IronHack Challenge 3: Usability and Site Redesign
This case study is apart of my pre-work process at IronHack UX/UI program. In this article I will walk you through my process of jumping into the shoes of a world traveler, planning a trip from their perspective. From a designer stand point I will be choosing an app that best suits my user type and redesign its wireframes to fix pain points in the user experience.
In this case study I will
- Choose a User Persona and decide on a travel destination they would be interested in, research destination and plan trip as user persona.
- Identify one app that could help user the most on their journey using insight the user.
- Interviews 3 users on testing best app in order to gain insight to improve the design.
- Incorporate design changes that help fix pain points experienced.
User type
Meet back packer Victor Rivera, he is a 25 years old Afro Latino artist who wants to get closer to his roots in the Caribbean. He’s planning a trip to Dominican Republic this summer and will be booking his flight from Florida.
Research
Nearest Airport from Tampa to Dominican Republic is Santiago de los Caballeros which is in the country’s capital of Santo Domingo. The currency is the Dominican Peso which equates to $0.017 to the American dollar. It’s generally hot and humid in the Dominican Republic, so its best to dress cool and light. June through September are the hottest months, however this is when the island experiences the most rain so rain gear is a must. most consider April or May to be the best time to visit. Make sure you have the appropriate vaccines for international travel; Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Typhoid are the most recommended. And always wear a mask of course.
App and User Insight
I choose the app SkyScanner because I thought it was the best fit for my user type. In order to get a first impression of SkyScanners usability I interviewed 3 people aged 20–30. Interviewees were timed and asked to completely book a flight on the app in a minute after they were asked;
- Walk me through your thought process
- Was there anything that confused you?
- Was there something you felt missing from the process?
2 of 3 Users were confused by the COVID map on the home screen because it was too big and distracting
2 of 3 Users noticed you there was not an option to add bags to the flight search
3 of 3 users thought the cheapest option should be highlighted for user to notice
Redesign
Since my most of interviewees were confused by the home page I decided to make it more user friendly. In the original app the user must select the flight button and will be sent to another screen in order to input their departing and arriving flight. One of the main confusions of the home page is also how big the COVID map is on the page, I thought it was best for the user to downsize the map and push it lower on the screen. I then made the buttons on the top of the screen a drop down option instead of a sub link to the next screen. Clicking on the button would then allow the user to schedule both their arriving and departing flights. Another user pain point is there wasn’t a button to select how many bags they would need, so I added a baggage button on the flight drop down menu.
The screenshot on the right is what the user would see if they clicked the flight button on the homepage. Another user pain point was that they did not notice the cheapest flight was the first flight listed. In order to get the user attention I decided to highlight the cheapest option and also bring the text up so the user can clearly see what best fits their budget.
Conclusion
This was my most favorite case study I got to work on! I really enjoyed the liberty of jumping into the user persona’s shoes and then interviewing user’s based off that perspective. The user testing helped me notice things as UX/UI designer that I overlooked before. The process helped me gain insight on to become a better designer, and although SkyScanner is an app that is already successful this exercise proved that everything can be made better by tweaking small details and elements on a App.