounts option and the option to book a local business were added to the priority matrix as high impact because they can help construct a money-making model for the app (most users are willing to pay) and drive content contributions by another type of user (local guides or businesses).

Takeoff - Value Proposition

User Scenario

Storyboard

User Journey Map

Connecting Flights

User said: I don't want to drive / Walk the streets and get lost

Science Direct: Less use of public transport

User said: I would like to explore the local food, to get to know local people

National Geographic: Our journeys will become more inclusive

User said: I don’t like touristy things

National Geographic: Travel advisors will become essential

User said: I want to spend money to strengthen the local community

National Geographic: Small communities will play a bigger role.

Definition & Ideation

You can get attached to your user - and enjoy it!

When you know the path, it's much safer to reach the user's destination

Google knows a lot about the market trends

Visualizing the data can give you peace of mind

User First, So what's next?

Glide Path

Competitor Analysis

Direct competition - leading planning apps in the traveling market and two more tools for travel planning with locals specifically. (Google Travel, TripIt, Sygic, Roadtrippers, Tours by locals, Withlocals). Indirect competition - tools that all of the users interviewed mentioned as they plan their travel. (Airbnb, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Instagram, Pinterest).

Center of Gravity

Test Results - Start Diversion

Add the option to go back

Add navigation instructions and a menu

Reflect the user on how many steps left

Add the option "all" to the interests screen

Change the plan level screen.

Change texts to be more personal

Change the results page layout

Final Approach

A\B Test

19 Users participate in the test.

79% of users chose the option with the icons as the preferred one.

Prototyping & Testing

User's experience is your ejection seat

Have a plan & be ready to change it

Research, Retest, Realize

New eyes- a better experience

User First.

Mood Board

Solving user journey challenges

Easy, simple, and fun to plan- look & feel of social media platform.

Building Community- profile levels to encourage content contribution.

Drive traffic- allowing locals to offer services and connect them with relevant users.

Increase the use- allowing users to upgrade to a Native profile, join the community, share their local experiences, or offer services.

About the experience- for users craving local knowledge, the design should be clear with bright colors, only real people images. AUTHENTIC is the keyword.

UI Screens

Soft Landing. Welcome! What's Next?

Experienced Travelers are planning great trips, connecting & supporting local communities, and creating meaningful memories with the PlaNative experience. Travelers who use PlaNative create & share their local secrets to help expand the community & contribute valuable organic content. PlaNative welcomes each traveler to be a part of our community & feel at home anywhere in the world.

Same here! After reaching many destinations and starting an exciting journey here in the US, I wish to enjoy exploring new and unresearched knowledge, design meaningful solutions, share my native professional experience & feel at home again.