Skills
UX/UI Design, Visual Design
Challenge
Vacation house and condos were going unrented and there was no way to discount them as they got closer to vacant calendar days. Owners were missing out on making money and last-minute travelers couldn’t find much of a deal.
How might we create a platform that allows people to book deeply discounted, last minute house and condo rentals?
User Interviews & Synthesis
Research goal: To develop an understanding of the last minute vacation rentals, discover the target audience, identify the target’s journey when booking, and research competitors. Is there a need for this app or website?
Here are a few key quotes from the first person interviews I conducted as Primary Research.
Loose User Flow: Room for Brainstorming
I identified the tasks and user flows that would meet the personas’ goals. For this project, I had a few user flows to create based on both the property owner and the renter. Then I moved some of the frames around and left room for brainstorming and pivoting if necessary.
App’s Primary Features: Maps, Deals Near You
Using the user flows that I previously created, I developed wireframes incorporating the app’s primary features in a systematic and intuitive manner. All the while, I was ensuring that the Personas’ needs, desires, and goals were met within the context of their journey.
Last Minute = Easy to Book =Flexible Cancellation
For these wireframes, I used rapid proto-typing. I focused on creating the most intuitive experience by brainstorming solutions to the “how might we” question identified earlier in the presentation. Along with ease of booking, it was also important to the customer “ease of cancellation.”
Prototyping and Testing
After I created the high fidelity wireframes, a selected group participated in the useability testing where I iterated on the design and tested again. Launched the app, made some adjustments and tested some more.
Results
I liked working on this project because vacation and where people stay is something that is easy to share with one another – and people talk about it quite often. There’s a real “locals” experience you get when you stay in a neighborhood vs. in a hotel district. I love to travel so it was a topic that I enjoyed researching, interviewing and brainstorming. Once the app launched, the only problem was that there wasn’t enough properties to really seed this site for it to take off.