The Problem
Preparing for travel is stressful, and packing is no exception. Travelers who forget things while packing have trouble feeling confident that they are ready for their trip, and are annoyed when they have to waste valuable vacation time buying forgotten items.
Proposed Solution
A comprehensive, personalized, interactive list app may solve this problem by helping users prepare for their trips and feel more comfortable before and during their trip.
Timeline
3 weeks (March 2019)
My Role
UX Researcher & Designer (individual project)
Tools
Sketch, InVision, Miro
User Research
I started with the idea that I would improve an aspect of the travel experience. I was especially interested in the topics of budgeting and packing. The first step was to perform some interviews to determine what the pain points were around these topics.
User Interviews
A few insights I discovered from my initial interviews:
• Being ill-prepared before a trip causes more stress during the actual vacation
• EVERYONE forgets to pack things
• It is frustrating when there is no room for gifts and souvenirs
• Most often forgotten items are everyday items: chargers, toothbrushes, etc.
• It’s hard to predict the weather when packing
• Packing is very time-consuming
I organized my key takeaways from each interview and analyzed the results in an affinity diagram. I found that forgetting to pack items was the most prominent pain point. Many users also mentioned stress and weather, so I decided to keep those as secondary goals in my app design.
User Persona
From there, I created a user persona based on my interviews and survey data.
Define
Storyboard
Thinking about how the average user might need an app like the one I proposed, I drew a storyboard that follows the user through a typical use case.
Ideate
Feature Prioritization
After identifying what users would need in a packing app, I brainstormed some features and prioritized them in a matrix.
The backbone of the app is a checklist, so that was essential. Every single person I talked to mentioned checking the weather as part of their packing ritual, so I included an in-app weather feature. Another top priority was reminders so that users wouldn’t forget to pack anything.
User Flow Sketches
I organized the features that I planned to design and mapped out the user flow of my proposed app, Alpacka. I then fleshed out the user flow into some quick sketches.
Prototype
Wireframes
Using Sketch, I translated my user flow and sketches into wireframes, which I prototyped in InVision to test with users.
Onboarding Flow
Test
I tested my mid-fi prototype and used the feedback to identify some areas for design and feature improvements. My questions and key takeaways are as follows.
Tasks
1. Complete onboarding
2. Create a packing list from a template
3. Add items based on planned activity
4. Save list as new template
5. Create a reminder for a last-minute item
Takeaways
• Users were able to accomplish all tasks without much trouble
• The purpose of the app is unclear from the splash screen
• Add Activity screen is confusing because the CTA doesn’t appear until they check a box
• Users would like to be able to track which items are packed into each suitcase
Iterate
For the next iteration of my mid-fi iOS prototype, I took into account the user tests and made improvements to the design. Some of the changes I made are described below.
Splash Screen Design Improvements
Added a value proposition and eye-catching image to the splash screen so that users know what to expect and are enticed to use the app.
Making Buttons More Intuitive
Made the CTA on the Activity screen visible in a disable state when nothing is selected on the screen, so that it is more clear to users how to use the Add Activity function.
Adding Volume Indicator
Added a packing volume indicator so users can see approximately how much of their luggage they have filled and how much room they have left.
Improving the UI
Iterated on the design as a whole in other ways to make it more polished and cohesive.
Mid-Fi iOS Mockups
Mid-Fi Prototype Walkthrough Video
Final Thoughts
Designing for iOS
I’m primarily an Android user myself, and this was one of the first iOS-only projects I did. Usually, if I am designing for Android and iOS, I start with Android and then translate the design to iOS. It was interesting to approach this project from an iOS-first viewpoint. I enjoy keeping up with design trends for a variety of devices, and it is a fun challenge to use a design language or trend that I don't normally gravitate towards.
Next Steps
This project focused more on the UX research than on visual and UI design, so the next step would be to create hi-fi mockups, and add some animations and microinteractions. I’d like to do another round of testing before finalizing my idea, and eventually make it a real product for the app store. Based on my extensive research and testing, I think many people would find value from Alpacka.