Context
During my master’s program, I took a UX Strategy course in USC's Viterbi School of Engineering taught by UX pioneer Jaime Levy. Deliverables for this course included personas, user research, wireframes, and a landing page. For this project, we were tasked with creating a product that solves for a problem existing in a niche market.
The Problem
My research (and personal experience!) indicated that there was not an app in the travel space that was both easy to use and helped travelers find the coolest, most interesting places to eat, drink, and explore around them while traveling.
The Challenge
After user research consisting of online surveys and in-person usability testing, I moved forward with creating an MVP for VAYA, an augmented reality app that connects travelers to the coolest cafes, restaurants, and things to do based on reviews from locals and other travelers on which places are a must-visit.
User Persona
User Testing
Once the VAYA MVP was designed, it was time for in-person usability testing. We worked in teams of 2, pairing up with another classmate to be notetaker for each other. I contacted my test participants to meet at our designated cafe.
Objectives
The goal of this testing was for the participants to view the MVP and walk us through how they would navigate the app. Questions included:
Can users seamlessly navigate the AR feature on the home screen?
Can users successfully leave a review of a location?
Can users successfully identify the different features on the location description screens?
Result
Users were successfully able to navigate the AR feature on the home screen and leave a review of a location. Only 60% of users could successfully identify the different features on the location description screen. Additional user feedback that was incorporated into future design decisions included:
80% of users would use VAYA when traveling
40% of users would pay for VAYA ($4.99 for a one-time app purchase)
Prototype Screens
Final Thoughts
Interest in AR lifestyle app is there:
80% of participants said they would be excited to try out an app like VAYA because of the usefulness of the AR feature and the richly descriptive adjectives like “Instagrammable” that aren’t reflected in products like Yelp and TripAdvisor.
...but we’d need to pivot the business model:
Participants mostly replied that they would only pay for VAYA if it offered significantly more information or higher quality information than Yelp. Only 40% of participants said they would pay for VAYA now (although 20% of participants responded maybe they would pay in 5-10 years as AR becomes more integrated into our everyday lives).