Introduction
Creating a travel log could be time-consuming and complicated for travelers, as they need to recall memory and format many photos and texts after an exhausting journey. To provide a better experience for writing travel logs, we decided to design a mobile application - Travelog, which can analyze the Exif data in photos and do the format automatically, to help travelers write travel logs as quick & easy as possible.
User Research
First, we gathered the market data from the tourism industrial report created by Analysys International in 2016, the report shows that users less than 25 years old and from 25 to 30 years old are the main user group of mobile Travel Log/UGC applications. Based on the data, considering the technical skill level and the ability of economic independence, we defined users from 18 to 30 years old as our target user group.
After the user definition, we interviewed 5 participants from the target user group, and summarized the critical insights to guide our ideation:
Based on the user pain points we gathered, we decided to design a travel log mobile application that could help users write travel logs as quickly & easily as possible, besides including social and photo filter features.
Storyboard
Flowchart
Before the prototyping, we arranged the ideations of our product and created a flowchart for better understanding, modification, and iteration. We designed 4 main function modules for Travelog: Write travel log, Read travel log, Search travel log, and My travel log (Personal Dashboard).
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Write Travel Log
This feature is led by photos that the traveler uploaded. By analyzing the Exif information, Travelog will format all photos chronologically with location and time. Travelers only need to add filters to photos, fill in the essential travel information, and write descriptions for each photo.
This feature is led by photos that the traveler uploaded. By analyzing the Exif information, Travelog will format all photos chronologically with location and time. Travelers only need to add filters to photos, fill in the essential travel information, and write descriptions for each photo.
Read Travel Log
The homepage's content is based on the traveler's reading preferences and the editor's selection. To inspire travelers to write a travel log, basic social features were added and each single travel log has the chance to show on everyone's homepage.
The homepage's content is based on the traveler's reading preferences and the editor's selection. To inspire travelers to write a travel log, basic social features were added and each single travel log has the chance to show on everyone's homepage.
Search Travel Log
Before travelers write and publish their travel logs, they also have the demand to view others' travel logs and decide whether to travel or not. Thus, the primary search feature was added.
Before travelers write and publish their travel logs, they also have the demand to view others' travel logs and decide whether to travel or not. Thus, the primary search feature was added.
My Travel Log
The personal dashboard of the travel log will help travelers manage their travel log and checking status. The world map and experience will inspire travelers' internal motivation to travel next place and publish the next travel log.
The personal dashboard of the travel log will help travelers manage their travel log and checking status. The world map and experience will inspire travelers' internal motivation to travel next place and publish the next travel log.
Think-Aloud Test
We published our low fidelity prototype and invited four participants to use the think-aloud method according to the script, as the initial user testing of Travelog:
After the think-aloud test, we summarized the test result and found that participants could finish all tasks successfully except for the limited facts of the prototyping tool. However, we still analyzed a few improvements to apply to high fidelity prototype currently and in future work:
High-Fidelity Prototype
