Unpack
Our app was created to make travel planning easier amongst a group of friends. We focused on the problem of trying to be spontaneous on a trip, while also keeping every group member coordinated on what the plan is.
Timeline: Fall 2022, 12 weeks
Role: User Researcher, Lead Designer
With: April Wu, Jennie Lee, and Wendy Li
Tools: Figma, Photoshop
Summary
A lot goes into planning a trip, especially with a group of friends — it’s difficult to try to keep everyone’s opinion into account and for everyone to feel heard.
We asked, “How might we create a collaborative and communicative tool to help people plan in a group during the trip planning process?”
Problem Space
We found that travelers lose time trying to decide where to go and what to do while on their trip. Our users generally want to keep a degree of spontaneity and be open to adding unanticipated activities to the plan.
However, trying to be spontaneous means that a lot of time is wasted on updating the plans to last-minute changes – this problem is especially difficult when trying to come to a consensus as a group.
Process
First, we conducted think-aloud interviews following how users approach the travel planning process. This step was meant to narrow down our scope surrounding travel planning. We took note of how users were looking for unique experiences that align with their current interests.
Next, we conducted semi-structured interviews with college-age students about their experiences while traveling with a group of friends. We found a common pattern of young adults desiring a certain level of spontaneity, combined with a loosely-structured itinerary.
There are 2 kinds of people…
Personas generated based on our user interviews; the “planner” and the “participant.” How can they work well together in the same travel group?
Mapping the user’s journey while travel planning and possible areas for intervention.
Notes from speed dating interviews on our storyboards. When my team asked directly about conflict, users didn’t see a need for a tool to facilitate conversations. However, users did find it valuable to have a tool to compare everyone’s thoughts. For our interviews, there was a crucial difference in language between “preventing” and “resolving” conflict.
Insights
Groups have a blend of planning styles; people who take the lead as “planners” and those who are “participants” and don’t create their own input.
Users like to leave room for spontaneity and flexible planning. This catalyzes conflict during the trip when some members feel like they are wasting time trying to make decisions.
When planning for a trip, users experience the most conflict when trying to compromise, especially when choosing restaurants!
Lo-Fi
Usability testing led us to make the following changes in the next iteration…
Prioritize the updates → users are more interested in being able to see the other users’ thoughts on updates to the trip and are not as interested in looking at multiple trips at a time
Create a more concrete rating system → users have different interpretations of ratings so creating “yes, no, maybe” options may be more useful (i.e. some might rate ⅗ stars and not want to go while others might rate it the same and be interested in going)
Improve clarity of recommendations → simplifying events page on map
Reword “allergies” as “dietary restriction” → users without allergies did not understand the purpose of providing this information, but users with dietary restriction appreciated this detail
Solution
Unpack is an app to make trip planning with friends easier. It assists users in staying organized and saving time, keeping everyone informed, all while keeping the spontaneity.
Unpack will consider group members’ interests and dietary restrictions when recommending points of interest.
When you’re looking for somewhere to go, add places directly to the itinerary from the map. This way, you can make last-minute decisions while still keeping distance and everyone’s preferences into account.
Collaborate on the itinerary with your friends and keep everyone on the same page!
