Background
This case study outlines a team collaboration project for the University of Denver. Our objective was to design a user-friendly mobile travel application that simplifies the entire travel experience, from initial planning and booking to in-trip organization and communication. The goal was to create a centralized, intuitive platform that addresses the common frustrations of modern travel planning.
Core problem
Through our initial research, we identified several major pain points that travelers consistently face:
Fragmented Planning Process: Users expressed significant frustration with having to navigate between multiple travel websites and apps to find the best deals, leading to confusion and inefficiency.
Disorganized Group Travel: Planning trips with others is difficult. There was no easy way to coordinate, make group decisions, and keep all itineraries, bookings, and conversations organized in one place.
Information Overload: Users often forget what they've planned or lose track of important details during the complex planning process.
Pricing Inaccuracies: A common complaint was encountering inaccurate or inconsistent pricing across different booking websites.
Our Solution
Our team adopted a comprehensive, research-driven approach to design a solution that directly addressed the identified user needs.
Process & Implementation:
Research and Discovery: We conducted user interviews, competitor analysis (evaluating platforms like Kayak and Tripadvisor), and research synthesis to identify pain points and commonalities. Our research focused on three key objectives: vacation packaging/itinerary creation, budgeting, and communication.
User-Centric Design: Based on our findings, we created user journey maps, storyboards, and user flows. We prioritized a secure and private onboarding experience and developed a low-fidelity, clickable prototype for initial testing.
Iterative Testing & Feature Prioritization: We conducted guerrilla user testing to gather real-world feedback. This feedback was crucial in prioritizing features. We ultimately focused on an AI-powered itinerary, a "Groups" section for upcoming trips and events, and a "Community Board" with voting, a shared photo album, messaging, and location services.
Key Design Decisions: User interviews revealed low interest in a dedicated budgeting feature, so we moved it to the backlog to focus on more desired functionalities. The final design centered on creating a single, centralized area for all planning, rate comparison, purchasing, and communication, combining multiple user flow ideas into one streamlined experience.
Key Features Introduced:
Trip Planner: An AI-powered itinerary builder that simplifies planning.
Groups & Community Board: A collaborative space for travelers to plan together, vote on activities, share photos, and communicate.
Discovery: A feature to explore potential destinations and activities.
Passport Page: A centralized hub for users to manage their trips and personal information.
Storyboard and user-journey map.
Wireframe sketches and user flow.
Mid-fidelity features and iOS mockup.
High-fidelity iOS mockup.
Results and Impact
Our hypothesis—that integrating communicative and user-friendly features into a single mobile travel app would increase user satisfaction—was successfully validated.
Positive Usability Testing: Guerrilla testing showed overwhelmingly positive results. Users were able to successfully create trips, form groups, and vote on activities and restaurants with ease.
High User Satisfaction: Direct user feedback indicated that the design was "easy to understand" and that they loved having "everything in one place."
Validated Feature Strategy: The project confirmed our decision to de-prioritize the budgeting feature, allowing us to focus resources on functionalities that users truly valued, thereby creating a more compelling and useful product.