UX Designer | Creative thinker
C i t y s o u l f i n d e r
The app that helps travelers to have authentic local experiences & off the beaten track itineraries
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TRAVEL THE WORLD EACH YEAR
MASS TOURISM IS DESTROYING THE PLACES WHERE WE LIVE AND TRAVEL
AT A GLANCE
Most of the money tourists spend leaves the destination they visit, leading the locals to get impoverished and even displaced, enforcing permanent changes to their lifestyle, and general well-being.
33 millions of tourists visit Venice each year, 70% of residents left the city in the past 70 years, which means that the local culture, heritage, environment and community are threatened.
THE CHALLENGE
How could we help to change the impact of tourism and transform it in a driver of sustainable development?
My goal for the project was to make the travelers find authentic and meaningful experiences while visiting Venice. My ambition were to create a platform where both residents and travelers could contribute and benefit from tourism.
My high level goals were to:
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Make it simple and easy to use for everyone in Venice.
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Give residents the possibility to be listened and provide their insight tips
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Create a platform for help travelers to find authentic experiences, off the beaten track itineraries and insightful local tips
MY ROLE
I spent the best part of 2 months working in a multidisciplinary design team on a variation of industries ranging from Hospitality, Tourism,
Personal Development to Gaming. I worked on this project by myself, developing the concept of the app and its end-to-end execution.
Timeframe - 7 weeks
Tasks - User Research, UX Design, Journey maps and user flows, proto Persona, Wireframing, Prototyping, User testing, Visual Design, Interaction Design
Tools - I developed my wireframes and the prototype in Figma.
RESEARCH
Travelers want to feel like a local and residents want to preserve their culture
The discovery phase for this project was an intense and quick effort that allowed me to confirm and better define my problem, outline my competitors' landscape, understand the complexity of the issue and, most of all, research into my users' current behaviour, needs and frustrations.
Through the persons I interviewed, I was able to find 6 residents and 8 tourists who has been in Venice willing to help me with my research.
A lot came up during the online interviews. To help clarify and categorize the different aspect of the problem I broke down the topic into affinity map and I started defining my target user group.
The main insights:
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Tourists feel in a fake place in the main touristic spots in Venice. They want to find the soul of the city and knowing a local has facilitated them to discover the city
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With a book guide or trip advisor reviews tourists need to read and search a lot before to find the real authentic places. Real local experiences such as mask making workshops are not advertised and they do not know where and how to find them while visiting the city.
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Residents want to protect their culture, their artisan's traditions to not see them disappear. They want to help tourists respecting and knowing their city.
The discoveries not only confirmed that the current system doesn't work, but also that tourists just cannot find easily real authentic experiences and local suggestions to enjoy their visit.
App to the authenticity
None of my participants was using apps to find authentic experiences, local tips and off the beaten tracks itineraries and they all agreed that they would have tried one, saying that it would probably make their visit more meaningful and easier to support and interact with the local community as well.
"Touristic places and touristic streets do not represent the soul of the city.
I want to find the little treasures exclusive to that area, I want to meet the locals, learn their cultures and ways of life".
THE DISCOVERY
“...how might we help travelers and residents find and provide authenticity?”
One thing that came up during this first stage, was the necessity for travelers to feel part of the city, to find real insightful tips and authentic experiences to do, and the necessity for residents to provide their suggestions. This became the main pillar for the design phase.
With all the information collected, I created a persona to define the key insights that characterize the target audience. I used the persona throughout the project to guide design decisions and priorities and therefore, develop a more user-centric experience.
IDEATION
Brainstorming solutions & user flow
Through research I discovered several opportunities, with those in mind I brainstormed a few ideas to consider for my design. I combined parts of 4 separate ideas together in one solution to solve the problem. With pen and paper and in Figma I created my first user flow.
WIREFRAMING
Finding authentic experiences
PURPOSE
Allow travelers to find authentic experience hosted by locals or by local business
WHY?
To help them to connect with residents, to know their culture and their lifestyle
HOW?
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similar to Airbnb - experiences
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possibility to book an experience hosted by local
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possibility to book a workshop hosted by local business
Select an off the beaten track itinerary
PURPOSE
Allow travelers to find off the beaten track itineraries
WHY?
To help them to to avoid crowded places and to discover more local spots
HOW?
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possibility to select the type of itinerary and read the highlights
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possibility to download the map with a ready path to follow
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possibility to saved it and have it handy in the phone
Find insightful local tips
PURPOSE
Allow travelers to find useful authentic local tips provided from local residents
WHY?
To help travelers to feel like a local, respect the city they visit leaving a positive impact
To help residents to be listened providing useful insights
HOW?
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dedicated list of local information
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possibility to read comments from residents and other travelers on a specific category section
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possiblity to saved both the information and the comment and have it handy in the phone
Support the locals
PURPOSE
Allow travelers to leave a positive impact while supporting the local community
WHY?
To help travelers to leave a positive impact in the city and spend/leave their money in authentic local business and not in souvenir shops
HOW?
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dedicated button that redirect travelers to buy locally made product online
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dedicated button to purchase a friend's pass that will allow them to have discounts when buying in local shops partnered with City Soul Finder app
VALIDATION
The f i rst test
To test my solutions within a prototype in Figma I created a total of 80 mid fidelity wireframes.
The test was run in person with 3 tourists and online with 4 others. I asked them to complete 3 tasks, ranging from booking a mask making workshop experience to find a local tips about transport.
Goals
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check if the app’s features are something travelers expect
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check if each feature is structured as expected
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check how they navigate through the app
All participants found the app easy to navigate and the content relevant to their problems.
7/7 participants completed the tasks without errors. They all found the visual aspects of the app very pleasant however their feedback constantly helped me to improve an iterate the design until the final result.
ITERATING THE DESIGN
Key findings from the usability testing
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The biggest pain point was finding the “local tips” feature
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The use of navigation icons such as home button needed to be implemented and improved
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The selection feature is confusing with too many options, they needed to be reminded what they have selected at the beginning
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Red color is too aggressive
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For the itineraries they need to be reminded that they are free of charge
A list of usability improvements was made, prioritised and implemented. Since I had time constraints, I started developing the brand identity and the high fidelity screens, while working on the proposed revisions.
BEFORE
AFTER
Discover icon replaced with Home icon
Local tips icon centred in the tap bar and replaced with a more intuitive icon
Clear Logo
More captivating title
and pictures
This screen has been replaced with the 4 below and the one aside
with more simple language buttons
A picture has been added to remind the user what type of experience he clicked in the home screen
Itinerary filter
Repetitive/confusing screens option to select/add another type of experience based on the initial image click
has been removed.
Has been created and
implemented instead
in the filters section
Local workshop &
Local experience filter
Tap bar removed
Free tap bar to remind that itinerary is free to download
Search bar inserted to give the possibility to type something specific
CITY SOUL FINDER
Final design prototype video
WRAP UP & REFLECTIONS
The next step in my process would be develop the on-line shop and the friend's pass feature, testing the high fidelity wireframes with many more travelers, and find any other pain point.
One obstacle that I encountered was making the user flow as simple as possible, providing many options in a simple understandable way. After a couple of attempts and after user testing, I simplified it by improving the usability.
What I learned
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to create an app from scratch
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give users fewer options without sacrificing the core value. Too many options will make them feel really confusing
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prototyping was the most effective way to gain meaningful feedback and you need to test and improve the design continually based on that feedbacks
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people prefer having familiar interfaces because they know how to use them. Keep them simple and it is not too bad to take inspirations from other successful app
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User's prospective is the lighthouse that guides you while desinging
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to take the time to sit back and question my decisions