TEAM & ROLE
Product Designer, Researcher in an inter-disciplinary team of 5. Project in a UX Research course at CMU. (User Centered Research & Evaluation)
WHAT I DID
Researched and prototyped a conceptual feature for Google Maps that helps users plan itineraries.
WHAT I DELIVERED
Concept prototypes for saving, creating or sharing trip plans; collaborating in groups and navigating the plans on the map
METHODS
Semi-structured interviews, lit review, contextual inquiry, speed dating, prototyping & testing
It's tough enough to plan a trip for just one person, let alone a whole group of people with different preferences and needs. Researching things to do, coordinating schedules, trying to gauge different preferences and gaining consensus needs while keeping a track of knowledge spread over different tools is a hassle.
As part of a classroom project, my team and I worked on taking the effort and stress out of group travel. Together, we conducted intensive research with users through a variety of research techniques. Individually, I took forward the research to prototype interactions.
Individually, I took forward the project
Using Plans, users can:
Explore plans created by local guides in the Google Maps community and save the ones they like. Follow your favourite travellers and bloggers. View their curated lists.
Customize existing plans or create their own plans from scratch, a kind of lists++.
Share their plans with their friends and fellow travellers and create consensus.
Keep a track of your daily schedules during the trip.
We started broad, exploring the full gamut of travel planning and the problems faced in them. Problem areas explored were as diverse as international student migration, group trip planning, pandemic travel planning, personalised itinerary planning….before we narrowed down on itinerary planning.