YouWho

Research

I wanted to understand whether there was a market for solo travelers who wish to connect with fellow solo travelers to do things together. First, in order to gain insights about the potential users, I created a survey and sent it out to random people. From the results, I have found out that 34% of the people typically travel alone. From there, I wanted to dig deeper into learning about what some of their user behaviors were, how they feel, and how I can potentially solve this problem for the users. Therefore, I chose 7 people to conduct user interviews using Zoom.

Proto Persona

To get started on an idea of who YouWho’s users are, I used everything I have learned from my secondary research to create a proto-persona.

Affinity Diagram

To synthesize all the information I had gathered from the user interviews, I wrote my findings on sticky notes in Miro and created an affinity diagram. By identifying common patterns across my findings,I uncovered key insights that helped me understand who YouWho's users are and what they truly need.

User Persona

To make sure that my decisions moving forward in the process are user-centered, I wanted to have a clear understanding of whoYouWho's users are. Using what I learned from patterns from my empathy map, I created a user persona to represent who I will be designing for - Meet Emily!

Brainstorm and Ideation Process

Feature Prioritization Matrix

After using the “I like…, I wish…, What If…”Ideation Method to brainstorm ideas from the perspective of the present, the near future, and the distant future, I gathered and grouped all ideas according to their impact and complexity. Then I placed these ideas into the FeaturePrioritization Matrix to identify the problems to address user needs.

Value Proposition

Through the ValueProposition Canvas, I made sure my product focuses on customer values and needs. I have discovered that a unique, authentic experience in a foreign country with other fellow travelers could create unforgettable memories that could lead to a lifetime friendship, gaining the most out of your trips.However, there are some pain points like potential bad experiences, language barriers, and bad matches that I need to focus on in order to make my app more enjoyable, accessible, and safe.

Storyboard

Here is a storyboard to understand Emily’s journey and situation.

Competitive Analysis

After researching and learning more about the travel industry, I wanted to take a closer look at YouWho's competitors and how they're helping their users meet people. Through my market research, I identified some top direct and indirect competitors within the industry:Meetup, Solo Traveller, and Airbnb. Direct competitors focus on connecting people by interests, hobbies, or location, while indirect competitors aren't solely focused on uniting people. Exploring each of their apps, I evaluated the strengths and weaknesses to see how YouWho could fill in any gaps moving forward.

User Flow

Now I wanted to dive even deeper and better understand the overall journey Emily would be taking throughout the app from start to finish. I wanted to better empathize with the scenario she may be in, the different decisions she would be making, and the different paths she might take to complete the key tasks I identified. To do this, I created a storyboard to get a clear idea of the situation Emily might be in and a user flow to step into her shoes.

Lo-Fi Wireframe Sketches

Using my understanding of the user, our goals, the architecture, and the user’s interaction with the app, I made informed decisions on how to design YouWho's screens by sketching low-fidelity wireframes in Figma.

Usability Testing

For usability testing, I conducted remote, moderated Think Aloud testing over Zoom.The users were asked to share what they were doing, thinking, and feeling while interacting with the prototype and trying to complete the tasks given to them.I tested around the key tasks I identified earlier in the process, asking the user to sign up for a profile using their email, try booking a Tour at theLouvre Museum, and finally checking out the Tour they have chosen using ApplePay.

• Method: Remote, moderated usability testing (Think Aloud)
• Participants: 4
• Age range: Millennials
• Average Time: 10 Minutes
• Task Completion Rate: 67.5%

Mid-Fi Prototype

From the feedbacks I received from user testing, I was able to iterate my designs accordingly. The key changes I've made were to make the homepage more welcoming, to make the icons consistent, and to get rid of some unnecessary back buttons.

Key Learnings from User Test

Hi-Fi Prototype

Taking my revised wireframes, I now worked on creating final, high-fidelity wireframes and made a final prototype. With YouWho's branding defined, I worked on incorporating their identity to craft the visual design of their new application.

Final Thoughts

The key thing I liked the most about this case study was how I observed and comprehended my progression. The value of user testing and getting feedback was helpful because I was able to identify problems I have not thought of, so that I can modify my design accordingly in a cost-effective way to produce the best prototype possible. Overall, this case study allowed me to learn and engage in User Experience and User Interface Design. As forYouWho, as we advance, I want to keep identifying problems and possible solutions to my prototype’s heuristics to ensure usability for a possible launch one day.