The Problem
Travelers struggle to organize and revisit their travel memories because the task feels overwhelming.
The Solution
Enable easy recording and searching methods.
01
Automatic Timeline
Enable organized travel memories by automatically creating a timeline when travelers upload their travel photos in bulk.
02
Swift and Vivid Memory Notes
Provide options to record memories to suit different needs: record swiftly with short hashtags, document in detail with texts, or record a voice memo if users don't feel like writing.
03
Quick Search
Precisely locate specific memory by searching keywords, dates, or location.
Impact
Significantly improved task completion rates from 57% to 88.6%, and finally to 95.5% through 3 rounds of usability tests and design iterations. The final design received a 92% positive user feedback. One participant remarked,
"I wish this was a real app."
Empathize
1.1 Problem Space
As a traveler, I always want to remember everything about a trip. I take numerous photos and wish to organize them into a holistic memory. But I often fail to do so, leaving the images buried and forgotten in the photo album.
1.2 White Paper Research
To dive deeper into the issue, I conducted secondary research on existing scholarship on travel memories. The findings suggest people value travel memories greatly, but disorganized travel photos significantly compromise people’s reminiscence.
1.3 User Interview
To learn more about users’ emotions and the reasons behind their struggles, I conducted 6 semi-structured user interviews with my potential users with the following research questions in mind. 6 out of 6 users mention:
They fail to organize and revisit travel memories because the task feels overwhelming.
Define
2.1 Research Synthesis
After collecting 261 data points from the user interviews, I derived common themes through affinity mapping and quantified findings through rainbow spreadsheets.
User Interview Downloads
Affinity Map
Rainbow Spreadsheet
2.2 Themes + Insights
Based on the trends revealed in my affinity map, I have noticed users have conflicting emotions about travel memories. They actively record travel memories and value them greatly, yet the task of organizing feels so burdensome that they procrastinate, then eventually fail to do so.
2.3 Understanding the User
Empathy Map
Persona
2.4 Key Pain Points + Opportunity
Ideate
3.1 Brainstorm
User pain points indicate two distinct user needs. The first three pain points cohesively suggest simplifying the documenting process. The fourth pain point suggests something different, a search function for easy retrieval.
3.2 User Story + MVP
3.3 Red Route Flows
User needs suggest three main routes in the MVP, which are creating travel memories as a new user, editing travel memories as a returned user, and retrieving a specific incident in the app.
3.4 Sketch Ideas
In response to pain points 1, 2, and 3, the initial idea for simplifying the recording process was to offer users templates that help them organize and break travel memories into manageable segments so users deal with small portions of information at a time.
Design + Testing
4.1 Guerilla Testing + Wireframing
After sketching out initial ideas, I conducted a Guerilla Test to examine whether users find the design direction to be helpful. There were two major shifts in the recording of travel memories.
Major Shifts
4.2 Visual Design
For the design, I chose to use light and neutral colors to accommodate all types of travel photos. The brand personality is calm and understated, evoking the feeling of an inner voice that echoes when reminiscing about cherished memories.
4.3 Hi-fi Mockup
Before moving to a high-fidelity mockup, I conducted a low-fi test to uncover further usability issues. Test results suggest two noteble changes in the retrieval of travel memories.
4.4 Hi-fi Usability Test
Issues + Changes
Prototype
5.1 Final Screens
5.2 Demo
Easy Start
Easily initiate in just a few clicks.
Flexibility in Viewing Memory
Offer multiple ways to reminisce: browse by location, hashtags, automatically grouped 'Moments', or view all.
5.3 Prototype
Lesson
If I had more time…
Explore more reward systems to encourage users to record travel memories.
Enhance the notion of self-growth in travel memories.
Conduct a diary study among active travelers to examine the design realistically.
Thank you for reading!
