WeTravel

UX design for a trip planning application.

The final prototype.

Context

WeTravel is an online tool that helps trip organizers manage their group travel. Users typically fall under the category of a trip organizer or a trip traveler.

Problem & Solution

The on-boarding and core product experience were confusing to users.
Through our process, we created an effortless flow for users.

My Role

I was the Product Team Lead as well as one of the 6 Product Designers. I lead and coordinated the rest of my team in user research, usability testing and the re-design process of the WeTravel core product to improve the overall usability of the platform.

Tools

Personas • Hand-drawn wireframes • Low-resolution wireframes • Invision prototypes • Google Design Sprints • Usability Testing • High-resolution wireframes

Persona Creation

We workshopped provisional personas, informed by our initial understanding of WeTravel’s typical user. WeTravel’s co-founders informed us of two persona types, private trip organizers (trips with friends) and public trip organizers (group yoga retreat organizers).

Usability Studies

We tested the original product with 5 users, which were:

3/5 users could not successfully navigate the Itinerary section.
3/5 users did not comprehend the differences between Public and Private.
3/5 users wanted to know what commission meant and why they couldn’t user it to make money.
3/5 users did not know which step they were on in the Trip Creation process.
3/5 users were not confident that they had successfully completed the Trip Creation process.

Hypotheses

We then hypothesized on potential solutions to the pain points that occurred most frequently.

The hypotheses were:

Users need a conventional framework to build their itinerary.
Users need a better explanation of what Public and Private trips are.
Users need an explanation of commissions.
Users need to clearly know where they are in the process.
Users need to know when they have completed the Trip Creation process.

Usability Validation Studies

We went through 3 rounds of usability studies to validate our prototype. We rapidly implemented change to the prototype in reaction to key learnings during the week of testing. This rapidly progressed the prototype to a refined and polished state.

Results

All our hypotheses were successfully validated!

5/5 users successfully navigated through the Itinerary section with no difficulty.
5/5 users were able to clearly explain the difference between a Public and Private trip.
5/5 users understood what the WeTravel Service Fee meant.
5/5 users were able to successfully navigate through the whole flow with clear comprehension of where they were, and how many steps were left to complete.
5/5 users knew when the Trip Creation process had been completed.

Recommendations

At the final presentation, we also made recommendations for next steps.

Hotel Information: Several users mentioned that hotel information should not be displayed after publishing the trip. This would be something they want later on (Could be under Manage Trip).
Itinerary: Adding on-calendar editing and adding capabilities to follow existing patterns from calendars such as iCal and Google Calendar.
What does the traveller see?: Some organizers mentioned that they have no idea what their travelers see, and it will be good for them to view a preview that page.
Consolidated Info: Currently, organizers need to click into each traveller to retrieve custom info (add ons, traveller info). It would be good to have a consolidated list in app itself.
Preview Page: Several organizers requested for editing capabilities to add bullet points, bold titles, change font sizes on the preview page to emphasize certain information.
Adding more days: In the current itinerary grid, the next available date pops up for you to add a new day theme. Adding a + button that allows organizers to add more days can be considered.

Summary

WeTravel was a beast of a project in which I grew a considerable amount. As the Product Page Team Lead, I thrived as a project manager. As a team member, I contributed on an individual level to our project. WeTravel provided an invaluable opportunity to do both, within 2.5 months, in one project, with a great team! I couldn’t ask for more.