Challenge 3:Usability Evaluation and Site Redesign

In this exercise, I am going to study on ‘Usability Evaluation and Site Redesign’. The goal is jump into the shoes of a world traveler and selecting one application to redesign and making some changes to correct the pain points.

1. User Type

First of all specify the focus group: World Trotter, Backpacker (18–38 years old).

People in this group should have this feature :

You’ve decided to finally go visit that wonder that has been sitting in your dreams for a long time now. You don’t have a long time to plan but also you don’t need it. You’ll be traveling in 6 months and are open to almost any possibility but have a budget constraint. You are price-cautious and prefer experiences where you have a chance to meet people and make acquaintances to enjoy the wonder together. You are not picky and you can accommodate the most affordable, adventurous, genuine experience.

2. Research

Why visit the Colosseum? It is the largest amphitheatre in the world and considered to be one of the greatest Roman architecture and engineering works. You can see the hypogeum.

• Dates: 10–15 July 2021
• Airport: There are 3 airports in that region.
• Currency: Euro is their currency,
• Medical needs: Need visa (except EU) and vaccination
• Wardrobe recommendations: July is In summer, The air temperature sees around 25–27 degrees this month.
• Near Points of Interest: The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, Vatican City, The Pantheon, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, San Giovanni in Laterano (Basilica of St. John Lateran), Centro Storico & the Spanish Steps, The Catacombs and Via Appia Antica (Appian Way), Piazza Navona

3. Benchmarking

Jacob Nielsen came up in 1994 and provide 10 general principles for interaction design.

1. Visibility of system status: Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper
2. Match between system and the real world: SkyScanner, Hopper
3. User control and freedom: Hopper
4. Consistency and standards:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, Tripadvisor
5. Error prevention:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, Tripadvisor
6. Recognition rather than recall:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, Tripadvisor
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, Tripadvisor
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, Tripadvisor
9. Help users recognise, diagnose, and recover from errors:Kayak, SkyScanner, Tripadvisor
10. Help and documentation:Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper

After comparing these four applications; Kayak, SkyScanner, Hopper, and TripAdvisor, I decided to redesign Tripadvisor because this is the best app for my user type. It contains restaurants, attractions and some special tours so this is the good part for the app.

4. Testing

I had 4 couples for this test. In 5 seconds they had a look application screen and than I covered the screen and asked them:

What did you see?

What can this tool do for you?

Where would you search for a flight?

Task for Backpacker:

• Book a cheap flight.
• Find a chosen hotel.
• Prepare a list about adventure exploring places

5. Insight

All they gave the near answer. They could easily find out how to make their plan both hotel and flight.

Firstly, when I showed the Tripadvisor app home page to users, they found the search icon a little bit confusing. They thought that, the icon especially unnecessary.

Secondly there is something missing for their crazy plans. Maybe there will be no chance to visit Rome so they want to choose the best dates for their vacations. And they need to know where and when the best festivals? They don’t have a long time to plan and don’t want to spend more time for searching the events. So, I think that all they need a section which all festivals are in one tittle; “Festivals”

6. Redesign Wireframes

I decided to compose mid-fi wireframes in Sketch. First I have designed the home page. I deleted the icon which was on the top then deleted the dropdown. I think it’s become more clear and understandable now.

After compose the homepage-search, I added the “Festival” section to separate the festival events from the “Things to Do” section. I needed to make this change because, my user type would like to see this section separately and clearly to arrange their trips between Festival dates in a fastest way!

After click the “Festivals” button, then you see the details of the event. You choose the date and see the price in the list. As you can see from the “More Info” button, it is Tripadvisor’s original buying ticket flow.

Conclusion

The mantra is; “I’m not the user of the product, I’m creating and evaluating”
I think these are the keywords! I did this pre-work not as a user, I did it as a creator or designer. I tried to understand what is the user needs and I have considered that the user is different from me. User doesn’t have to look as a developer or designer. So when you look at from different perspectives to the product, it is getting easy to see and solve the pain points.

Thanks four your reading!