Tripcastr
A mobile app concept helping users plan a trip based on the weather forecast
Overview
Challenge
It’s one thing to know what the weather is like in your travel destination, and it’s quite another thing to be totally prepared for temperature or altitude changes so that you stay fit and healthy during the trip.
How can you design a product that helps travelers prepare and acclimatize fast for their trip so they don't miss a minute of fun?
Project Type
GA UX Design Immersive
This was a collaborative group project I participated in through General Assembly’s UX Design Bootcamp. I worked with 3 other designers in order to do the research, testing, design and presentation of our product.
Solution
A mobile app that provides weather data for a specified location when planning and while on a trip.
With options for activities and suggestions for gear to pack, so that you never miss a moment of excitement.
Info
Roles
Project Manager, UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
Tools
Figma, Trello
Duration
2 Week Design Sprint
Understanding the Problem
What are we trying to solve?
1.
2.
Better Way to Plan
Users expressed that is was extremely important to know the weather forecast for a trip so that they can plan activities accodingly.
86% of users check the weather with their phone. The phone was the most common device used to check weather because it is something that is constantly with users before and during a trip.
Help users adapt while on a trip
Users reported that they often check the weather daily the week prior to a trip to make any last minute adjustments to their schedule of activities.
Knowing changes to the forecast are vital and time-sensitive, especially if there are outdoor activities planned.
Hypothesis
By creating a mobile app that assists with packing and planning based on the destination’s forecast, Users can better plan their itinerary and make changes on their trip so they don’t miss a minute of fun.
User Research
1
3
Why is knowing the weather or any changes to the weather important?
“Checking the weather is very important so I can make sure to bring the right gear and clothing”
“If I find out about weather changes before I leave, I adjust the clothing I’ve packed and find a different mix to align with the new forecast”
How do you feel when the weather is not what was initially predicted?
“It can be frustrating when the weather is not as predicted, especially when the trip is tightly planned”
“It can be annoying when the weather changes because some plans might have to be cancelled or rescheduled”
Comparative Analysis
The most common avenues for users checking weather are the IOS weather app, weather.com and the weather channel app.
Users will use both their smart phone or laptop to check the weather prior to the trip and then typically use their phone during the trip.
Priority
Identifying Opportunities & Feature Prioritization
To come up with our solution, we compiled a list of features that we wanted to include in our design from main comparators in similar industries. We looked at how they teach technology skills and from there we broke them down into 3 categories:
1. Search By Location
2. Weather Conditions
3. Alerts / Notifications
2
How do you typically check the weather prior to a trip?
Important
1. Filter By Activity
2. Travel Guide / Suggestions
Nice to Have
1. Itinerary Maker
2. Destination/Park Map
Due to our users biggest pain points, our priorities for this product became searching by location, weather conditions and alerts or notifications. Searching by location is vital for users to see upcoming weather conditions to plan for their trip and pack accordingly. Implementing alerts and notifications allows users to get updates on changes to the forecast and change their itinerary or items they’ve packed.
Solution
A mobile app that provides weather data for a specified location when planning and during a trip, with alerts for any changes in the forecast to help users adapt accordingly.
User Flows
User Flow 1 - Planning a Trip
Home Page
Users begin the flow on the homepage and can either plan a new trip from scratch or select one of the “featured places” on the home screen.
Create a Trip
Once users select the location of their trip, they can input their trip dates in order to generate a 10-day forecast of that area. This allows them to plan activities and what they need to pack for their trip.
User Flow 2 - Updates during a Trip
Trip Changes Navigation
We got feedback from users that they want to check the forecast first to determine if the weather change will affect their current itinerary. On our lower fidelity prototypes this was not an option and caused users to hesitate on where to go next if they didn’t choose “edit activities” initially
Weather Alert
Users will receive a pop-up notification if the forecast changes during their trip. This allows them to get information faster make adjustments to their day accordingly
Editing Activities
It was confusing if the exclamation points were alerting users on suggested activities or ones to avoid, so we made a slight alteration to make it more clear what is suggested when the forecast changes
Preview Trip Details
Users can then plan activities and what clothing or gear to pack based off of the 10-day forecast before previewing the details and saving their trip
Testing
Evaluating our Design with KPIs
1
Task Success Rate
For both user flows we had a TSR of 100%. This was tested on users who performed the task for the first time, indicating that the flow was well laid out and overall a good user experience.
Given the scope of our project, 5 days was not enough to fully test out our design. That being said, these are 2 factors we would like to test with users prior to launching this product:
2
User Error Rate
You can see in our 1st user flow above that our biggest iterations occurred with the calendar. This is because we had a UER of 85% and this is where most hesitations occurred when performing the tasks. This gave us justification to alter our design to make it more clear to users and decrease their confusion.
Final Iteration
Take a look at our user flows and what it looks like to navigate through Tripcastr:
Planning a Trip
Forecast Alerts
Final Thoughts
Next Steps
Incorporate other data for destinations
Road conditions
Local regulations
Nearby attractions
Develop web and smartwatch versions
Find revenue streams such as advertising/ premium features
Takeaways
1. Divide and Conquer
My group was very good at communicating with each other and making decisions as a group. However, the hardest part of collaborating was trying to divvy up work because we all wanted to be involved. If I could do it all over again, I may try to divide up more tasks and build mutual trust within the group to be even more efficient.
2. Prioritization
As avid problem solvers, we often suffered from “featuritis” trying to create the best possible solution for the users. With a limited timeline to complete this project, we constantly had to remind ourselves to justify our decisions with the research we currently had so we could make the minimum viable product. We created a running list for our great ideas so that we still were able to ideate and think towards a final solution, but prioritized what needed to be in our first high fidelity prototype.