Case study of trip planner app
Exploration is the essence of the human spirit.
Travel, expedition, vacation or trip whatever you wish to call it, it eventually is all about experiences. Experiences of meeting people, making friends, of exploring new places, savouring local delicacies, and many more. Along with the excitement of newness, experiences also, almost always, mean venturing out of familiar places and entering fresh surroundings. Without proper planning or information these adventures could misfire or lead to a subdued experience
Concept Process
A few days back I was planning an international trip, and during the process I felt that the entire process wasn’t smooth or pleasing enough for me. I wanted to rethink search and booking while planning
Research
In my mind the predominant categories of people who travel are:
Budget traveller : For these people money is clearly a constraint. They want to maximize their experience within the bounds of their pockets. Hence they need to plan well in advance. Every move is orchestrated in detail.
Explorer : This group is more spontaneous. Things happen in a flow and they go where their heart takes them at that point in time. They seek information from maps, locals and applications
Persona
Within my immediate circles, a significant number of friends and acquaintances travel. Some extensively and some occasionally. Keeping them in mind I created a persona. The purpose of this persona was to guide me during my thought process. It allowed me take design decisions and prioritize informations.
Job Stories
Whenever Karan travels he always face problems like bookings, info, details are all scattered and have different apps.
Defining the Problem
Whenever Karan plans his travels, the most significant problem that he faces is that information is scattered across applications. He would ideally like to book, view travel details, see relevant events & activities, read interesting blogs and even check the weather from a single source.
Furthermore, he also needs a budget planner as he routinely exceeds the amount set aside for his travel.
Design Process
We usually confuse users with choices. Hick’s law states that limiting choices to a reasonable degree allow users to make better decisions. Keeping that in mind, I have followed minimal design approach. For instance the homepage only has a search bar and location cards.
Wireframe Sketchings
A sneak peak of some draft wireframes.
Highlights:
Information overload is avoided at each step. Ads, banners etc. are used minimally. Even the information collected is precise so that relevant results can be given with less input.
This is perfect for travellers on the go. They need to plan quickly, gather information in the concise format and book fast. Highly relevant results obviously help this cause. Furthermore, color selection and layout are arranged in such a way that a user can easily scan the screen, see what is important and decide
Few sneak peeks of product screens
Homepage
As mentioned before, I have followed a minimalistic style and an illustrative approach. Only a traditional search bar and neatly designed cards occupy most of the screen.
Cards have few but critical pieces of information. City name, package price, live weather, and a few lines about that destination is just enough to what your appetite
Search Cases
I have divided search into 4 steps instead working through a cumbersome form. This approach focuses on one question at a time and is easy to digest. Each step will generate a set of suggestions increasing user engagement.
Once user has given all inputs, it can be used for hotel bookings, flights, blogs, articles, events etc. The budget step clearly defines the boundaries within which the traveller wants to operate.
Detail Page and other screens
Display of information is structured such that a user can glance at all the related and useful details at once. A flight can be booked directly from the results page. The user can tap on flight banner which will be sticky at bottom of screen and it will slide up a booking screen as shown.There is also access to the next popular location. He can just continue to explore without searching.
User can change inputs if needed.
Illustrations
Illustrations are used for popular locations. They are composed of popular monuments to depict destinations. Soothing colors were used.
Takeaways
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
Travelling is another way to learn to be yourself. I have only tried to solve for a traveller’s basic problems and enhance planning experiences.
There are many screens that are not shown here, only few main cases are shown and discussed.
Note: This case study, research and UI screens are done by me for own study and not for any company.
A many thanks for reading! If you want to collaborate, talk about product design, or just want to say hello, write to me at amit1.art@gmail.com or connect via LinkedIn. Also please visit my Dribbble page for more works.
