UX/UI - case study
My Travel Diary
An interactive personal travel diary
Academic project
Backgroud
“My Travel diary” is an innovative app aimed at providing personal
and authentic documentation of travel experiences.
The idea was born when I shared my personals travel diaries with friends & family.
People were interested in writing their own diary but could not find time and energies to fulfill this task during or after their trip. Thus they lost their detailed experiences in their old deep memories.
I identified the need for a platform that can provide automatic documentation capabilities and allow the users to save their in-detailed memories and share it with their friends, relatives, and even with their customers.
Challenges
- Managing a multi-text application and a large amount of media elements.
- Keeping the digital platform as personal as possible.
- Designing a complicated platform but keep it simple and user friendly.
Problem
Many people like the idea of journaling their travel experiences and memories, so at some point, they could remember the trip, check on some details, and even share it with friends and family.
But Journalizing travel experiences is a time-consuming task.
Along the way, after intensive long days, It sometimes hard to find the right time to sit quietly and write it down, and then after few days, you may realize that some of the details are just gone, and the documentation is not authentic and precise.
Solution
"My Travel Diary" provides an interactive cross-platform (accessible on mobile and desktop)
Let you add your personals adventures, stories, memories, discoveries, etc.
Add your media exactly in the right place.
Documents automatically the paths you walked through and the places you've visited.
Export the diary to several formats and generate a printed version.
Share your entire diary or part of its posts through various net applications.
Research
Market research
My market research would aim to check out potential competitors and identify the added value of my application. I started to look at similar platforms, analyzed their UI, UX, User flows, and key features. I found several applications that could be used to manage a travel diary. As a user, I could open a post and write down my information, add photos, emotions, I realized that most of these applications were not targeted to travelers and found out the added value of my application – Compared to other apps the highlight of “My Travel Diary” app is the sophisticated automated documentation capabilities that create the diary “on the way”
Target Audience
- People who like to travel and document (age 30+, mostly women).
- People who normally do not write diaries but would like to get their journalized trip.
- Professionals – travel guides \ bloggers who will be happy to use it as a business tool.
User Research
The user research aims to identify the target audience, create the best flow to the potential users,
and provide them a smooth and practical solution.
I prepared a survey and distributed it among multiple groups of men and women. (12+)
The purposes were:
- To run a feasibility check and validate whether my application can be useful.
- To identify the exact audience – a range of age \ gender \ profession.
- To Determine the basic ‘pain-points’ of the audience.
Persona #2
Persona #1
Visual Research
Inspiration Board
I created an inspiration board. The purpose was to learn about the visual world and gather inspirations from the combination of traveling and writing activities as well as choosing a color palette that will symbolize the values of the application –
Nostalgia, Uniqueness, Efficiency, Innovation
Naming & Logo
The Hebrew name was chosen so on one hand it will sound familiar, but on the other hand, It will create a sense of curiosity.
Choosing the English name – "My Journal Diary" was mainly based on practical reasons. I wanted to combine words from travel and writing topics that indicate the main idea of the application.
The logo combines a pebble and a pen. The pebble represents the connection to nature. Many people like to use it as a reminder of the place they were visiting. The pen connects us to the writing world. Both elements reflect the main purpose of the application.
Symbols
I've created a set of symbols to represent the variety of trips a user can document by using the application.
By choosing a trip type, the user will get a suitable icon including an image and a color that represents the style of the journey.
Flow Chart - Create a new diary
The goal of this flow is to collect information about a new journey.
The challenge of this step was to have the user complete the new diary form without getting discouraged and turn off the app.
I designed a simple and intuitive process in which the user should go through four simple steps.
Digital Products
Edit a diary
As part of this flow, the user will be able to edit his diary posts.
Edit capabilities include adding \ changing \ removing text and media.
The user will be able to type or transcribe his text editions.
Also, the user will be able to use a map or text view and manage the trip costs.
WEB screens
Finally, I decided to enable accessibility to the platform via a web application. I recognized the necessity of having a convenient way to manage a multi-language application.
The desktop version uses the same visual language and content, preserving the nature and the atmosphere of the mobile app.
Although it can not fulfill the automatic documentation capability, it provides all other functionalities and enriches the user with relevant information and guidelines.
Conclusions
During this project, I strengthened my UX/UI skills.
I've experienced the various stages involved in a UX/UI project – starting from ideation through researches till UX/UI design.
I've challenged myself by coping with a cross-platform, suggesting accessibility on mobile and desktop.
To refine and validate the solution, I would conduct a deep analysis process and testing phases.
Looking forward I would suggest a full English version so the app could be universal.
Thank you for reading
Hopeful you enjoyed this case study.
Meet you on your next journey.
