STARTING LINE

A PERSONAL PROJECT

Wanderer is an in-depth and ground-up User Experience Case Study for an offline Travel App. Set with the goal of solving common problems in the travel industry, Wanderer takes the issue of viewing your travel plans while abroad and offline from the initial problem refinement stage through to a high-fidelity prototype.

This was a personal passion project I took on. As a team of one, I was able to dive deep on the areas I felt had the greatest need.

The Problem

All your planning is gone the moment the plane takes off and you lose signal.

Many apps and sites exist to allow for fun and in-depth planning. However, they all require an internet connection, and often a strong one at that.

The Solution

A New Type of App

Store all your maps, bookmarks, plane tickets, and more in one convenient, data-friendly place while online. Then access your plans later anytime, anywhere. No internet connection required.

Step 1

Discover

Interviews

I spent all this time making sure I had packed all my technology…I was basically carrying around a metal brick.

I interviewed regular travelers to hone in on key problem areas and how people were currently solving them. I got a great story from someone I interviewed who walked me through his careful planning and packing routine only to end up carrying around what he called a metal brick.

Affinity Mapping

Everyone that travels at some point experiences having the first thing they packed become unusable.

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you the first thing they pack for a trip is their phone. Ask them something they’ve forgotten and they’ll all answer that at some point they forgot to pack their charger.

This was a very universal experience that set the tone for my project…

Step 1. Pack your phone & camera
Step 2. Forget your charger

Step 2

Define 

 User Personas

Crafting a Human-Centered Design

Jazz is in her mid-20s, tries to travel outside the U.S. at least once a year, and meticulously plans every minute of her trip.

However, all that planning becomes useless when her phone doesn’t have a signal.

 Problem Statement Refinement

Making It Personal

With the goal of keeping a user-centric model in mind, it was time to refine our initial problem statement.

Jazz needs a way to access her travel plans while offline,
because she has limited internet access while traveling.

Competitive Analyses

Existing Solutions

Early in the planning stage, I started comparing some of the other travel apps out there. Maps.me is great at its offline functionality. Especially, as the name implies, its maps.

Yahoo’s short-lived Radar app had a lot of really impressive features, but was seemingly discontinued shortly after launch due to its buggy interface and hamfisted AI Chat-bot Integration.

Syncing your planning stage with your maps is still untapped.

Despite all these apps, most people use a pretty simple hack.

And why not? They are quick, easy, and, most importantly, don’t require an internet connection.

However, they are also a major pain to try and keep organized, and there is no way you’ll get your destination’s directions, hours, and other important info all in one screen.

THE PROBLEM?

Screenshots are secret storage hogs.

Every screenshot can take up to 3 MB of storage. Up to 11 MB if you’re an iPhone Plus user.

Meanwhile, a map of an entire city on Maps.Me is the same 11 MB as a single screenshot.

So THEN Why Wanderer?

What’s the Trade-off?

Well, in addition to organizing all that information in one convenient place, downloading all this data will actually SAVE you room on your phone leaving more room for pictures of your trip.

Paper Prototype & Usability Testing

Uncovering Early Issues

From the earliest sketches I prototyped, I wanted to really dial in on features that testers enjoyed while buffing out anything that hindered their progression through the app. 

Progressing from Low Fidelity to MID Fidelity Wireframes:
Highlighting User Favorites

“Make It Bigger.”

One that surprised me was how consistently users vocally appreciated the bubble that confirmed how much storage would be remaining on their phone after they download their trip.

Progressing from Low Fidelity to MID Fidelity Wireframes:
Card Sorting, User Interviews, & Usability Testing

Listening: Gathering New Data

As I moved from a paper prototype to a low fidelity wireframe and finally up to higher fidelity,…

Progressing from Low Fidelity to MID Fidelity Wireframes:
Usability Testing & User Feedback

Listening: Finding Problem Areas

…I made sure to keep every change focused on the data I was gathering.

Progressing from Low Fidelity to MID Fidelity Wireframes:
Usability Testing & User Feedback

Constantly Improving the Ideal Path

I had to keep the original goal of an easy, streamlined experience for all travelers in mind every time I made an adjustment to my User Flow. Understanding how these changes were helping people get from Point A to Point B was key.
Jazz still needs a way to access her plans offline.

Read on to see the High Fidelity prototype below. 👇