Goodnite
A mobile application designed to help plan the ultimate night out.
When travelling, some people enjoy checking out the best pubs, bars, or clubs nearby, while others prefer discovering local hidden gems. Regardless of the destination, it's common for individuals to want to relax and unwind after a long day of sightseeing or a stressful day. However, not everyone may have the desire to search the internet for the perfect spots with the right atmosphere, aesthetics, or music.
The Objective
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Design a mobile app that will provide travelers and locals an option to filter clubs or bars based on their preferences.
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Maximize the user experience by creating an all-in-one service
The Problem
Planning a fun night out during a trip can be difficult for many individuals as they need help finding bars or clubs that cater to their specific interests through one platform. How might we alleviate the stress of discovering a suitable bar or club for individuals with particular preferences?
Goals
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Gain an understanding of the problem that needs to be solved
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Conduct research to help gain a deeper understanding of users’ needs and experiences
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Collect quantitative and qualitative data from interviews that will help define parameters
Solution
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Redesign the website to reduce the number of steps in scheduling appointments and renewing vehicle registration
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Organize information accordingly to give the website a clean appearance and for readers to easily digest
My Role
UX/UI Designer in a team of 2 other designers
Tools
Figma
InVision
Trello
Project Duration
4 weeks
Empathize
To start the design process, I formulated a hypothesis about the user's identity and motivation for planning a trip. To effectively solve the problem at hand, I conducted thorough research and gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to define the necessary parameters.
Interview users who enjoy night life
During this stage, I engaged in individual interviews with participants, asking a range of questions about their preferences for trip planning, nighttime activities whilst traveling, budget constraints, and the services they commonly use. These interviews allowed me to gain deeper insight into what users desire and require. Based on the results, my analysis revealed a demand for a more streamlined and user-friendly planning service.
TripAdvisor and Expedia doesn't have any local deals. If they could include that it would be helpful. Everything is about experience. Apps should include reviews as part of the location description. I don’t want to read all of the reviews to know if it’s a place I want to go to.
I would really like it if some of the locations show the traffic, you know how like if it’s pricey they show the one dollar sign, two dollar signs, and three dollar signs just like that maybe have a person form to tell us if it’s a place that a lot of people go to or if it’s a place that a lot of people stay because we don’t want to go to a too crowded place just because we don’t like waiting for a location so some sort of icon that kind of helps me filter it out.
Research Synthesis
Based on the user feedback gathered from our interviews, I developed an affinity diagram to organize and categorize the common feedback. This helped us to identify the root of the issue more effectively. We then used dot voting to determine the key areas of focus.
Evaluating market trends
To effectively analyze the competitors, I had to understand the current trends and developments in the nightlife industry. Over the past few years, the industry has become more competitive with creative trends emerging. As a result, consumers are now relying more on ratings and reviews to make informed decisions.
The importance of reviews in consumer decision-making cannot be overstated. Approximately 96% of consumers consider them "somewhat important" or "the most important" when choosing a business. Star ratings and filters are also critical elements that consumers rely on heavily. A four-star rating is the minimum required for 92% of consumers to consider visiting a business. Consumers have high expectations of businesses when it comes to trust, and with various platforms available in the market, each has its unique approach to connecting businesses with consumers. Yelp and TripAdvisor are two of the most widely used review portals for nightlife businesses.
Analyze Competitors
Understanding the capabilities and limitations of our competitors and their contributions is important. It allows us to gain insight into market trends, determine successful strategies, and enhance our product. It's essential to remember that people seek out diverse experiences when they go out at night, and we want to ensure we deliver on those desires.
Define
Upon market analysis and examination of our competitors' success factors, I aimed to create a visualization of these findings to identify our primary user segments.
Understanding our target users
Through research, we gathered valuable insights about our users. By developing user personas, we can relate to our user's needs and expectations on a deeper level. Understanding the demographics of our potential user base will help us fine-tune our development process and create a product that truly meets their needs.
Ideation
After identifying our target audience, I began generating ideas for solutions that would benefit them. To ensure that we achieve the best possible user experience, I developed a feature prioritization matrix to assess the viability of each feature.
Sketches
At this point in the design process, I generated multiple solutions by sketching ideas before proceeding to the prototype. It was essential to consider different perspectives and organize my thoughts before selecting a final design.
Prototype
Now that we have the sketches made, I needed to know if this would be intuitive to the users. It's time we create high-fidelity wireframes so that we can make an interactive prototype for our users to test.
Hi-fidelity Wireframes
Onboarding
My goal was to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible. To gain insight into the user's preferences for bars and clubs, I curated a collection of images. This will create a list of places to visit based on their choices. This step is crucial because it sparks the user's curiosity and encourages them to explore the app.
Gain efficiency using filters
When in a hurry or traveling, individuals may depend on the app to quickly access information. Due to time constraints, browsing through an extensive list of bars and clubs may not be feasible. The app can instantly generate tailored results that meet the user's requirements by selecting specific tags, distance, music preference, and rating.
Test
I conducted tests to observe how users utilized the search and filter options. I wanted to see if users could accomplish the assigned tasks. If not, I'll be able to identify the issues in these features and make necessary iterations to enhance the usability. The user testing took place online, where users shared their opinions, feelings, and thought processes while completing the given tasks. With this particular testing method, I was able to observe the steps users took to get the result,
Test Objectives
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Test if the process is straightforward
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Observe the user path as they accomplish the assigned tasks
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Determine the areas that need to be improved
Assigned Tasks
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Search for a Live jazz bar in Los Angeles, California
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Use the filter option to narrow down the live jazz bar results to within 15 miles.
Test Results
These specific tasks were designed to determine if the users could effectively utilize all the features offered. The users were able to complete each task with a perfect success rate. During the usability testing, I observed that the search bar was the primary tool for finding the nearest jazz bar. Based on these findings, it was determined that the search bar is the most efficient and user-friendly method for navigating to the desired result.
Next steps
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Conduct more usability tests
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Enhance the app's functionality with new features
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Continue refining the design through iterations
Reflection
This mobile application was my first assigned project. I have learned the design process is far from linear, and there were many moments where I had to backtrack and rework previous steps to improve the user flow. I gained an appreciation for the significance of user needs and the importance of incorporating them into the application for optimal user experience.