UX/UI Designer
Figma, Photoshop,
Procreate, Whimsical,
Miro
8 Weeks
Background
The innovators at Wayback wish to provide world travelers with an exciting opportunity to experience life in another time period. After traveling to the historical site, the guests will stay in a special resort where they will “travel back in time” by dressing up and roleplaying a character from the time period.
The goal is to provide guests with the most fully immersive experience possible, including clothing, actors, and historically accurate scenery and dining. To start, the company offers experiences during the Roaring Twenties in Chicago, the Victorian Era in England, and Joseon Dynasty in Korea.
Problem
Many people want to escape reality and experience life in another time and place during history. How can we create a fully immersive experience for guests wishing to step back into history?
Solution
The company is seeking to add a whole new dimension to the travel and tourism industry by creating a responsive e-commerce site for booking these historical time travel adventures.
Research Goal
To create the best historical travel booking experience, we need to learn:
How do potential users view immersive experiences and travel booking?
Methods
- Competitive Analysis
- Interviews
User Needs & Motivations:
- Participants travel for relaxation, outdoor activities, a balance of planned activities and freedom to explore new destinations.
- Want easy-to-use websites with reviews, ratings, and filters and transparent policies and fees.
- 75% of participants enjoy immersive experiences.
- Expressed interest in some aspect of history – historical places, landmarks, or specific time periods.
- Booking and research habits are based on familiarity and comfort– Google, YouTube videos, TripAdvisor.
- All participants use research to gain inspiration, and like reviews but not necessarily recommendations.
- All prefer using direct booking websites, but third party for price comparisons and information.
- Need transparency about details and cancellation policies
Empathizing with Travelers
Card Sorting
Groups such as “tours”, “historical clothes”, or “eras” were sometimes used, but many grouped all related cards into the specific era or place (example: “1920’s” or “England”)
- Tours and museums were grouped as “things to do”, while places/streets/palaces were “things to see” - this is helpful for deciding how to group the content on the website
User research showed that most users would explore each destination, on its own page, with all relevant info displayed such as details, cultural attractions, and activities specific to that time period.
"Cultural attractions" refer to special historical sites or locations to visit, whereas "activities" are tours, museums, or other cultural-themed activities.
This sitemap is influenced by other sites such as Yelp or Tripadvisor, since users are familiar with the flow of these sites, and find them useful and efficient.
Based on the user persona, this flow follows Caroline as she explores the travel site.
The inspiration for this color palette and theme was a vintage, historical style such as sepia color photographs and the colors found in famous historical sites. The hand-drawn illustration shows different modes of transportation throughout history, going backwards in time - returning guests to simpler bygone eras.
- Overall quality and ease of navigation and flow
- Design is recognizable enough that users complete tasks without difficulty
- Users can find and book a specific trip
- Enough information is provided for the user to understand Wayback and immersive travel
- Provided details and design motivates the user to book a trip
- Observe any areas of hesitation, confusion, difficulty, etc.
- Easy & efficient to complete tasks
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Easy navigation
- Trips/Tours should be at top
- Need more details about what’s included in trip
- Show prices before cart/checkout
- Change how travel protection is added in checkout
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