THE OBJECTIVE
Why do we need the Musāfir app?
As the world becomes more and more globalized in the 21st century, we travel and witness for ourselves how different people interact with each other, through culture, food, and language.
When visiting a country for the first time, it can be very frustrating (and/or awkward) to navigate without knowing the basic language and the cultural mannerisms that are considered appropriate versus inappropriate.
The Musāfir app will take all the awkwardness out of your trip, and will help you have a more immersive and enriching traveling experience!
THE PROJECT CONTEXT
What is a Musāfir?
The term itself, Musāfir, means traveler (in its truest sense) in the Arabic and Urdu languages. Historically, Musāfirs such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta had an impactful role in making discoveries and creating literature revolving around how people lived in different parts of the world and how they interacted with each other.
THE RESEARCH
What are our users saying?
Based on the responses from the user research survey, it seems that many potential travelers feel a disconnect with their upcoming destination’s cultural atmosphere.
Musāfir App's Inspiration and Opportunity to Grow
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
COMPARATIVE RESEARCH
THE USER
Tanya Wilson
User Behaviors
- 36 years old
- Mother of 2 sons
- Middle Class
- Travels mostly domestically
- Travels with family
- Only knows English
Needs/Pain Points
- Very prone to culture shock
- Easily becomes a target for monetary exploitation
- Aware of cultural mannerisms
- Know basic language of country
- Needs to be in kid-friendly areas
Opportunities
- User loves to explore new foods
- Wants contributions to be incentivized
- Enjoys helping others with words of wisdom
The Musāfir's Happy Path (click to expand)
THE SKETCHING
After analyzing the user survey data and creating a persona that would be fit for using the Musāfir app, I began to draw out low fidelity sketches of what components the app would have. Below are some of my sketches.
THE ITERATING AND PROTOTYPING
The Evolution of the Global Navigation
As I created the high fidelity wireframes and user tested them simultaneously, the Musāfir global navigation evolved over time. Much of this evolution was due to the iterative method used to collect user feedback and how clear the icons and functions were.
Being the global navigation, this is a component that is seen and used throughout the experience. For this reason, it was crucial to make the navigation as intuitive, error-free, and easy to use as possible.
The Musāfir App in Action (Please click on the video to play)
THE USER TESTING
What do the users think?
After designing the wireframes, I went to several users to collect their feedback. Here are some things they said:
Feedback initially made while iterations are made:
"It would be good if the app focused on just a few areas and had a different component of contributions to it that other apps do not have."
"There are too many steps to get to the page where I can post."
"I really like the fact that you can share cultural etiquettes. I haven't seen that in other apps."
"I like the choice of color scheme for the app."
THE NEXT STEPS
Where is Musāfir headed next?
- Offline capabilities while traveling internationally
- Ability to filter similar etiquette tips
- Language guide for different native languages
- More user research, testing, and iterations
- Explore more interfaces (Android, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.)
