SOLOVIBE
PROCESS PAGE
Link to finished prototype!
Project Overview
This project was focused primarily on Guiding a user to have a unique traveling experience. While helping the user create a personalized itinerary. Our aim is to give the traveler(s) the best experience while putting safety at the forefront. Working collaboratively with a team of four, we utilized a design process called Goal-Directed Design (GDD) to develop this website.
Introduction
Interaction Design I spring 2024- We were given a class project, where we had to utilize Goal-Directed Design (GDD)—which we read from About Face (4th Edition) by Alan Cooper—to design a mobile prototype of our choice.
As a team member and assistant researcher on this project, I helped coordinate interviews, finish workflows, turn in my assigned tasks by the deadlines, and provided support to my team. In collaboration with my peers, we designed a prototype that aimed to create a unique but safe travel experience for new first time travelers and solo travelers
Meet the Team!
Arielle Brown
Team Leader
Researcher/Designer
Rene Carrasquilla
Team Member
Researcher/ Designer
Olamide Latinwo
Team Member
Researcher/Designer
Mechelle Nguyễn
Team Member
Researcher/Designer
Our Approach
Goal-Directed Design
We applied the Goal-Directed Design technique to make sure our product was user-centered. By using this method, we were able to determine the objectives, requirements, and driving forces of our consumers before developing the product, guaranteeing that it was made with them in mind. As a result, this process page describes the various phases of GDD, how we modified it to meet the time limits of our college course, and how we established this chain of evidence that shows each step that comes after.
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Stages of Goal Directed Design- GDD
Research Phase
In the Research phase of GDD, designers acquire important information about the project; such as user goals, pertinent contexts, the project's intended usage, environmental factors like the economy and weather, and comparable travel itinerary apps and websites. In order to ensure a thorough understanding of the project, the research phase consists of a kickoff meeting, literature review, competitive audit, stakeholder interviews, subject matter expert (SME) interviews, and user interviews. We were able to develop well-informed design decisions that support the objectives and needs of the user by carrying out in-depth research.
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Kick off meeting
The normal official kickoff meeting is designed to initiate a project by engaging with business stakeholders. Due to this being a class project we didn't meet with any real stakeholders. We were our own stakeholders. We were able to formulate a problem statement along with several assumption statements, which served as the foundation for our project launch.
Problem Statement
"The current state of the Solovibe has focused primarily on Guiding a user to have a unique traveling experience. "
What existing products/services Expedia, Kayak, Hopper fail to address our product/service will address this gap by Giving travelers the best experience while putting safety at the forefront.
Assumption Statement
Who is the user? The users for this app are new travelers , experienced travelers, and travelers who want to be organized about their destination and safe on their journey.
Where does our product fit in their work or life? This app can help people who are on business trips, This app can guide new and experienced travelers and keep them organized as well.
How should our product look and behave? Our product will have a sleek, modern look with navy and orange colors. This product will behave and interact with the user on a personal level.
When and how is our product used? Solovibe is used for when people would want to plan a trip anywhere they would like.
What problems does our product solve? Solovibe solves the problem users have when planning a trip, also solves the the disorganization when is comes to organizing everything you need to have a successful trip.
Literature Review
An Important research stage in GDD is the Literature Review, which gives designers a comprehensive grasp of the background of the product.
It helps the team's ability to interview stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) effectively and improves information throughout the design process.
Key Takeaways:
The relevance of the Solovibe app development process and this source is the potential to enhance usability, accessibility, and convenience for travelers to navigate international and domestic trips while prioritizing their health and safety. With a well-designed app, the app can serve as a digital companion to a user for providing information, resources, and guidance from the CDC’s guides in a user-friendly format. After assessing the domain of itinerary bookings and travel safety assurance, I have made the connection that large competitors do not put as much emphasis on the traveler’s safety when booking flights, hotels, or excursions. The company’s first issues to address are the conditions of the traveler’s belongings and offering insurance packages before booking is complete in case of loss or damage. Instead of focusing on personal belongings, the travel app can include many general precautions for users like emergency assistance for medical issues. This can include emergency contacts, facilities, or directions. For directions, we would consider offline access to their maps, their itinerary, and their emergency contacts for more remote areas with limited to no internet access.
Competitive Audit
During the Competitive Audit phase of GDD, we analyze and compare existing competitors in the product domain.
This process helped us identify potential competitors in the travel app industry and allowed us to incorporate features that competing applications lacked. We reviewed four travel websites/apps. We then compared them side-by-side in a chart that illustrated several important features. This information was taken into consideration during the design process to ensure that our product had the necessary features to stand out in the market.
Top competitors
Priceline
Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" feature allows customers to bid for accommodations at their desired price point, potentially resulting in significant savings. This is good for travelers who are on a budget.
Hopper
2nd top competitor, They have a feature called “Price Freeze”, which allows users to lock in the price for those who needs more time to plan and consider their options.
User Interviews
Persona Hypothesis
We had to find possible users and decide if they would be good candidates for our research before we could start interviewing users. In order to do this, we created a persona hypothesis, which entailed doing a user type analysis and determining the goals, needs, surroundings, and behavior of several user types. To begin, we created a list of questions to establish our ideal identity or personas.
Conducting interviews :
Interview #1
Our persona hypothesis helped us create specific research questions and identify potential participants for our user interviews. We conducted a total of five interviews, some in person and some done via teams
Note takers/recorders
To ensure the interviews were effective, we only asked open-ended and closed-ended questions, prioritizing goals over tasks, and avoiding leading questions..
Me on the left, Michelle on the right.
Affinity Maps
Following the user interviews, we made affinity maps for every interview based on the qualities that overlapped. These maps not only helped us uncover common themes and patterns across all interviews, but they also helped us sort through important observations, behaviors, and thoughts. The end product was a series of sticky note clusters that each participant's key learnings were represented by.
Affinity Map for Interviewer #2
Affinity Map for Interviewer #4
Modeling Phase: Second Phase of GDD
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Mapping Interview Subjects to Behavioral Variables
Behavioral variables are witnessed during observation. My team decided on these variables after discussion (and affinity mapping). There's an art to it (i.e., judging and interpreting) and the more teammates that paid attention/were at interviews, the easier this process was
Me in class, showing my team members behavior variables between the interviewees
Identify Significant Behavior Variables
We circled correlations that we found and used them as variables.
Our persona
Melody James
“Primary Persona” - Experienced Traveler
Age- 25 years old
Occupation- Food Critic
location- Los Angeles, California
Requirements Phase: Third Phase of GDD ✅
In the Requirements phase, we created a context scenario and a list of requirements to determine what our primary persona, Melody James, needs to successfully meet her goals
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Vision Statement
The design of Solovibe will help users achieve the goal of being organized when traveling by allowing them to be able to have help with building an itinerary, language assistance, and safety with greater accuracy, efficiency, organization, and without problems like not being able to be connected to the culture, worried family members of the users safety, and not knowing how to plan. that they currently experience. This will dramatically improve Solovibe’s customer
satisfaction ratings and lead to increased market share.
Some requirements
After putting ourselves in our users' shoes, we identified requirements that our primary user, Melody, would need for our travel itinerary app. We used our context scenario and requirements list as the foundation for our prototype framework.
Data & functional needs
We record expectations in order to comprehend mental models (About Face, 112). The requirements and context scenario are constructed using these assumptions as the foundation.Our core persona's expectations are derived from users' attitudes, experiences, aspirations, and conceptions of fundamental data units.
Framework Phase: Fourth Phase of GDD
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Low fidelity wireframes
We built out our low-fidelity wireframes in our groups Figjam file before transferring it over to
Figma to build out the final prototype
Our Prototype
We started by creating our prototype in Figma after finishing our wireframe. We created a design system, divide the prototype work into sections, and give each team member a screen to complete. Following this stage, we entered the refinement phase, where we tested the prototype's usability in an effort to improve it even more.
Screens I designed
Emergency button
We wanted our users to feel safe so we added a quick way for them to contact local authorities. This is a screen that me and Michelle worked on together.
Emergency phone call
The screen I'm most proud of!
I was able to prototype sound on the "call" button. It was super cool when we got to presenting our presentations In class
Wallet
Users are able to add their cards to their account for easy access and purchases.
Favorites
A screen where users can access their saved destination stays and all the ones they liked before.
On going trip
A screen where users can access their on going trip and see their past trips as well
Recommended Stays
As a travel app it's part of our job to recommend stays to the user depending on location, style, reviews and budget.
Refinement Phase: Fifth Phase of GDD
After creating our prototype, we conducted some usability tests. We did this so we could fix any bugs in our prototype and also get a feel of how the app would operate when a user is using it Vs. a designer.
Research
Modeling
Requirement
Framework
Refinement
Understand users and the domain.
Mock-up our users and their goals.
Define user, business, and technical needs.
Create the design structure and flows
Assess behaviors, form and content.
Usability Test Findings
Conclusion
Following the completion of our usability testing process, which involved documenting, evaluating, and resolving all user suggestions and issues. I was able to produce a stunning end result with my team that we were happy with. As a member of this team, I developed relationships with my teammates and discovered the importance of efficient communication. This project experience made clear how crucial extensive research is to producing a product that offers a safe and comfortable travel experience. Working with such an incredible team that saw our product through to the prototype stage felt energizing. I had a terrific time working on this project overall!