Problem

In the realm of solo travel, the ability to connect effortlessly with fellow travelers is paramount. NomadHer stands out by fostering a trusted platform for these connections.

However, we identified a crucial challenge: following the introduction of our 'Write Post' feature, we observed that a significant 33% of our users were posting requests to 'Look for a Travel Buddy'. These posts, critical in nature, were becoming submerged in the general feed, making them challenging to locate and respond to.

This insight led us to a pivotal decision: to develop 'Travel Buddy' as a distinct, dedicated feature within the app. Our goal was to streamline the process, enhancing the ease with which our users could connect, thus directly addressing a core need of our community.

My Role

As the Product Designer, my primary role encompassed orchestrating a cohesive effort across multiple departments — including Marketing, Content, and Development — to ensure a synergistic approach in creating the Travel Buddy feature. My responsibility was to amalgamate insights from each sector, addressing technical constraints and aligning our vision with feasible execution strategies.

This pivotal role also involved steering the development process within a stringent 3-month deadline, set to launch in 2023. The objective was not only to successfully deploy the feature but also to accumulate valuable data and insights post-launch, to continually refine and enhance the user experience.

02 / PROCESS

Problem Solving

Given our tight timeline, a key decision was to determine the specifics of the user search functionality, including whether to constantly feature locals in a specific location. Through collaborative brainstorming sessions and aligning with our product roadmap, we strategically opted to streamline the search experience.

This approach was not just a solution to our time constraints; it was a deliberate move to create a foundational version of Travel Buddy. This initial iteration was designed to serve as a testing ground, allowing us to gather essential user data. This data would be instrumental in guiding the development of future, more sophisticated versions of the feature, continually enhancing the user experience based on actual user interactions and feedback.

Wireframes

In the wireframing stage, I meticulously crafted the initial designs to chart out a comprehensive user flow from start to finish. The primary focus here was to streamline the user's journey in achieving their goal within the 'Travel Buddy' feature. This phase involved critical decision-making on several fronts: determining the most relevant information to display during the user's search process, devising an intuitive and efficient search mechanism, and outlining the structure for creating and responding to announcements.

The wireframes served as a blueprint, guiding us in visualizing and refining these key elements. This foundational work was essential in paving the way for the subsequent application of our design system, ensuring that the final product was both user-friendly and aligned with NomadHer's aesthetic and functional standards.

Iterative Feedback Loop

Following the initial wireframe development, we embarked on a rigorous iterative feedback loop. This began internally, where the wireframes were scrutinized and refined based on feedback from our cross-functional team. Each team member's insights were instrumental in honing the design to align with both technical feasibility and our strategic vision.

Simultaneously, we conducted usability testing sessions with potential users. These interviews were crucial in gaining unbiased user perspectives on the 'Travel Buddy' feature. Their feedback provided invaluable insights into user expectations, preferences, and any potential barriers to achieving their goals with the feature.

This iterative process, blending internal and external inputs, went through three cycles of refinement. Each iteration brought us closer to a design that not only resonated with our team's vision but also resonated with our users. It was after these comprehensive rounds of feedback and testing that we arrived at the final version of the design, one that truly represented the needs and expectations of our NomadHer community.

High-Fidelity

"Transitioning to High-Fidelity Designs: After finalizing the wireframe flow for 'Travel Buddy', I embarked on applying our UI design system to these frameworks. This crucial phase involved transforming the wireframes into detailed, visually coherent high-fidelity designs. A key focus was the clear presentation of primary Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons, ensuring they were prominent and intuitive across the app. But the design process didn't end there.

Even post-deployment for development, rigorous testing was essential. This step was necessary to ensure that every element of the UI not only aligned with our aesthetic standards but also functioned seamlessly, providing an optimal user experience.

Data-Driven Insights for Feature Enhancement

In collaboration with a full-stack developer, we implemented back-end data trackers tailored to capture specific high-level metrics from 'Travel Buddy' usage. These metrics ranged from geographic insights, such as the most frequently searched countries, to temporal patterns, like the lead time users took to create a 'Travel Buddy' announcement before their travel dates. With these trackers, we began generating over 800K monthly data points.

This wealth of information enabled us to adopt a more data-driven, quantitative approach in understanding user behavior. Consequently, this insight is pivotal in guiding our strategies for enhancing and refining the app's features, ensuring they align more closely with our users' needs and preferences