Team
Jinhee Park
Meleah Philips
Divya Gautam
Tools
Qualtrics, Miro, Figma
Timeline
February 2023 (3 weeks)
Brief
I participated in Design Interactiveās fellowship design challenge to ideate an end-to-end design solution. In this short 3 week sprints, I was able to conduct user research, create personas, ideate, and come up with hi-fi prototype. My team won Best UX Research Award out of 20+ participating teams!
Challenge Prompt
Packing for a trip can be a panic-inducing experience, whether solo or in a group. Long checklists and overweight bags are common, and missing items and bulging luggage are nightmares for all travelers.
āHow might we create an app that streamlines the travel packing process in a structured and time-efficient manner?ā
Solution
Packy is an app guided by a friendly mascot to alleviate stress and anxiety while providing a packing list, organizational tools, and tips to streamline the packing process. It aims to make packing easier, more efficient, and less daunting for travelers.
Timeline
Competitive Analysis
To start off, we conducted competitive analysis to identify the similarities between existing products and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
A common feature among popular apps were:
Auto-generated pack list based on filters selected by the user
These apps added unique value proposition by adding things like weather forecast, luggage weight, planner for multiple trips.
User Research
Next, we deployed a survey to discover user needs and pain points. We managed to get 30 responses for our survey within a week. We followed up with 5 participants from the survey to conduct 1:1 user interviews.
52% of participants pack night before the trip
88% of participants pack according to the length and type of trip and types of activities they will be doing
Typically forgotten items are: charger, toiletries. These are all items that need to be packed last minute.
We synthesized the research findings by using affinity maps to identify the common pain points, which were:
Forgetting items
Overpacking
Knowing what to bring / not bring
Lack of knowledge in how to pack / organize items
Personas
We came up with two personasā who are a married coupleāto illustrate the pain points in real life context.
Maria is a working mom who is a perfectionist. She is anxious for not being a good parent, and often overpacks to make sure she is not forgetting anything.
On the other hand, Javier is an architect and a father who is exhausted. He is forgetful, often forgetting his wallet. He likes packing things last minute. He wishes to help his wife minimize her stress in packing.
Problem Statement
Travelers often experience stress and anxiety while packing for a trip, fearing they may forget essentials, overpack, or not know what to bring, leading to inconvenience and additional costs. A solution is needed to provide information and guidance, alleviate packing anxiety, and prevent overpacking or forgetting items.
āHow might we design and create an app that simplifies the travel packing process, encourages users to prepare and organize for their trip, minimizes packing stress and anxiety, and effectively prevents overpacking and forgotten items?ā
Ideation
We narrowed down key features that we wanted to implement, which were:
š” Initial quiz-kind filters
š” Friendly mascot to alleviate packing stress and anxiety
š” Organizational tips to help stay organized when packing and traveling
š” Last-min items reminders / check-list
Mid-Fidelity
User-Testing
We conducted moderated usability tests with 3 participants by asking for casual feedbacks on the mid-fidelity prototype.
ā The onboarding takes too long to get to the packlistā
āAm I supposed to be packing at the moment while using the packlist (have a trip planned), or can I save the list for later use?ā
āThere needs to be more options for transportation / activities selectionsā
We iterated the design based on the feedback by:
1. getting rid of the onboarding / create account process
2. Differentiating āAdd Tripā and āQuick Listā:
Add Trip: pack for a specific trip
Quick List: save list for later / reuse
3. Adding more options for transportation and activities selection
Final Design
High-fidelity Demo
Packy is here to make the process a breeze and help alleviate any stress or anxiety you may feel. With Packy, you'll get a handy packing checklist, useful organizational tools, and expert advice to simplify the task. Our ultimate goal is to make packing less daunting, more efficient, and super convenient for all travelers. Let's get packing with Packy!
Design system
My goal was to create a design that resembled a game, so I opted for a system that features vibrant, playful colors and bold strokes to give the user an engaging and playful experience.
ā
The alpaca was chosen as Packy's mascot for its association with positive qualities like calmness, reliability, and friendliness. Its distinctive appearance helps it stand out and make a memorable impression on users, perfectly aligning with the app's goal to create a stress-free and enjoyable packing experience.
Takeaways
1. Less is more
One challenge I faced was the onboarding process, which typically involves creating an account or logging in to an existing one.
Upon user testing, I realized that it could be a major turnoff for users who are in a rush to pack and don't want to waste time signing up.
As a result, I decided to remove the onboarding process altogether to create a simple, easy-to-use pack list that would save users time and effort.
2. Meeting the User Needs
Another challenge I faced was creating a pack list that was easy and convenient for users.
Recognizing that users often find packing stressful and overwhelming, I aimed to minimize these feelings during the process.
To achieve this, I introduced a friendly mascot to guide users through the packing process.The mascot's presence proved effective in alleviating stress and contributing to a more enjoyable packing experience.
Next Steps
Given more time, Iād love to add more features we wanted to add after our user research: Collaborative lists, Hub for travel time, ticket information (if taking plane or public transit), etc.