Setting the foundation

Setting the foundation

During Week 1 of the project, my team and I had our first meeting with the Hoptale team in hopes to understand and identify the scope and desired outcomes both parties hoped to achieve.  This meeting was very productive and in addition to identifying the project's scope, we were also able to define 3 overarching principles that would served as a solid foundation for the eventual design recommendations we produced during the project:

• Make the user interface of creating and documenting a trip more intuitive and easy to use
• Make the whole experience of the app more fun and rewarding
• Build a cohesive connection of the two main tasks of planning a trip and documenting a trip

During Week 1 of the project, my team and I had our first meeting with the Hoptale team in hopes to understand and identify the scope and desired outcomes both parties hoped to achieve.  This meeting was very productive and in addition to identifying the project's scope, we were also able to define 3 overarching principles that would served as a solid foundation for the eventual design recommendations we produced during the project:

One of the things we learned during the meeting was Hoptale plan to roll out a new Planning a Trip feature to compliment their already established Documenting a Trip feature in their next phase of development.  

• Make the user interface of creating and documenting a trip more intuitive and easy to use
• Make the whole experience of the app more fun and rewarding
• Build a cohesive connection of the two main tasks of planning a trip and documenting a trip

We were extremely excited to be apart of that process and be able to help with the intial design and process flow of this soon to be release feature.  

One of the things we learned during the meeting was Hoptale plan to roll out a new Planning a Trip feature to compliment their already established Documenting a Trip feature in their next phase of development.  We were extremely excited to be apart of that process and be able to help with the intial design and process flow of this soon to be release feature.  

The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students and scholars in their research and learning endeavours.  The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt’s student body. The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the usability metrics and ease of use of the library website.  Our goal during the study was to evaluate effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries.  

Discipline

User Experience (UX), Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking

Team

• Marta Miklaszewicz
• Wenjun (Juno) Zhou
• Yiqiao (Karen) Li
• Armon Burton
  

My Role

• Conduct stakeholder interviews
• Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
• Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
• Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
• Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
• Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders

Deliverables

The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.

• Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
• Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
• Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.

Hoptale's Travelers 

Hoptale's Travelers

Setting the foundation

During Week 1 of the project, my team and I had our first meeting with the Hoptale team in hopes to understand and identify the scope and desired outcomes both parties hoped to achieve.  This meeting was very productive and in addition to identifying the project's scope, we were also able to define 3 overarching principles that would served as a solid foundation for the eventual design recommendations we produced during the project:

• Make the user interface of creating and documenting a trip more intuitive and easy to use
• Make the whole experience of the app more fun and rewarding
• Build a cohesive connection of the two main tasks of planning a trip and documenting a trip

After our intial meeting with Hoptale, we began to plan the schedule for the next couple of weeks until we had to deliver our initial draft of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) during week 7.   

After our intial meeting with Hoptale, we began to plan the schedule for the next couple of weeks until we had to deliver our initial draft of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) during week 7.  

Even though Hoptale is well designed and established app with a growing user base, we decided to first start do some primary user research of our own to help us getting a better understanding who their users are and what their wants and needs will be when it comes to planning and documenting their travels.

Our first step was to start collecting data, information, and insights through online surveys and interviews.  In total, 42 people responded to our questionnaire and I personally interviewed 4 people.  The data and notes gathered from the questionnaires and interviews were used to create the below infinity map:

One of the things we learned during the meeting was Hoptale plan to roll out a new Planning a Trip feature to compliment their already established Documenting a Trip feature in their next phase of development.  We were extremely excited to be apart of that process and be able to help with the intial design and process flow of this soon to be release feature.  

Hoptale's Travelers

After our intial meeting with Hoptale, we began to plan the schedule for the next couple of weeks until we had to deliver our initial draft of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) during week 7.  

Even though Hoptale is well designed and established app with a growing user base, we decided to first start do some primary user research of our own to help us getting a better understanding who their users are and what their wants and needs will be when it comes to planning and documenting their travels.

Our first step was to start collecting data, information, and insights through online surveys and interviews.  In total, 42 people responded to our questionnaire and I personally interviewed 4 people.  The data and notes gathered from the questionnaires and interviews were used to create the below infinity map:

Even though Hoptale is well designed and established app with a growing user base, we decided to first start do some primary user research of our own to help us getting a better understanding who their users are and what their wants and needs will be when it comes to planning and documenting their travels.

Our first step was to start collecting data, information, and insights through online surveys/questionnaires.  In total, 42 people responded to our questionnaire and I personally interviewed 4 people.  The data and notes gathered from the questionnaires and interviews were used to create the below infinity map:

Putting a face to the data

Next we wanted to create a representation of an ideal user who would be interested in using Hoptale to plan and document their travels.  We analyzed all of data during user research and created a fictional representation of that ideal user in the form of the user persona below: 

Putting a face to the data

Next we wanted to create a representation of an ideal user who would be interested in using Hoptale to plan and document their travels.  We analyzed all of data during user research and created a fictional representation of that ideal user in the form of the user persona below: 

Putting a face to the data

Next we wanted to create a representation of an ideal user who would be interested in using Hoptale to plan and document their travels.  We analyzed all of data during user research and created a fictional representation of that ideal user in the form of the user persona below: 

Plotting the Ideal Users Path

After we created the ideal user and noted what we thought would be their motivations, frustations, and goals, we then visualization of the process  and experience that  person would go through when going a trip.  To provide better insights and thinking we decided to map out the entire user journey from beginning to end:

Plotting the Ideal Users Path

After we created the ideal user and noted what we thought would be their motivations, frustations, and goals, we then visualization of the process  and experience that  person would go through when going a trip.  To provide better insights and thinking we decided to map out the entire user journey from beginning to end:

Plotting the Ideal Users Path

After we created the ideal user and noted what we thought would be their motivations, frustations, and goals, we then visualization of the process  and experience that  person would go through when going a trip.  To provide better insights and thinking we decided to map out the entire user journey from beginning to end:

Planning at any time

Trips are not a linear experience.  90% of participants mentioned they change their trip at least once from the initial plan.  

The ability to change trips “on the fly” supports adjustments to the unplanned and unexpected changes.

Draft of an idea

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time: 

Draft of an idea 

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time:

Inspiration from others

Between booking tools, forums, and review sites, people on average referral to at least 5 resources of inspirations. 

One of the biggest resources is finding inspiration through others (friends, family, social media). 

Draft of an idea

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time: 

Draft of an idea 

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time:

Scattered information

There is a lot of details and information a user keeps track of over the course of their trip.  

76% of participants use and refer to a list (pre-check list, itinerary) during they trip and having that information readily accessible is extremely valuable to them.

Draft of an idea

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time: 

Draft of an idea 

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time:

Draft of an idea

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time: 

Draft of an idea

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time: 

Draft of an idea 

During the kickoff meeting with the Hoptale team, they mentioned they were working on a new Planning feature that would allow their users to create a planning itinerary for an upcoming trip.  We looked forward to working and improving on the idea and concept further.  Below is a link of the beta version of their Planning Feature at the time:

As with all drafts, nothing is going to be 100% perfect.  Even completely built and tested products aren't perfect and there is always room for improvement.  I think our inital draft was a great conversation starter and had some really good ideas that eventually made it to our final MVP such as the following: 

As with all drafts, nothing is going to be 100% perfect.  Even completely built and tested products aren't perfect and there is always room for improvement.  I think our inital draft was a great conversation starter and had some really good ideas that eventually made it to our final MVP such as the following: 

As with all drafts, nothing is going to be 100% perfect.  Even completely built and tested products aren't perfect and there is always room for improvement.  I think our inital draft was a great conversation starter and had some really good ideas that eventually made it to our final MVP such as the following: 

Out of the entire process, I believe working on this initial draft of the MVP (weeks 2 through 7) was the most reward as it came with a great lesson.  We essentially started thinking and working on the MVP draft right after our kickoff meeting with Hoptale.  Heads down and focused on pumping out the big idea/design we had for their upcoming planning feature. After presenting, both the Hoptale team and my team believe our initial draft of the MVP had some great elements even in it's rough design, especially in terms of feature set and flow of the experience.  However it sort of missed the mark in terms of what was realistic and feasible.  

For instance, one of our ideas was to populate a discovery page based on destinations the users wanted to visit and allowing them to pick and choose content based on different categories such as Places to Stay, Spots to Eat, Things to Do.  A similar feature and layout to some of Hoptales competitors, like Airbnb or Tripadvisor, and while the list of user and content is growing every day for Hoptale, it wasn't realistic to design a feature set for them that relied so much on user content generated.  In an ideal world the design would've worked great for them but unfortunately at the moment Hoptale is quite there to support these ideal world big ideas.  Thankfully we had this checkpoint and had this discuss midpoint way through project as it allowed us to course correct and realign our focus on what eventually became the final MVP.  Definitely a learning experience and carry forward to future projects.

Out of the entire process, I believe working on this initial draft of the MVP (weeks 2 through 7) was the most reward as it came with a great lesson.  We essentially started thinking and working on the MVP draft right after our kickoff meeting with Hoptale.  Heads down and focused on pumping out the big idea/design we had for their upcoming planning feature. After presenting, both the Hoptale team and my team believe our initial draft of the MVP had some great elements even in it's rough design, especially in terms of feature set and flow of the experience.  However it sort of missed the mark in terms of what was realistic and feasible.  

For instance, one of our ideas was to populate a discovery page based on destinations the users wanted to visit and allowing them to pick and choose content based on different categories such as Places to Stay, Spots to Eat, Things to Do.  A similar feature and layout to some of Hoptales competitors, like Airbnb or Tripadvisor, and while the list of user and content is growing every day for Hoptale, it wasn't realistic to design a feature set for them that relied so much on user content generated.  

In an ideal world the design would've worked great for them but unfortunately at the moment Hoptale is quite there to support these ideal world big ideas.  Thankfully we had this checkpoint and had this discuss midpoint way through project as it allowed us to course correct and realign our focus on what eventually became the final MVP.  Definitely a learning experience and carry forward to future projects.

Out of the entire process, I believe working on this initial draft of the MVP (weeks 2 through 7) was the most reward as it came with a great lesson.  We essentially started thinking and working on the MVP draft right after our kickoff meeting with Hoptale.  Heads down and focused on pumping out the big idea/design we had for their upcoming planning feature. After presenting, both the Hoptale team and my team believe our initial draft of the MVP had some great elements even in it's rough design, especially in terms of feature set and flow of the experience.  However it sort of missed the mark in terms of what was realistic and feasible.  

For instance, one of our ideas was to populate a discovery page based on destinations the users wanted to visit and allowing them to pick and choose content based on different categories such as Places to Stay, Spots to Eat, Things to Do.  A similar feature and layout to some of Hoptales competitors, like Airbnb or Tripadvisor, and while the list of user and content is growing every day for Hoptale, it wasn't realistic to design a feature set for them that relied so much on user content generated.  

In an ideal world the design would've worked great for them but unfortunately at the moment Hoptale is quite there to support these ideal world big ideas.  Thankfully we had this checkpoint and had this discuss midpoint way through project as it allowed us to course correct and realign our focus on what eventually became the final MVP.  Definitely a learning experience and carry forward to future projects.