Turning pictures into a list of destinations.
Research suggests most people are too busy to do in-depth research before their travels. They also find most online reviews untrustworthy and inaccurate.
Travelers find it easier to ask friends or reach out on social media for recommendations. However, most people find it frustrating to jump between different apps to look at all the recommendations.
We reimagine the note-taking process as simply taking a picture. By pairing a reverse image search and its geotagged location, Travelist can pinpoint restaurants and sites of interest automatically generate a list through a picture’s metadata.
Travelist creates a shareable list of trustworthy destinations to share with friends.
Sharing a list is the ultimate product goal. However, the ability to share a specific item or items on a long list allows users to tailor the experience to their audience. Also, what’s a travelist list if only one person has access to it.
Sharing your travels with your friends, whether it’s pictures of delicious food or an iconic scene, has become part of the trip. As the saying goes, “The camera always eats first”.
In consideration of Hick’s Law, I wanted to make the onboarding process as simple as it should be– just take a picture. Taking a picture would accomplish two product goals: (1) Getting the app permissions from the user, (2) Create a list for the user.
In consideration of Hick’s Law, I wanted to make the onboarding process as simple as it should be– just take a picture. Taking a picture would accomplish two product goals: (1) Getting the app permissions from the user, (2) Create a list for the user.
Sharing a list is the ultimate product goal. However, the ability to share a specific item or items on a long list allows users to tailor the experience to their audience. Also, what’s a travelist list if only one person has access to it.
Sharing your travels with your friends, whether it’s pictures of delicious food or an iconic scene, has become part of the trip. As the saying goes, “The camera always eats first”.
Product Design, Brand & Branding
September 2019 / 3.5 Months
Strategy & Ideation, Brand Development, User Interviews & Surveys, Personas, Competitive Analysis, User Journeys & Stories, Sketches, Wireframes, Hi-Fidelity Prototyping, and User Testing
Whether you’re traveling 50 miles for a staycation or 5000 miles to a different country, pictures of food and what you’re doing is typically part of the plan. Travelist analyzes the data taken from the photo and organizes the information into a detailed list.
Ultimately, we allow users to seamlessly share their experiences with friends who can edit the list based on their own travel desires.
Explore the travel industry to validate a time-consuming problem and design a user experience that solves the issue.
Make it seamless so that everyone can share their experiences.
Give travelers more time to enjoy and explore.
Create a community for trustworthy traveling tips.
Create a catalog of destinations from your travel pictures.
Edit and share a personally curated travel list.
Print a book of your travels from around the world.
Travelers who want to go to THE places without doing the research. Explorers who like to share their experiences without spending the time to put the list together.
I went on a mission to test the validity of my assumptions.
When you're on vacation, you should have like 8-10 meals a day.
-BrianI’m more afraid of not being able to go somewhere.
-DCI love to travel, but I love efficiency even more.
-TinaAll about the data.
Works long hours
Travels for work
Cuts food really fast
Doesn’t like to be surprised
Likes to try new restaurants
Doesn’t research trips
Easy to understand list of places
Getting the correct location
Updated business info
Making lists in excel
Jumping between map and list
Untrustworthy reviews
Self employed
Travels twice a month
Food is life
Loves to travel
Will go the distance for food
Doesn’t mind touristy things
Take pictures of everything
Know the best places to go
Make an album for each trip
Sorting through suggestions
One app for all recommendations
Organizing lists
Paralegal
Home chef
Self-proclaimed food critic
Enjoys highly rated places
Will stop eating if not tasty
Likes to explore
Trendy foodie pictures
Recommend places to friends
The “Go To” for all things food
Remembering all restaurants
Having to ask friends
Long lines
Works long hours
Travels for work
Cuts food really fast
Doesn’t like to be surprised
Likes to try new restaurants
Doesn’t research trips
Easy to understand list of places
Getting the correct location
Updated business info
Making lists in excel
Jumping between map and list
Untrustworthy reviews
Self employed
Travels twice a month
Food is life
Loves to travel
Will go the distance for food
Doesn’t mind touristy things
Take pictures of everything
Know the best places to go
Make an album for each trip
Sorting through suggestions
One app for all recommendations
Organizing lists
Paralegal
Home chef
Self-proclaimed food critic
Enjoys highly rated places
Will stop eating if not tasty
Likes to explore
Trendy foodie pictures
Recommend places to friends
The “Go To” for all things food
Remembering all restaurants
Having to ask friends
Long lines
Research suggests most people are too busy to do in-depth research before their travels. They also find most online reviews untrustworthy and inaccurate.
Travelers find it easier to ask friends or reach out on social media for recommendations. However, most people find it frustrating to jump between different apps to look at all the recommendations.
We reimagine the note-taking process as simply taking a picture. By pairing a reverse image search and its geotagged location, Travelist can pinpoint restaurants and sites of interest automatically generate a list through a picture’s metadata.
Travelist creates a shareable list of trustworthy destinations to share with friends.
To justify my market space, I needed to look into the travel industry and understand my competition. Through my user surveys, I found that people regularly use Yelp and TripAdvisor to search for a place. However, the reviews on both platforms held very minimal weight.
These apps were mainly used to find sites of interest and look at pictures of restaurants or food.
Ability to create “Trips”
Public and private lists
Ratings system
Connect with other users
Follow travelers
Lack of social aspect
Posts feel sponsered
Difficult to navigate
Large amount of information
Can feel overwhelming
Work on lists with friends
Category tags
Simplifying information
Lack of local aspect
No social media aspect
International users
Big community of travelers
Q&A forums
Large amount of reviewers
Large library of restaurants
A lot of reviews
Bookmarking restaurants
Additional services
Finding places via location
Bias or fake reviews
Information not up to date
Too many sponsored posts
Simultaneously edit a list
Untrustworthy reviews
Reviews can’t be filtered
Not relevant in other countries
No social media aspect
Huge following in the U.S.
User generated content
Easy to break into other markets
With my competitive analysis, I went on to search for a solution for my validated problem. I began by sketching some concepts to test.
After walking users through my initial concept and design ideas, most testers were interested in the album view. They were also interested in the geo-tag function and the onboarding process.
After understanding my user goals, I aimed to create a flow that would be natural to the users and allow them to operate the camera function on Travelist as if it was the native camera app on their phone.
From there, the goal was to design a flow to share the final product without the user leaving the app.
Feature: Take picture/video to create a list
1. Take Picture
2. Create/Autosave album
3. Post on social media
4. Show/see list
5. Add notes
6. Save
*Access to photos
*Toggle "Vacation Mode"
Feature: Editing/Sharing a travel list
1. View Album
2. Open list
3. Edit line item
4. Save
5. Share
6. Share options
Users weren’t sure what the icons represented. They also didn’t know where to “Add a Place”.
Users thought this icon meant adding a new list item on the same page.
I clarified the initial post to inform users that taking a picture starts the list-making process. I also used the same icons to reinforce the camera-first feature.
Users wanted to see the full country, state, or city name. Users also wanted an option to customize the label.
I redesigned the categories to fit the city the user was in as opposed to the country.
This also allows the user to either spell out the city name or use abbreviations like L.A. for Los Angeles.
The onboarding process would inform the user that albums are pre-named for their convenience. However, they have the option to edit the list name later on.
This was a project I thoroughly enjoyed due to my love for travel. Seeing a friend explore a city you’re planning on visiting in the near future is inspiring, but asking them for a list of places to go can be awkward if they’re not writing anything down. As I explored the issue, I found other people with the same dilemma.
As a frequent traveler, I thought some of my design decisions based on my assumptions could be valid- that was not the case. Through user research and testing, I was able to design a more consistent product for all types of travelers.
