Wanderlous
OVERVIEW
The goal of the project initially was to create the foundation of an app through a lean UX process involving ideation, user research, personas, user interviewing, affinity mapping, user flow mapping, low-fidelity wireframes and prototyping.
​
Since then, Wanderlous has evolved into a startup MVP and Y-combinator applicant, that helps users make the initial planning stage of a trip, easier - by showing you the places recommended by your friends and social networks.
01
The Problem
How can we make the initial planning process for a trip, less stressful?
02
The Interviews
Roughly 20 subjects were interviewed with questions in regards to travelling. Questions included:
​
How did you get started with planning a vacation?
What were your frustrations?
What were some of the main apps or websites you used?
​
The goal here was to understand our users.
03
Affinity Mapping
The next phase was grouping all the responses around themes or recurring patterns.
The aim here was to make sense of it all to help define the main problem and ideate an effective solution.
​
We found that the 2 biggest patterns, revolved around:
1. The overwhelming multitude of apps used for planning
2. Themes of trust ie. users preferred choosing places based on reviews and their friend's or family's recommendations.
​
​
04
Ideating
I began to catch sight of a solution, and it involved a fundamental human need of 'connectedness' and trust.
​
Could I use this theme of Trust to make it easier for travellers to plan their trips, based on recommendations from people they know?
​
05
Personas
The purpose of this was to create reliable and realistic representations of your key user for reference.
To do this I listed their needs, behaviours and goals based on the user interviews.
06
Competitive Analysis
Performing a competitive analysis enabled me to define any gaps in the market, identify my competitor's strengths and weaknesses and helped to guide me to develop a better product than what's currently out there.
​
What I discovered was that there was a hole in the market - There wasn't an app that utilised a strong social network feature alongside its trip planning capabilities.
​
​
07
Paper prototyping
I created a low-fidelity representation of the product using paper prototyping which enabled me to realize concepts and test my designs.
​
The aim of this ideation method was to ensure that I was building a thoughtful product that met user needs.
​
​
08
User Flows
The user flow was essential for creating a great UX design that can straighten out the user’s path, what problems they may meet, how to fix what they need, how to start, and how to begin designing.
This came hand-in-hand with the paper prototyping.
09
Low-fidelity Wireframes
10
Developing the Designs
I create my high-fidelity mockups in Adobe XD to send to the developer to inspect the file and build.
​
I work very closely with the developer to make sure I can answer any of their questions, and create extra mockup scenarios if they are needed, before they build.
​
​
11
Product Management
This is the brain behind the product. I used Jira as my main tool for cross-collaboration with the developer and product management. Here we can create tasks, post questions and link to the necessary files needed for build.
Over video meetings, we will use this board to discuss our current jobs and what design updates and iterations need to be made.
12
Design System
Lastly, to manage the growth and evolution of the product, I created a design system for the team using Adobe XD. As designs change and get updated, this becomes a great tool between the designer and developer with keeping up with the latest iterations.
​
By creating reusable patterns and components, the goal is to be make a more efficient product, one which can adapt and grow consistently and quicker.
