Problem: The issue is that whenever you travel to a new place whether it be a different city, province or country, we go to google to try to find the best restaurants or activities in the area but it’s always flooded by different factors. The top restaurant for example would be a common chain and it takes time to search and find something unique that also has real reviews as wells that aren’t bot generated.. Google results don’t give what you want for the first time in a new area and it’s not geared for first time travellers.

Solution: This app is unique because it’s not taking google maps and putting it in an app, it’s very specifically for those who haven't been in the city before and want what other tourists recommend as well as what locals in the area recommend. Also adding a review is unique as well since I wanted to eliminate bots, so the user must take a of the place from the app inside the restaurant to prove they were there. Before searching up a place there will be a large filtering system so users can search as accurately as possible. This will allow for a stress free experience as well as a positive and easy one.

How might we eliminate the need for a vast network such as google and gear more specifically towards travellers who are in search of unique experiences?

Personas

Arya and Zach both have the same frustrations which is they spend too much time researching places to go and eat and there's is no accurate and real ratings for places since there are too many bots. They also both share the same goals which is to find hidden gems recommended by locals and tourists, to find hidden gems recommended by locals and tourists and to get accurate results due to large amount of filtering to narrow down results.

Research: 5 user interviews were completed and it gave me very of good insight and made me think about the real problem at hand. The main issue and most important thing when travelling is the reviews. They all suspected that the reviews were bots and a lot of the time the good reviewed place was a bad experience, which is why I decided to gear more towards resolving that in my app. They also wanted to find local hidden gems.

IA

User flows

Sketches

Wireframes

Testing

Prototype

Final thoughts

The main thing I learned is that, even if you think your way is the best way, statistics from interviews and testing will tell you otherwise since the user is always right and so you need to trust the process. If I could do it differently next time, I would spend more time on the testing and get as much user feedback as possible instead of focusing too much on the UI.