MeeTeen
A UXP Master's Project
Project overview
"MeeTeen" is a group project based on the theme of "family travel" conducted at the UXP Master's program. We practice the research and design techniques learned in classes. We conducted user research, ideation, prototyping, and usability testing to iteratively improve and propose the solution to improve the experience of family travel with teenagers.
The Challenge
We were given the broad topic of "family travel" and through discussion within our team, we narrowed down the research questions that would have the greatest impact. As a result, we focused on families with teenagers and how we might enhance each member's experience when traveling together.
TIMELINE
Several hours per week from the beginning of March 2022 to the end of July 2022
THE TEAM
5 students from the UXP master's program:
Arianna, Dario, Ladin, Rocío, and me.
User Research
First, we conducted a literature review of online articles and papers to understand how our target users travel. Then, the team conducted 12 video interviews in total with the target users to investigate their needs, pain points, and dynamics before, during, and after the family trip.
Insights found from the interviews are the following points
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One of the parents is often responsible for the majority of the trip planning and booking
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Teenagers enjoy traveling with their families because they do things they wouldn't do with their friends. They get to know themselves through the experience.
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Parents are concerned when their teenager hangs out with friends alone. This is especially true when they meet strangers on the trip.
Persona
All interviews and literature review information was analyzed debrief. As a result, two personas were formulated.
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The leader (parent)
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The independence seeker (teenager)
We then considered the challenges and pain points they face when traveling with their families and what they need to overcome them.
User Journey
By mapping the user journey, we identified several pain points representing the emotional changes at each step of each persona.
The leader's pain points
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Finding a destination that satisfies everyone.
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Ensuring the safety of the children while allowing them some independence
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Striking a balance between family and alone time
The Independence Seekers pain points
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To interact and spend time with their peers
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Do not want to feel under parental control
Concept
"The Leader" and "The Independence Seeker" have very different needs. For teenagers, the solution provides time spent with peers. On the other hand, it provides parents with safe and secure safety measures. The challenge was to balance the teenager's independence with the parent's control and come up with a single solution that would benefit both sides.
With this goal in mind, we thought of solutions that could address the pain points of each persona.
Information architecutre
Before starting work on the prototyping, we examined the app's information structure. We analyzed the tasks that users perform and grouped them into five main categories.
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Home
Providing safety for parents and fun for teenagers -
Explore
Find trip destinations and events there -
Wallet
Allows teenagers to manage and use their own budget -
Notifications
Allows easy access to the important and latest information -
Chat
Chat among teenagers and extended chat including their parents
In addition, an "SOS" button and a "Profile" section have been added to the upper right corner of the screen.
User Flow
To clarify each step of the user journey through the app, we defined the steps required for several key tasks.
The complicated parts are those that require interaction between parents and teenagers, such as parental controls, money, time extension, and events attendance requests.
Prototyping
At first, important pages were sketched on paper or a whiteboard to quickly and easily share images of ideas and improve them through team discussion. In this step, we clarified the functions and features of each element and designed the screens accordingly.
Next, we used Figma to flesh out the page designs defined on paper. We recreated the user flow by connecting the transitions between each screen.
This prototype allowed us to obtain insightful feedback from users actually operating the product, enabling us to brush up on functionality and deepen user understanding.
Key Take Away
With this project, we put into practice the human-centered design methodologies and ideas we learned in the UXP master's program. By following the steps of user interviews, ideation, prototyping, and actual hands-on activities from problem discovery to solution proposal, we were able to gain a concrete understanding of what we learned in each class.
I believe that these hands-on projects develop our skills that can be applied in real work situations.