for solo adventurers and student travellers
"Connecting The Worlds, Expanding Your Minds."
2024 Indigo Awards:
Gold Winner in Mobile App
Gold Winner in Apps
Duration:
09/2023 - 11/2023
Role:
Product Manager & UX Researcher
The Challenge:
Creating a social networking platform for students and adventurers that merges virtual travel with community engagement presents several challenges. Key issues include delivering immersive and educational content, fostering meaningful connections, and ensuring the platform is user-friendly. Additionally, maintaining accessibility and affordability for a diverse user base adds complexity to developing a platform that meets all these requirements effectively.
Type:
Digital APP, Service Design, UX/UI Design
The Outcome:
This service transforms travel and learning into a virtual, collaborative experience, overcoming physical, financial, and time constraints. It connects over 50,000 global users with shared passions, reducing travel costs by 70% and enabling access to educational content from over 30 countries, enhancing global learning and cultural exchange.
We unveil the groundbreaking learning feature of our app, centered around the concept of learning through virtual travel. Witness how our app revolutionizes education by transporting learners across the globe with the touch of a button, offering immersive experiences that blend exploration with interactive learning opportunities.
From historic landmarks to cultural hotspots, discover a world of knowledge waiting to be explored, making every virtual journey an educational adventure. Dive into the future of learning with us, where virtual travel bridges the gap between curiosity and knowledge.
UI Showcase
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Research
1. Secondary Research:
Solo Travel is on the rise especially after the epidemic.
It is ecpected to reach 74% in 2027.
Factors why Gen-Z chooses online travel
the digital transformation of the travel industry, fueled by advancements in technology and changes in consumer behavior, has led to increased accessibility, personalization, and convenience for travelers worldwide.
2. Primary Research:
2.1 Survey:
As the world becomes increasingly connected and digitalized, the concept of travel is evolving to incorporate elements of virtual and interactive experiences. We designed this survey to understand the dynamics of the evolution of travel preferences, particularly the importance of online interactions, virtual travel experiences and cultural immersion.
80% of travelers think it’s important for them to know about the culture and history of the destinations.
69.3% of travelers are interested in joining a community to share experiences.
67.9% of travelers are interested in exploring destinations through
virtual reality before
traveling physically.
2.2 Interview:
We aim to gather insights into how these trends are influencing traveler behaviors, preferences, and expectations, and to discuss the implications for the travel industry, technology developers, and cultural institutions. This conversation seeks to highlight the opportunities and challenges presented by the digital transformation of travel, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of where travel is headed in the context of increased digital connectivity and innovation.
We found 14 respondents and conducted in-depth interviews with them.
2.3 Synthesis:
1000+ RAW DATA POINTS
12 THEMES
6 INSIGHTS
3. Archetypes:
3.1 Student Travelers:
The scholar explorer
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Core needs:
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Opportunities to enhance their education through museums and historic sites.
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Time management between academic commitments and travelling.
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Access to resources outside of textbooks to enhance their learning.
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Behaviors:
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Researching places to visit related to their field of study.
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Documenting and visualizing their experiences for inspiration.
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The Cultural learner
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Core needs:
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Opportunities to explore customs, art, food, and traditions of destination.
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Ability to empathize and appreciate different backgrounds and cultures.
Behaviors:
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Gathers real-time/authentic information related to their travel goals.
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Actively engages with destination to gain an in-depth understanding.
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Constantly challenge themselves to expand their worldview.
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3.2 Solo Adventurer:
Uncharted Explorer
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Core needs:
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Experiences that help them understand cultures and themselves better.
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Ability to chart their own course and at their own pace.
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Uncovering locations and hidden gems that are off the beaten path.
Behaviors:
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Seeks out locations that are less visited by tourists.
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Reach out to locals and online communities for recommendations.
Define
Following the identification of our archetype, we proceeded to conduct a comprehensive analysis of each archetype to elucidate their fundamental needs and preferences.
1. Student Travelers:
1.1 Journey Map
1.2 Storyboard
1.3 Empathy Map Canvas
1.4 Prioritization
Utilizing a systematic approach to requirements sequencing, we have prioritized the challenges and needs of college students, setting the stage for the subsequent phase in concept.
2. Solo Adventurer:
2.1 Journey Map
2.2 Storyboard
2.3 Empathy Map Canvas
2.4 Prioritization
Utilizing a systematic approach to requirements sequencing, we have prioritized the challenges and needs of solo adventurer, setting the stage for the subsequent phase in concept.
3. HMWs/User Insight:
For College Student:
There is an opportunity to provide and prioritize convenience in travel choices:
How might we personalize travel recommendations to ensure conveniency?
How might we streamline the travel planning process ?
How might we assist travelers in navigating destinations?
How might we simplify the booking process for travelers?
There is a opportunity to integrate navigation, health, safety, and security as fundamental aspects of every journey:
How might we proactively alert travelers of potential safety risks?
How might we help travelers navigate in places with no service?
How might we help travelers' families know that they are safe?
How might we provide travelers with tools to handle emergencies?
There is an opportunity to build a sense of community and belonging for travelers to create meaningful experiences.
How might we immerse travelers in the local community?
How might we help travelers find like-minded people?
How might we promote cultural exchanges between travelers and local communities?
There is an opportunity to enhance the authenticity and depth of travel experiences:
How might we introduce travelers to unique locations?
How might we provide up to date information on local events?
How might we assist businesses in providing up to date information?
How might we offer some authoritatively verified information?
For Solo Adventurer:
There is an opportunity to create meaningful interactions between travelers and locals:
How might we facilitate interactions between locals and travelers?
How might we connect local community events to travelers?
How might we provide travelers with local tips and recommendations?
How might we improve conversations and understanding between locals and travelers?
There is an opportunity to enable travelers to exchange insights to enhance their journey:
How might we assist travelers in documenting their journey?
How might we enhance collaboration between travelers?
How might we encourage users to share their experiences?
How might we create an educational and engaging environment for travelers?
There is an opportunity to create immersive experiences that are authentic:
How might we mimic real travel experiences through immersive technology?
How might we utilize live-streaming communication to connect to travelers?
How might we use the AR/VR tech to realize something that real travel can't？
There is an opportunity to make travel more accessible and affordable to a wider audience:
How might we leverage technology to create virtual travel options?
How might we help travelers plan trips on a tight budget?
How might we provide personalized itineraries based on budget?
Prototype
1. Version 1:
Solo adventurer who documents their travel, creates a post to share their journey and trail so that others can follow from their own home and increases their community engagement by x%.
College student that has difficulty understanding in class explores and learns information outside of their textbooks through interactive life-like experiences in the comfort of their own home and increases their learning efficiency by x%.
Solo adventurer who wants to explore hidden gems discovers a virtual live-stream tour of an unexplored part of the world with the option to actively engage with their guide to enrich their journey and reduce x% of their time to explore the new destination.
2. Testing:
We do the usability test, use the Start, Stop, Continue to mark features.
We also do the "buy a feature" to test our features. We got 17 participants, and each participants have $100 to invest on 18 features.
The analysis revealed that four key features—Throwback, Fuel, Free Soul, and Search—emerged as paramount, offering a critical foundation for defining the final UI interface design.
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Throwback: View your previous travels through your VR headset to relive the moments!
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Fuel: Share your travel stories, routes and learnings with different communities and earn 'fuel' (points) for future rewards!
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Free Soul: Explore a destination with all the freedom, and no tour guides to follow!
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Search: Discover immersive content based on location, content creator, date, topic, etc.
3. Version 2:
Final Delivery
1. Value Pillars, Driver & Enablers
2. Business Model Canva
Virtual Travel "Edutainment" Business Model Canvas
3. UI Page
Livestream of VR
Experience immersive live streaming and interact with anchors in real time.
Sharing travel journeys
Share your journey stories, anytime, anywhere. Creating a series of travel stories.
Travel plans
A detailed travel plan that direct and protect you on your journey
Course Matching
Learning content matched to course syllabus, real-time update of learning progress.
Traveling learning experience
Traveling and learning at the same time, learning while having fun.
