Problem statement :
Users are being wooed by new platforms that promote more immersive experiences especially in an industry like travel, that focuses a lot on presenting visually appealing content.
With the progression of technology on platforms like VR and AR, creating more immersive experiences on traditional platforms like computers and smartphones is in my opinion an immediate challenge faced by the industry.
Research :
For this case study I took a look at several market options for the travel industry and saw an abundance of clean and minimal design.
Most platforms looked similar due to their over-use (in my opinion) of whitespace and restraint shown in their use of images and video content, which were generally restricted to a large cover image or thumbnails which reveal an image carousel.
I also surveyed a little over 15 people to figure out what visual stimuli made a travel app attractive and concluded that high definition video and photographs were major factors in driving engagement and stimulating interest from new users.
User Journey :
The first step in most travel apps involved discovering a location to travel to. This page(s) would typically show the user useful information about a location, without diving into detail about their business offerings.
Since this was a constrained case study, I chose this step to focus on.
Ideation :
To save time, and show how small changes in an existing system could potentially improve a user’s experience greatly, I chose to adopt some of the design language of an existing travel app (Headout.inc).
They seemed to be a prime example of clean and minimal design which I personally loved but found very abundant in the industry.
Another reason for using their app as an example was that they create and curate a majority of their content unlike other platforms like AirBnb and TripAdvisor who rely majorly on their user’s for their content.
To create a more immersive experience for users, I utilised Time-lapse photography as a base for the experience.
Blending an attractive Time-lapse with normally utilitarian data present on most travel sites yielded some interesting results :
Learnings and conclusion :
Video is extremely under-utilised in modern product design, probably due to the difficulty in implementation for certain formats and devices and the unwillingness by organisations to invest in high quality video which can be extremely expensive.
Although the project yielded an interesting result, I would love for a similar implementation to be tested on a commercial product to see if it actually drives an increase in sales.
