If yes, how did you find your travel tickets?

Type in answer: Recommendation, Booking.com, Kayak...

How often do you browse for online tickets?

Multiple choice answer: Daily, weekly, a few times a year, never

What platforms do you use for job searching?

Type in answer: booking.com Kayak.com

How would you describe the process?

Type in answer: Easy, difficult, complicated etc

What do you like most about the platforms?

Type in answer: I like the colors, I like the filters and how many jobs they have

What device do you browse on?

Multiple choice answer: Computer/Laptop, Tablet, Phone, Newspaper

Have you ever used GuzoGo app?

Multiple choice answer: A. Yes B. No

If you could change anything about your current ticket buying searching process, what would that be?

Type in answer: I would add a direct messaging feature so that I can contact the potential

GuzoGo

Project Overview

GuzoGo is a mobile application that simplifies travel planning by providing a centralized platform for travel and reservation needs, focusing primarily on flight bookings. It allows users to independently book both international and domestic flights from various global airlines.

My Role

Position: UX/UI Designer
Responsibilities:
Conduct user research and analyze findings
Create initial sketches and develop wireframes from low to medium fidelity
Design visual interfaces and create prototypes

Goals

Enhance customer satisfaction
Attract more users
Increase annual revenue and app downloads
Contribute to the company's overall growth

Project Timeline: January - March 2023
Website: GuzoGo

Challenge

Identify and resolve usability issues in the GuzoGo app to improve user interaction and engagement, aiming to simplify the flight booking process.

Business Goals Understanding

Initiated the project with a kick-off call interviewing Mr. Tesema Wolde to understand his vision and the product's business goals.

Understanding the problem

Having gathered sufficient data from the business, I carried out a usability test and interviewed five users on the current application, and distributed 15 questionnaires for a survey. Additionally, I analyzed the numerical data using analytics.

My findings revealed that users desire a straightforward user journey that allows them to complete their booking with minimal steps. They also expressed the need for a language selection option, the ability to effortlessly compare prices, and multiple payment methods.

Questions

During my interview with the business owner, I compiled "How Might We" (HMW) notes to capture key insights. I then shared these observations with my team to collaboratively explore various ways to achieve the business objectives. This approach aids in identifying specific areas that require our focus.

Some of the questions we considered include:

How can we offer a user experience that is friendly, educational, and engaging?
How could we revamp the overall aesthetic and ambiance?
What steps can we take to simplify the user journey? ... among others.

Target Audience

Based on my interview, I have a clear understanding of the audience I am designing for. My target users encompass mobile phone users, frequent travelers, busy business owners looking to compare airline prices, and primarily, individuals from Ethiopia.

User Research

Conducted usability tests and interviews with five users
Distributed 15 questionnaires to gather broader user input

Key Finding: Users need a more straightforward journey, fewer steps in booking, language options, price comparisons, and diverse payment methods.

Design Decisions Highlight

Decision: Simplified the booking process to reduce steps from five to three.
Impact: This change decreased user drop-off by 25% during the booking phase.

Visuals and Layout

Competitor Analysis

Project Interview Process

I arranged the interview based on the availability of the clients, opting for individual Zoom sessions. Once I determined the preferences of my five potential participants, I conducted the interviews according to the convenience of the users.

Interview Questions

What does their reservation history appear to be?

What is the frequency of users using their smartphones for reservation activities?

Do they have a preference for using mobile devices or computers?

Have they encountered any difficulties while utilizing apps for flight reservations?

Are there any modifications that users believe are necessary in the app, or any features they feel are lacking, to make it more user-friendly and functional?

User Interview

Survey Questions

User Persona

User Empathy Map

User Journey Map

Story Board

In addition to developing the user persona and user journey map, I've also applied my artistic talents to sketch out storyboards for my target user. I consider the creation of a storyboard to be crucial for fully grasping the user persona, which in turn allows me to know exactly who I'm designing for. These sketches serve to illustrate the activities and characteristics of the user, whom I've named Hanna.

Define

At this point, I consolidate all of our research results, which includes the interview I conducted with Mr. Tesema Wolde, usability testing, and user interviews, to identify the underlying issues.

Upon thorough analysis of the collected data, I integrate it to formulate a solution.

Card Sort

Information Architecture

Sketching

After determining the website's structure, I designed the information architecture to understand the user interactions with the product. Subsequently, I brainstormed a variety of unconventional ideas, which allowed me to compare and identify the most effective solution. Naturally, all these were discussed and deliberated with my team.

Paper Prototype

The initial action following the preliminary sketches involved creating a paper prototype based on the chosen concept while also maintaining brand identity and aligning with both user requirements and business objectives.

Feedback

The design team convened to discuss the project, after which I forwarded the paper prototypes to our client, Mr. Tesema Wolde, for his feedback and to help select the most promising ideas to develop further.

Project Process

Subsequently, the business owner provided feedback, indicating his preferred concept and requesting further clarification on certain sketches.

Wireframing

Mockups

Continued to develop the app's tactile interface by building its UI elements, as well as the overall visual design. This included aspects like typography, color schemes, icons, buttons, and spacing to capture the website's desired feel and mood. The result is a set of high-fidelity mockups and a fully interactive prototype, ready for testing.

User Test

After completing the initial prototype, I had real users test it. During this phase, I actively solicited their opinions and encouraged them to vocalize their thoughts as they navigated the product. Surprisingly, the feedback was favorable—four out of five users expressed satisfaction with both the landing page and the flight booking journey, stating it did align with their expectations more user friendly prior experiences.

User Testing Analysis

Now with user feedback and observations from the prototype testing, my team and I reconvened to dissect the findings. Following extensive discussions with the business owner, we identified three additional key questions to address:

How can we simplify the landing page while maintaining its functionality?
How can we streamline the user journey to allow easy booking yet still present all available options?
Is it possible to instill a greater sense of trust in users, particularly during the payment process?

To tackle these pressing issues, I drafted new sketches featuring innovative solutions. We then debated and voted on the most effective approaches before embarking on the next phase of our design process.

Style Guide

Here is the condensed style guide that outlines the key elements of our visual design system, including typography, color schemes, buttons, icons, and interactive states. While the complete style guide is more comprehensive, this version has been tailored specifically for this presentation. Additionally, I've been attentive to accessibility standards, implementing them in various ways such as organizing related content, enhancing color contrast, making text easily readable, providing clear markers on icons and buttons, and employing various interactive states.

Outcome

Ideas to action:

After extensive brainstorming and sketching numerous concepts with my design team, we developed low-fidelity wireframes and initial prototypes for testing. While the second iteration retained key elements from the original design, it also featured significant modifications. This revised prototype not only offers a cleaner, simpler interface, but most crucially, it better aligns with our users' experiences.

Solutions

I've revamped the landing page to offer a more streamlined interface, incorporating extra space to give the layout room to breathe. This also ensures that the "Return" and "One-Way" options are easily noticeable.
To improve text readability, I used a darker image as the background, which better highlights the main text fields.
Additionally, I increased the size of the buttons and updated the text for better user experience.
In terms of the bottom navigation, I replaced the less frequently used 'Profile' tab with a more functional 'Settings' option, based on user interactions.
I've optimized both text and images to be easily viewable across various mobile devices, facilitating better communication between the user and the app.
To make the app more user-friendly, we've grouped related items together, reducing the time and effort users might otherwise expend navigating the app.
I've also introduced an order tracking page that features accurate and up-to-date information on all items. Moreover, I'm in the process of simplifying the terms and conditions into easily digestible text.
One of the new features we've implemented is a custom tip option for deliveries, allowing users to tip according to their preference.

Accessibility

Adhered to WCAG guidelines to ensure the app is accessible to all users, incorporating features like text size adjustability and optimized color contrast.

Results and Metrics

Downloads: Increased by 6%
Customer Rating: Improved to 4.8
Revenue Growth: Generated an additional $30000

Reflections and Learnings

This project underscored the importance of iterative design and testing, highlighting how direct user feedback is instrumental in refining digital products.

Call to Action

Curious about how design can transform user experience? Explore more projects or contact me to discuss how we can collaborate on your next digital initiative.

Shipped

Following feedback and tests with five users, we successfully provided the developers with all the necessary specifications, along with critical side notes.

We are thrilled to announce that GuzoGo is now officially launched and available for download on both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store.

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