Travel Buddy

Connect people for the next adventures.

Project overview

As the name states, Travel Buddy helps users find the perfect match for someone they want to travel with. I came up with this idea because I have seen many people who are having trouble to find someone to visit places with. We are all willing to explore the world with same-minded people. I hope this app can help users find their new travel buddy more efficiently.

Method

User Persona

UX Research

Flowchart

Sketch

Prototyping

Tool

Sketch

Photoshop

Illustrator

Proto.io

Type

Solo project

Role

UX designer

UI designer

Timeline

March 2019

Key Features

Customized for your interest

Whether the user is a museum enthusiast, a photographer, or a foodie, Travel Buddy will help the user find the perfect match by editing filters and personal profile. All interests and travel information are well-organized within profiles.

Onboarding at your fingertips

With the easy and clear onboarding process, users can signup in just seconds.

Clear feature layouts

Home page, explore, private message, and profile are all in one place. The elegantly designed layouts cater to all users, no matter if users want to find someone based on their trip or vice versa.

Design Process

Research

In order to narrow down my target users, I did some research on travelers and travel app users. I refer to the data and annual report from well-known travel apps as well as community-based travel websites. Based on the research, I found that 80% of travelers use smartphone apps to do research for trips in 2018 according to Travelport Digital. Among travel and lifestyle apps, age is a significant factor with millennials aged 18-24 on their smartphone. Additional research had shown that 57% of travelers feel that brands should tailor their information based on personal preferences or past behaviors. Travelers most frequently use their mobile devices to research personalized activities or attractions, to explore new experience. These research results led me to create a persona based on my target users.

User Persona

Interview

I interviewed six people that matched the user groups mentioned above. I asked questions about their experience of planning a trip with their friends and the likeliness that they would travel with acquaintances from the internet.

My main learnings from the interviews:

People are open to travel with acquaintances when their friends are not available.
People agree that traveling is a great social event of meeting and knowing new people.
Having common interests is important for people to plan a trip.
Budget, time-frame, age, gender, location, activity are important for people to consider for a trip with strangers.