PROJECT BRIEF

 

The CDC needed a better way to help travelers plan international trips and stay healthy while abroad by combining their two existing apps (TravWell and Can I Eat This?).

Users voiced that these apps lacked effectiveness, ease of use and efficiency, both as a planning tool and as a useful resource while traveling.

 
 

    MY ROLE

 

       User research, data analysis, competitive analysis, information architecture, ideation, testing, design

       A team project, where everybody performed the same duties by splitting every task by parts.

 

     PERIOD

          2 weeks

 
 
 

 

 RESEARCH

 

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

I conducted the analysis of the existing apps as: "TravWell", "Can I eat this?" in conjunction with GeoSure, FoodSpotting, Yelp, Trip Advsor.

  • I used contextual inquiry method and observed users exploring the apps
  • I did on-line research on the apps and gathered important reviews

The matrix below indicates overall user emotions while using the apps 

 
 
 

The analysis showed that users didn't feel great about both apps and least likely would use them.

KEY TAKEAWAY

The new app has to be:

  • an efficient planning tool
  • accessible to a health related info
  • useful while abroad
 

 

INTERVIEWS

 

After conducting the interviews there was a lot of data received and to organize it we used affinity mapping (of course!:))

 
 
 
 

The affinity mapping revealed a consistency in the following groups of data:

  • People are concerned about their health the most while planning a trip and traveling abroad
  • There is different feedback on the CDC brand, mostly positive
  • There are popular resources and tools that people use for planning a trip and getting useful information 
  • The main reasons for traveling - to explore new food, new culture, and sight-seeing
  • All travelers have concerns about foreign medicine and the healthcare system
  • The biggest part of traveling is food
  • Planning a trip is important for the majority of users 
 
 

KEY TAKEAWAY

  • Users mostly trust CDC
  • The biggest concern while traveling is food poisoning
  • Users want to be able to get medicine and healthcare easily and quickly when they're abroad
  • Despite warnings, users tend to get emergency situations on their trips (they try unknown food, go to places they're warned about, drink bad quality water)
  • When having to deal with healthcare in another country, people mostly have trouble finding medicine/hospitals. They have a bad experience visiting foreign doctors
  • There is usually a lack of knowledge about other country's healthcare system

PERSONAS

To better understand our users and to stay focused on their needs while designing the tool, we created personas. 

  • Primary - active planner, manages everything from planning until coming back from a trip
  • Secondary - spontaneous, needs help abroad
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 IDEATION

 

SKETCHING

Based on the research I and my team sketched some initial design versions. We wanted to consider our users needs and to create features that will be effective for planning a trip and getting help abroad.

 
 
 
 

USABILITY TESTING

The testing was conducted in 3 rounds.

  • Paper prototype
  • Clickable prototype (Invision)
 

JOURNEY MAPS

To get a better idea of our users emotions and feeling while using the prototype I created a journey map.  It clearly showed where exactly the confusion occurred - on the first deal redemption. 

 
 
 
 

KEY FINDINGS:

  - 

  • It wasn't intuitive to look for a health advise on the country homepage
  • The to-do list icon was confusing
  • The navigation between different features was frustrating

 

 

  +

  • Users liked the country map and dividing by zones ("It's so cool, I can compare my destination to other zones!")
  • Having a to-do list was useful ("I always use to-do lists, because I forget everything.")
  • Healthcare section with particular country traditions with an explanation was helpful ("This would have helped me when I was in China and went to hospital and it looked like office! It was so weird!")
  • User appreciated the food check feature ("It's great, I'd definitely use that!")

 

 

 
 

   ITERATION

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

SOLUTION

 

EFFECTIVE PLANNING TOOL

  • Intuitive design
  • Access to helpful information about needed vaccines and supplies
  • To do list feature, with ability to set reminders
 
 
 

EFFECTIVE HEALTHCARE TOOL

  • Availability to make emergency call instantly
  • Access to a foreign hospital directory with option to navigate 
  • International medicine conversion, helping to find according drug abroad
  • International healthcare "Need to know" feature, setting users expectations abroad
 
 
 

FOOD CHECK FEATURE

  • Exposure of food CDC rated risks groups
  • Ability to see description of foreign meals
  • Briefings on warnings and advise based on CDC information