WeHere
Project Overview
People travel for many reasons: vacation, business, family, hobbies, etc., and the quest for the best meal drives many travelers. But, people have difficulty finding a way to eat good local food when they travel. WeHere is a travel-food app designed to search for authentic local food and discover places to eat.
Design Process
Phase 1: Research
Initially, we started our research by interviewing five potential users in the 20 – 50 age group who like to travel and tried to collect some online data on what is the most helpful and most frustrating about eating food while traveling.
Research Questions
Methodology
Research Questions
- What are users’ processes when planning trips?
- What are users’ pain points when planning and executing travel?
- Which tools and services have been most helpful to users when traveling?
- How does food factor into your travel plans?
- What considerations do you have when planning for meals on a trip?
- What is your goal when choosing what and where to eat?
- What problems have you experienced with eating or restaurants while traveling?
Methodology
User interviews will be conducted in three different ways:
- One interview will be conducted jointly by both researchers via Microsoft Teams. (20 minutes)
- Three interviews will be conducted in person 1:1. (20 minutes each)
- One interview will be conducted 1:1 via Facetime. (20 minutes)
Online Survey
Survey Questions
- What types of foods do you like to eat while on vacation?
- What types of restaurants do you like to eat at when you are on vacation?
- What types of restaurants do you like to eat at when you are on vacation?
This data shows that participants like to go to restaurants recommended by friends and colleagues and local favorites while on vacation.
This data appears participants mostly like to eat unique and something different food other than usual on vacation.
Insights from interviews
Many felt that eating local food is the best part of traveling and an excellent opportunity to experience local culture. They want to have a list of places to go recommended by a real local because they don’t trust the sites suggested by apps they are using. They think there are too many sponsored ads and try to push certain touristy places.
“I love going to local restaurants. I like being in a new culture, experiencing their food, being at cool restaurants and that’s probably my number one thing I like about traveling.”
Roni Song
Affinity Diagram
User Persona
Phase 2: Definition & Ideation
User insight Statement
A travel and food lover who likes to experience new cultures and meet people, always try to find an excellent local restaurant because experiencing local food is a good way of understanding and learning the local culture and connecting with the community.
Problem Statement
A travel and food lover needs a list of places to go recommended by a real local because he doesn’t have all of those connections to get those recommendations or doesn’t trust the sites suggested by the traveler’s app. How might we improve the app so that users can find an authentic local restaurant and connect with the community?
Brainstorm
Once I had investigated users’ problems, I started brainstorming with the I Like, I Wish, and What if method and Prioritizations matrix and came up with valuable solutions so that I could arrive at the best available option for each problem.
Competitor Analysis
I analyzed two direct competitors and two indirect competitors to see what features they have, and I might find possible vital features to add to the app.
Key Takeaways
- Fast and easy sign up with Google and Facebook account
- Be able to explore features without login or signing up for the app
- Social dining at host’s house
- Culinary event
- Customers’ reviews from the past event
User Journey Map
Storyboard
Phase 3: Prototyping
User Flow
Then, I continued with creating user flow. After login to the app, users can click one of the searches for restaurants, search for a virtual tour, search for a food tour, and search for social dining. They can find a restaurant recommended by locals near where they are, watch a virtual tour video so they can plan a trip, book a food tour with locals, and have social dining hosted by locals.
Low-Fidelity Sketching
Digital Wireframe
Phase 4: Testing & Iterating
High-fidelity Prototype Usability Test Analysis
Guerilla Testing Plan
Objectives:
- Understand how users interact with WeHere’s onboarding process.
- Identify users have any pain points to find out the features that they are looking for.
Guerilla Testing Note
I conducted 5 user tests, and users give me good improvement suggestions following;
- Users like the color and design of the app
- Users successfully login and sign up
- Users need to access the search bar
- Users need to identify the icons at the bottom
- Booking button and booking confirmation message needed
Iterate user flow
Iterate Prototype
Final Thoughts
Users will be delighted with a good design, but they need a good app function to solve their problems. I return to my interview answers and empathy map to remind me of the app’s objectives and users’ pain points so that I can design users in mind and the app can have both – aesthetically pleasing and usability.
Lesson – user flow is the foundation of the prototype : I did not initially spend enough time creating user flow, and then I missed several steps of user flow. It reflected the wireframe and prototype exactly, causing important users’ paths to be cut through booking and searching. Good user flow with careful planning will make the following design process efficient and overall structure seamless.