Making Time Travel an Accessible Reality

Designing a Responsive Travel Booking Site

Overview

Time travel tourism is now finally a reality with this concept of Virgin’s latest endeavor, Zeit. Zeit will be offering travel packages to different times in 289 destinations around the world. Travelers will be able to read through trip options and book their preferred time and space online.

To achieve this, Zeit requires a responsive ecommerce website that best displays trip options and packages, as well as fresh branding that bridges the gap between historical landscapes and modern technology.

My Role

• Research

• Info Architecture

• Wireframing

• Branding

• UI Design

• Prototyping

Assumptions

• Modern travelers want a more unique, engaging travel experience than ever before

• A brand new travel concept requires user trust

The Research

Goals

• Understand travelers’ motivations for selecting their travel destinations

• Identify the target market for time and space travel 

• Build user trust for brand-new product and concept

• Unpack users’ pain points in booking sites and travel planning

Competitive Analysis

Time travel doesn’t currently exist, and, therefore, there is no direct competition to analyze. These are Zeit’s top indirect competitors - selected for either their dominance in the online travel booking world, or their unique experiences offered.

Takeaways

1. Booking.com is one of the world’s leading digital travel companies, with Airbnb becoming a key player with a modern, alternative approach.

2. Zeit’s website will have to use the key UI elements of these industry giants, while also establishing itself apart as an innovative, disrupter in travel.

3. Although we can look to Space Adventures and Virgin Galactic for space travel inspiration and expertise, these companies ultimately do not have bookable trips at the moment to truly understand their landscape.

4. User reviews, traveler photos, and travel protection/insurance build business credibility and user trust

1:1 Interviews

Interviews were conducted to deepen understanding of users’ behaviors, attitudes, and expectations towards travel/time travel. Participants were 5 individuals aged 26+ with middle to high income earnings, who travel at least 1x per year, and use online booking systems or travel agencies

Key Findings

All participants seemed to have an idea of where they wanted to go prior to doing online research, and the research done was to simply figure out the logistics of getting there and staying there. Price/value would then be an ultimate deciding factor. All participants expressed using travel to enrich their lives via history and culture, while the retired male participant also focuses on enhancing his relationships with the people he travels with.

·       5/5 participants live active lifestyles, mentioning physical activity on vacation itinerary

·       5/5 participants look forward to new and exciting cuisine on their travels

·       5/5 participants try to book 3 months in advance if possible

·       5/5 participants rely on reviews and photos from other travelers

Persona

Information Architecture

With 289 destinations and experiences offered with Zeit, how will information be best displayed for users?

Card Sorting Goals

• Understand how potential users organize information

• Learn how to organize Zeit content according to user thinking

Card Sorting Findings

•  4/6 participants grouped U.S. events together as separate category

• 6/6 participants grouped by time period and specific era

• 4/6 participants created separate category for landmarks and sites

• 3/6 participants did not understand or recognize card labels, ultimately having trouble with the exercise. This was informative, to suggest trip names and categories should be named more simplistic.

Site Map

The site map was created based on user findings in the interviews and card sorting exercise, prioritizing not only the information that users want, but will understand. This helps to visualize the organization of the content to be featured.

Task Flow

Since a major business goal of Zeit is to convert users into customers and increase revenue, a task flow was created to show how users will get from the browsing the homepage to confirming their booking details.

User Flow

Having a good understanding of our users, the user flow created considers all the pathways the user will potentially take as they navigate through the site. The user flow begins with our persona, Katie, finding Zeit through a social media ad - a realistic way she will discover Zeit, due to her friends’ posts and recommendations.

Wireframes

Information was further visualized via wireframing, giving us a clear overview of how the designs for the site will work.

Putting it all Together

Homepage: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile

Putting it all Together

Trip Page: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile