saving time and money with travel packages

ALSHARQ TRAVEL APP

ALSHARQ, based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, offers a community-based travel agency that enables travelers to travel with ease of mind without worrying about budget, suitable accommodations, and exploring new places. Their goal is to prepare packages and give the user the power of adjusting or requesting specific packages, creating a less stressful and more enjoyable traveling experience.

“If there's one thing you learn by working with different travelers, it's that almost any trip--no matter how expensive it can get--can be made affordable in the right circumstances, with enough effort.”
-Anas Abud, COO

What would the consumer gain by using your product or service? This could be tangible, like a free gift; prestige, power or fame. But remember: you must be able to make good on that promise, so don’t offer anything unreasonable, and that is what we did creating this application.

CHALLENGE

The world is going through some crazy times and it’s unfair that the travelers are getting stuck home either because of travel restrictions or how expensive it got to travel anywhere. It’s not entirely their fault. But, as a traveler I know I can’t control what is going around in the world, but I think I should be able to control my travel experience by seeking what is safe for me and on budget.

GOALS

• The app invites users to try new experiences based on previous experiences data
• User can search flights, accommodation, packages based on their preferences
• An app that compares prices across all platforms and gives the user the power to create and adjust a price alert
• Smooth Interactions and ongoing support before and after booking a trip

PROCESS

Grabbing the consumer’s attention isn’t enough; you have to keep that attention for at least a few seconds. That is what we tried to do while working on the app, by making sure we never skip a step and repeating them if necessary.

MIND MAPPING

The topic of travel is very broad as there are many aspects to it. There are a multitude of different problems that travelers face that it would be impossible to address all through the creation of a single app. In order to narrow the scope of the project, I created a mind map of the different segments of travel. I divided my map into 3 main sections: before, during, and after. This represented the different aspects of travel during different points of time of a trip.

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INTERVIEW PROCESS

A total of 12 interviews were conducted, where participants had to answer questions regarding their traveling habits and what motivates or demotivates them from traveling. Seven of the participants have traveled before, and the rest haven't.

Needs and motivations

• All participants chose safety as one of their top needs to travel.
• All participants stated that it’s harder nowadays to find reliable and budget-friendly travel platforms.
• 4 participants said that they considered flying to a new place this year but canceled their plans either because of the lack of good options or safety concerns.
• 10 participants said that they don’t use the packages system and if they were to travel they would prefer to plan their trip.
  

BUSINESS ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH

I did a c&c analysis for local and international platforms to find out the following:

1. Not flexible: Travel apps and websites provide multiple services, but the more it’s well organized the more it’s structured and not flexible.
2. Details: There is a lot of information when it comes to a city or an activity that some websites only give the main information. The hierarchy of information and images should be considered to make the user informed but not overwhelmed.
3. Competitive Advantage: A lot of apps and websites are already in the market. Therefore, my solution needs to have key features that are considered a competitive advantage so it stands out among the competitors.
   

PERSONA

Based on my research and interviews I formed the following persona, which goes by the name Adam

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INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

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WIREFRAMES

HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

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ONBOARDING

While designing the onboarding experience of the app, I took a lot of inspiration from dating apps. This was to create a quick, efficient and frictionless sign-up process that also informs the app on user preferences.

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FEATURE: PACKAGE MODE

A mode that lets users pick a package to their favorite destinations that include flights, accommodations, and transportation. ​

The mode also allows users to pick a feature from the package or adjust it to better suit their needs.

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FINAL PROTOTYPE