Usability Evaluation and site Redesign

This is the third and last Challenge form the prework previous at the UX/UI Ironhack bootcamp, where we are asked to use Design Thinking to redesign an existing app. We will be compiling aspects in the app that do not work by testing the app with real users.

Our users are willing to visit one of the 7 rated wonders of the millennium. They will be planning their trip from home with enough time to be sure everything is set up.

1: USER TYPE

A young couple (35 years old) with a daughter (4 years old) are willing to spend the summer in Egypt.

2: RESEARCH

• Currency
  Egypcian Libra.
• Airport
  Egypt is a very vast country here by 3 popular egypcian destinations to visit
  Cairo & Alexandria & Hurghada
• Medical Needs
  The recommended vaccinations for travel to Egypt are Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio, Hepatitis A and Typhoid. Protection against food and water-borne diseases such as Polio, Hepatitis A and Typhoid are very important as you could become infected through eating or drinking contaminated food or water.
• Wardrobe recommendations
  Shorts or short skirts as you see fit (covering the knee, if possible)
  A couple of T-shirts.
  At least one shirt, blouse or smart looking top.
  One pair of long trousers.
  A veil/shawl (women only; you can buy it at most souvenir shops as well)
  Swimsuit or bathing suit.
• Days needed to visit attractions
  Anywhere from 5–8 days is pretty typical for trips to Egypt. I wouldn’t yell at you for coming over and just spending 5 days here, as long as they were 5 full days on the ground. But you’ll want to make sure you hit Cairo and Luxor at a minimum.

3: BENCHMARKING

Our user could make its reservation through different apps:
KAYAK — SKYSCANNER — HOPPER — TRIP ADVISOR
We will use Heuristic Nielsen´s principles to choose which one of them adapts the best to our user needs.

Because of our user needs and characteristics I will focus on KAYAK to evaluate its usefulness and observe the user workflow through every task they will be asked to accomplish.

TASKS

Search the cheapest — best — fastest flight to your destination
Add filters to your flight search time — scales — companies -
Add different destination to your search
Search package flight plus hotel
Save to favourites your wished flight.
Search hotel
Add filters to your hotel search
Save hotel to favourites.
Search car
Add filters to your car search

4: INSIGHTS

After observing the workflow of our user accomplishing every required task we can detect some pain point areas.

KAYAK

Landing page:
1- Some of our users had difficulties in pointing out filling areas for origin and destination. What is more, the app remembers last search and already fills in those searching areas.
2- We find 3 main areas to select and start our search: hotels — flights — Cars, then we need to open the hamburger icon top left in order to find flight & hotel button search. It will be convenient to add this button (flight & hotel) to the landing page, if we don’t want our user to jump to another product

Search results:
3-Also in this area it is difficult to point out the button to go back to the origin.
It is not also clear in between the topic search in which one are we at this point.
4- Clarifying the flight info will help the user to move faster through the app.

Flight info:
5- Once the desired flight is selected the info appearing could be clearer specifying again origin and destination with an arrow for example and pointing out if it is a flight with scales or not.

Workflow:
6- Once our user has found his desired flight, he is forced to go back to the landing page and start a new search in order to find his hotel. A button (add hotel to your flight) could appear on screen (and vice versa) once the flight is selected or added to favourites.

5: Redesign wireframes

After having observed the different workflow of our users and having detected the main problems of the app. We can start to ideate some solutions.

1- We can add a small description at the top of the filling areas to facilitate its identification at a first sight.

2- Flight & Hotel button will be added at the navigation bar visible at the landing page.

3- Once in the search result screen we lost our path, the navigation bar shouldn't disappear.

4- 5 Give to the user some more insights about the flight. The actual info is too little.

6- Adding a shortcut to hotel search results after purchasing the flight will speed up users workflow.

Here above you can have a look at some Sketch screenshots implementing the possible solution.

Here an Invision prototype to evaluate its workflow.