Empathize & Define

Defining the problem

Upon starting the contract, I was told that the goal was to update the menu. But the team couldn't tell me why. So I started diagnosis workshop.

Hypothesis

From the workshop came the real hypothesis as to why online experience bookings are low, which the the team didn't agree on prior. The hypothesis was that
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‍bookings are not done online because people want the choice to not be in control on a trip, but they still want to do activities.

Testing

We did user interviews with 7 travelers that met the profile of their 2 personas Bleisure and Young Travelers.

After synthesizing the results, we saw 2 major patterns in regards to the habits of spontaneous bookings while traveling. There were #Planners and Mappers.

Results

Some key things we planned on learning from this MVP:

- How often do users run reports?
- What data is in a “MERS Reconciliation Task”?
- What date ranges are most useful for reporting?
- What questions do customers have about reporting?

Problem Validated

After the interviews, we found our problem statement was correct. We then analyzed the maps and as a team we created the following requirements as problem statements in the "Customer + Need + Insight" format.

Requirements

1 Mappers need a Map view to make finding content aligned with my method, because we saw that spontaneous booking search often starts in google maps (4/7 testers).
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2 #Planners need keyword categorization & search to align with Planners Hashtag discover because multiple users described the importance of being in control in their decisions, but not the scenario.

‍3 Mappers & Planners need a less aggressive way of 360stories pushing bookings because multiple users described the importance of being in control in their decisions, but not the scenario.

‍4 #Planners & Mappers need a better nomenclature for bookings and experiences because the users interviewed had found the names story and experiences too vague.

Ideation

Flows

Working with the PM, I began to map out a new flow, interface, states, and Interactions.

Storyboarding

Taking into consideration the map constraints and existing design, this version was designed to provide a better layout structure and new solves to help 360Stories obtain their outcome of increasing bookings via their platform.

Some key points:
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Users can toggle between map and list view. Map view is only available at the Destination level.

Part of the new nav included a slideshow for showcasing experiences and bookings per city.

I broke the chunks into 2-rowed horizontal scroll experiences, separated by category.

Portals Feature

A major pain point for the users was how 360Stories was pushing bookings on the users.

They essentially would use popups while a user was exploring that auto-redirected you to an ad for a booking experience.

This experience was having a really negative impact on the usability & user's impression of the app.

I suggested a more passive & strategic approach to getting users to view bookings in the form of portals.

The portals are basically doorways into other experiences or bookings, and would be strategically placed in various scenes, Eg. A portal to a food tour booking next to a food truck.

This idea removes the aggressive sales push, and more importantly, Portals mimics the experience of walking down the street and seeing a sign, business, shop, etc that catches your eye.

This approach was a huge win with the stakeholders.

Prototype

Mid-Fi Wires

Once the team agreed on the sketches, we went to wires & prototype.

View LoFi Prototype

Hi-Fi Mocks

From the wires, I took the files and skinned a new visual design. Colors and styling came from the existing branding.

Prototype

I made a prototype using invision to gut check the designs with the team.

The Dev team them spun out a prototype in Unity to testing app via the oculus go and HTC to give a more real feeling for upcoming usability testing.
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View HiFi Prototype

Test & Iterate

Usability Testing

We wrote a simple test with 4 questions and had 7 users come in for testing.

We recorded each sessions with an iphone to document their behavior and record conversation. For screen sessions, we did a screen record of the vive device.

Test Results

From the results, we mapped the data points and saw 5 major categories of patterns:

Bugs, Lack of user control, UI, booking, and content data.

Iterations

The users wanted to see booking options in VR, but want to book on their own device.

To fit the users need, we created a simpler form which allows a user to send a link to the phon number or email. We also provided better copy to communicate that the bookings are done on their own device.

Final Demo

Making travel bookings delightful and unique

Company

360 Stories

Industry

VR / Travel

Role

Product Design Lead

Project Type

Feature Launch

Tools

SKetch / Invision

Making travel bookings delightful and unique

The Deets

Empathize & Define

Ideate

Prototype

Test

Iterate

Empathize & Define

Ideation

Prototype

Test & Iterate

Results