Culturesque
Making travel researching more simpler and efficient
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Platform | Mobile App
Design Tools | Adobe XD, Miro, Invision, Overflow
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Project Date | February 2021
My Role | Sole UX designer responsible for research, design, prototyping, and testing.
Problem
Imagine you're planning on traveling to an international country. As you're trying to find information about this country, you find resources that are outdated or information that is scattered all over the place. How do you know if the information is even true? These situations can range from being time-consuming and stressful if not more.
Solution
Culturesque is a mobile app that provides all the essential travel information for destinations around the world simply by using this one single app. This will stand out as a go to travel resource and a must download for any trip
Enjoy travel research with Culturesque. Learn how it works
Information All in One Screen
Do you ever get frustrated when you can't find all the information for your destination? With Culturesque, it's simple for users to find all the information and requirements needed including things users would've least expected to know.
Making Travelers Feel Safe
When users are traveling and say they feel unsafe or may be in danger., Culturesque provides an SOS feature. This notifies local authorities and the users emergency contacts.
Save Items of Interest
Users can keep track of their destinations and reviews by saving them. Culturesque offers this for individuals who may want to go back and refer to something of interest.
Process
I adopted a modified version of IDEO’s human-centered design thinking process while creating Culturesque
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Research
I made use of the plethora of resources available to better understand the challenges users face when they wish to learn more information on an international country . These insights would serve as the guiding principles of my user research efforts.
Competitive Analysis
Analyzing the competition, I observed that while numerous websites provide information on trip destinations, there are currently few solutions that match all or most of the user needs identified through secondary research. Culturesque can provide possible market advantages and provide partial solutions to important travel information that other competitors cannot offer.
Understanding User Concerns
I sent out a screener survey to recruit 5 users who expressed concerns about their traveling research experiences for a remote 1:1 interview. Insights gained from secondary research informed the research questions I sought to answer through user interviews.
User Interviews
I conducted 5 remote 1:1 interviews with users who clearly expressed through the screener survey that they conduct thorough research before traveling to a destination. By asking them open-ended questions I was able to identify opportunities to provide possible solutions for their needs and pain points. Here are a few choice highlights from those interviews.
Key Insights
Insights gathered from the user interviews were organized using an affinity map. These were the key high-level insights that informed my next steps.
Users want recommendations based on their interests
There's too much information making travel research stressful and time consuming
Users want to feel safe when traveling alone and want to contact local authorities easily if needed
Despite popular tourist areas, users want to see areas that aren't visited often and find things that are memorable
Users feel that they want to know what requirements need to be met before traveling to a country such as vaccinations or visas
Personas
While conducting user interviews I noticed that there seemed to be a rough correlation between a user’s level of awareness on the topic and the actions they took to find all the information they needed before traveling. This observation coupled with all the research insights gathered thus far led me to identify two unique user types.
Ideate
Ideation
With my recently gathered research insights in mind, I narrowed the scope and defined the problems I would tackle using how might we (HMW) questions. I then ideated possible solutions for each HMW that would serve as the bedrock for major features of Culturesque which were:
How might we help travelers feel safe?
How might we help people find all the information they need before traveling?
How might we reduce stress and anxiety from picking a destination?
User Stories
User stories were generated using the insights gained from research and ideation to address the needs and pain points of prospective Culturesque users. User stories were organized into 5 high-level stories called “activities” each of which would eventually manifest into key functions of the app. Each activity was broken down into mid-level “tasks” under which standard user stories would sit. Only user stories that were essential to these high-level activities and mid-level tasks made it into the MVP.
User Activities
As a user...
User Flows
I began creating user flows for critical red routes that overlapped perfectly with the 3 previously identified user activities. Planning the user flows allows me to pinpoint issues in advance and make sure the flows make sense before investing valuable time in designing the screens.
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Wireframes
Based on the gathered design inspirations, prepared user stories, and user flow, I started to create sketched wireframes on paper.
Wireframe Prototype
Mid-fidelity wireframes for each of the critical red routes were created and then mapped out. I then prototyped my mid-fidelity wireframes and conducted 5 informal moderated-usability tests to see if the experience met the user expectations.
Key Insights
Users liked the variety of answers that arise when searching for a destination
Users found the topics on the destinations home page was very useful and necessary
Users appreciated the option of having full control when in an emergency situation
Design
Crafting The Brand
Crafting a brand for a product centered on the complexities of travel information posed its fair share of challenges. Informed by user research, I knew that I had to strike an approachability for users. The goal was to build user trust in the brand as an authority on the subject without overcomplicating it and putting off users.
What's In The Name?
The name Culturesque is the foundation of the entire brand. I chose this name because I wanted it to convey cultural concepts in a simple manner. The suffix -esque means resembling, and this is demonstrated throughout the application with the various countries' cultures and other practices.​
Logo
The logo is designed as a tent to help it stand out amongst the sea of existing traveling brands. The logotype uses a clean and bold geometric shape with a two-tone color scheme so that the image of the tent stands out equally.
Brand Platform
Color Palette
The primary layout of colors conveys trustworthiness through shades of orange on a white background. Secondary colors were used for their vibrancy to grab the user's attention. Brand colors were used for interactive elements and greys are tinted blue which was used as the text
Typography
Culturesque's typography relies on modern clean-looking font families to convey simplicity and elegance. Montserrat is a modern geometric font used in the logotype to give the brand an air of approachability. The SF Pro Display font by Apple is an iOS system font that perfectly matches the clean aesthetic of Culturesque.
Font Families
Hi-Fidelity Mockups
This is a collection of the finalized screens for critical flows
Prototype
A high-fidelity prototype was created that took into account all the research, prior testing, and visual design work completed over the course of this entire process. There was a large emphasis on a user-friendly design to help make the somewhat intimidating experience of dealing with travel research delightful for users.
Reflection
This was my first time working on a full-fledged design project using the design thinking technique. Exploring the traveling space and developing a creative answer was a thrilling experience. I strongly believe that as designers, we have the ability to make a difference and that it's critical to remember that consumers experience outcomes, not intentions. It is our obligation to design those outcomes in such a way that the user, business, and society as a whole benefit the most. Overall, the project was a great introduction to design and a fantastic learning opportunity.
Next Steps
When I interviewed numerous participants, I learnt a lot of surprising insights and got views that helped me understand the gaps and needs of consumers. I want to keep refining the user interface and adding new features, such as a guest user option. Users would be able to use the app as a guest rather than registering an account through the app. Another option I would have included is the ability to use Culturesque over the web, such as on a computer or desktop. The app is progressing in the right direction, and finding ways to improve the process and experience will only strengthen it in the long run.