Zeit,
A Time Travel Company
Background
Zeit is a fictional time travel company that is the first of its kind. It’s a subsidiary of Richard Branson’s Virgin empire, with a total of 289 destinations worldwide. All destinations are located in the past from the prehistoric age throughout today.
Objective
To create a responsive web platform that enables users to easily research and book a trip. The platform should have a variety of customizable search options and filters for searching.
Project Duration
5 Weeks of 40 hours/week
Phase 1: Research
Competitive Landscape
Since Zeit is fictional and the first company of its kind, it doesn’t have direct competitors so I began by researching its top secondary competitors. The priority was to discover the companies’ best and worst practices and how the findings relate to the Users’ values and Zeit’s business values.
Findings
Users react the most positively to the following business practices: intuitive UX / UI for responsive websites, strong brand recognition, loyalty programs, and leading marketplace stays.
Interviews
Participants
5 remote interviews with family & friends
Participants are avid travelers
Participants are 28-65 years.
Questions
What are the main filters you look for?
What details do you need before booking?
Does the travel site inspire or sway your trip decision?
Answers
Time and cost are the most important filters.
Knowing all details about amenities is a priority.
Destination images, details, and sales often sway a users choice.
Phase 2: Define
User Persona
I used my research findings to create a provisional persona whose behavioral patterns and goals helped me better understand the site’s strengths and weaknesses.
Task & User Flows
Based off my user persona, Jessica Smith, I was able to create Task and User Flows that show the thoughts and decisions a user makes when booking a trip.
Task Flow
User Flow
Site Map
Since Zeit will offer 289 destinations of varying geographical locations and times in history, it’s important for its site design to have an organized and efficient structure. I created a sitemap with hierarchy to show the relationship of content and possible paths the user can take. I focused strongly on the Destinations path but also explored the About Zeit and My Account paths.
Phase 3: Design
Wireframes
After developing the most important paths for my research, I sketched and digitized pages for the key page wireframes: the desktop Homepage, Search Destinations page, and Single Destinations page. I also created responsive wireframes (tablet & mobile) for the Homepage.
Visual Exploration & Development
Then I developed the brand logo and other visual elements.
Phase 4: Testing
Usability Testing
With the UI and UX in place, I was able to digitize my final design. Then, I used Figma to create a high fidelity prototype for remote usability testing.
I asked 4 users who fit the persona to complete a specific task based off of a believable real life situation. Overall, the users were able to complete the task with ease. They thought the UX was familiar and made booking easy. They also had positive feedback on the UI, noting that it enhanced familiarity of the navigation and made them excited to book a trip. One user commented that the site felt, “Fun, futuristic, and very intuitive. It makes me really want to go on a trip to Versailles and eat cake with Marie Antoinette!”
You can test the prototype yourself.
Below, desktop screens of the Homepage, Featured Destinations page, and a Single Destinations page.
Phase 5: Conclusion & Next Steps
Challenges & Decisions
UX
Challenge: different demographics have varied expectations on what they find helpful when navigating a site.
Design Decisions: create paths that make the overall site similar to other popular travel sites like Airbnb and TravelAdvisor. Familiarity is key.
UI
Challenge: different demographics have varied expectations on what they find helpful when navigating a site.
Design Decisions: sprinkle in pop culture time travel elements (like neon) and keep the UI simple while also making it similar to popular travel sites like Airbnb and TravelAdvisor. Again, just like with UX, UI familiarity is also key for.
Overall Conclusion: Users' highest priorities when booking travel are convenience and familiarity. It’s important to design a site for easy and quick searching/booking. For this, users need highly customizable search options which means it’s important to include a variety of different filters and sorting methods.
Next Steps
To create responsive screens for the Search Destinations and Single Destination pages. Then, to create screens for each sitemap path. After, I would also perform another usability test and implement user feedback in the final design.
Thank you.