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My Role
Researcher, Interaction Designer
(4 Team members)
Duration
2 months
Platform
Mobile, Website, Tablet
Tools Used
Paper and Pen
Google Drive
Wix
Apps Village
White Board
Pixelmator
Mobicube
Mindmiester
Read More SA
White Board
OVERVIEW
Selma Ambassadors (SA) will bridge the gap between visiting tourists and the plentiful available local resources.
The cities current tourist attractions infrastructure is amazing and powerful in terms of capturing the history, but it lacks the solution to engage tourists. The business owners in Selma are eager for a digital solution that would engage its tourists base more frequently and allow them to provide visitors a active sense of support and hospitality.
The Problem
For Tourists
"This cities historical scenery is very rich but it took me nearly 4 hours to discover the main attractions and that was credited to my wide search on facebook"
Selma needs a one-stop-shop source to organize and share all of the cities trails, activities, museums, restaurants, lodging, main events and attractions in one convenient place.
For Selmian Business Owners
"We see so many tourists come and leave our city but very few seem to know where they're looking for or understand the cities landscape."
Selma Business owners need a online digital source to connect with tourists to over their services. A place where the local business owner can offer products and services. A place where they can push deal notices and the latest news, and information on how tourists can support their sites. There is a great need for consumer and local business community to communicate.
The Goal
Encourage tourists to schedule their plans around ready available resources for appropriate accommodations. Creating a B2C relationship that offers consumers a personal welcome.
Create a reliable online digital source to making facilities, programs and services readily accessible for visitors. Bringing all local business attractions, services and resources information to one place for convenience.
Create a community to invite real customer reviews from travelers. Mobile vouchers to eliminate the option of printing tickets. Book activities and tours with a few quick and easy clicks. Find amazing things to do nearby or discover and book thousands of activities from their mobile device.
The Research
Our 50 survey respondents really open our eyes to what many visitors experience when they visit Selma and how they feel about the current tourists communication and marketing processes. Our main objective was to follow and perform the following things:
Discover
Field study,Diary study, User interview, Stakeholder interview, Requirements & constraints gathering
Explore
Competitive analysis, Design review, Persona building, Task analysis, Journey mapping,nPrototype feedback & testing (clickable or paper prototypes), Write user stories,Card sorting
Test
Qualitative usability testing (in-person or remote), Benchmark testing, Accessibility evaluation
Listen
Survey details, Analytics review, Search-log analysis, Usability-bug review, Frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) review
Insights from survey and interviews:
-
There is no central online place that list all of the attractions, museums, and ticket information.
-
No social media coverage for lodging or eatery's like AIRBNB and Uber Eats or restaurant etc.
-
Everyone has heard about Selma but few know about other historic factors of the city.
Have you ever heard of the
Battle of Selma? (50 respondents)
No
Yes
Did you book any of your travel arrangements to Selma using online resources?
(50 respondents)
No
Yes
The Competitors
From our research, we discovered that currently there is no application which allows tourists to book local events and attractions from local businesses.
Now there are websites for mainly every attraction in the city but you would have to know firsthand the name of the museum or attraction to search for it online.
AIRBNB just launched a new product called 'Experiences' which could become a very stiff competitor. However, we have decided to use this option to our advantage and create many of the local attractions profiles for the AIRBNB experience, thereby holding the cards of the technical driven way to get new customers to the businesses doors through our applications management.
The User Persona
Meeting the needs of two different user groups
In order to achieve SA goal of increasing tourists retention in the city, we decided to understand two different users - daily tourists experiences based on their own arrangements.
Isabella
-
Freelance Photographer for a living.
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Travels often for leisure
-
Uses ARBNB for everything
-
Loves small town stories
-
Single and willing to pay more for convenience
Kenny
-
Works as a software developer
-
Travels twice a year for family vacations
-
Never heard of AIRBNB
-
Likes historic preservations
-
Loves a great deal
The User Journey Map
We created a journey map for the typical Selma tourist in order to understand thier emotions and the things that might motivate them to use the app. In order to create a positive experience for the tourist, it was important we address and minimize the things that instigate negative emotions.
Awareness . Decide/Plan . Participate . After
SA Promotes
the App
Interest
from
tourists
wonders about
other apps
Unsure how effective it is
Reports
One issue
people begin
up voting the
issue
Not sure if action is being taken
Action Still in progress
Problem
Fixed
improved
results
new issues
Initial Sketches
We followed rapid ideation - each team member quickly sketched his/her own ideas for the homescreen. Then, we shared and compared our ideas and came up with sketches that all of us agreed on to get early feedback.
User Feedback
Testing our initial concepts
We wanted to understand what users expect to see on the home screen and the actions they would take to report a problem. Positive reaction ensured that we are moving in the right direction.
Feedback:
Some tabs on the homescreen may not be required for a power user
Provide easy way to report problems
Homescreen should allow users to start navigation
Sketches to Wireframes
Further improvements converted into wireframes
I created low fidelity wireframes to perform some more testing and get feedback. This helped users visualize the content and functions of the application.
Home Screen
Home
New Event
Deals
Activities
Nearby
Option to add
new destination to profile of user
Option to add
new destination to profile of user
Activities available
based on location
Nearby partner venues, hotels, restaurants, trails, etc.
Choose New Event
Events
Home
New Event
Deals
Activities
Nearby
Museums
Deals
Activities
Events
Site Markers
The Prototype
Usability Testing
For Tourists
The cities current tourist attractions infrastructure is amazing and powerful in terms of capturing the history, but they are not very engaging for the tourists. The business owners in Selma are eager to come up with digital tools that would engage its tourists base more frequently and provide them with an active sense of support and hospitality.
For Selmian Business Owners
The cities current tourist attractions infrastructure is amazing and powerful in terms of capturing the history, but they are not very engaging for the tourists. The business owners in Selma are eager to come up with digital tools that would engage its tourists base more frequently and provide them with an active sense of support and hospitality.
The Solution
For Tourists
The cities current tourist attractions infrastructure is amazing and powerful in terms of capturing the history, but they are not very engaging for the tourists. The business owners in Selma are eager to come up with digital tools that would engage its tourists base more frequently and provide them with an active sense of support and hospitality.
For Selmian Business Owners
The cities current tourist attractions infrastructure is amazing and powerful in terms of capturing the history, but they are not very engaging for the tourists. The business owners in Selma are eager to come up with digital tools that would engage its tourists base more frequently and provide them with an active sense of support and hospitality.
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