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PERSONAL PROJECT

DURATION

TWO MONTHS (NOV 2022; AUG 2023)

ROLES

IDEA PROVIDER,
UX RESEARCHER & DESIGNER

OVERVIEW

Discover the heart and soul of every destination with “MiMiC: Travel Their Live” – the innovative travel app designed to enhance your journey by connecting you to the true essence of local culture, flavors, and hidden gems. Say goodbye to generic tourist experiences and embark on a personalized adventure that immerses you in the authentic beauty of each destination.

UX PROJECT

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MiMiC

TRAVEL A NATIVE'S REAL LIFE
AT YOUR DESTINATION

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IDEATION

HOW I STRAT

TRAVEL is a kind of magic.
 

By escaping your everyday life and routines, travel allows you to broaden your horizons, get learning opportunities, do personal growth, reduce stress, appreciate diverse cultures, explore and adventure challenges, create lasting memories, stimulate creativity, and have time for introspection and self-reflection.

 

Like those lists, travel has numerous advantages to brighten our lives; however, ‘shadow is always coming with a light.’ Sometimes, there are also some pain points I have from traveling.

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When planning my travels, the first and most important thing is to build unforgettable memories by experiencing things that are difficult to experience in everyday life. Traveling to a strange place away from a familiar place is always exciting; however, due to the nature of travel that requires pausing my routine and investing a considerable amount of time and money, the effort needed to avoid disappointing trips is more significant than one might think. I need a lot of thorough planning and information about the local area to do that. Still, the only information I could find on the Internet was information on landmarks that were already well-known. Of course, sometimes going to landmarks was the reason for going to the travel destination. Still, I usually remember small memories after traveling, but experiencing local things left a more significant memory. In addition, I had several experiences of disappointment during traveling, primarily because of a destination’s ‘landmarks’ because of over-hyped crowds, commercialization, and high expectations; memories with landmarks are not satisfied, and they cause me to be prejudiced toward landmarks and want to know more local things that native people only know! So, I wanted to research what other people would think about it and why they had been disappointed in landmarks.

RESEARCH

USER RESEARCH

STEP 1: INTERVIEW

I interviewed five interviewees by asking questions based on how they planned their trip and what kind of travel style they usually enjoyed. According to the interview, all interviewees had agreed that travel allows us to experience new things. However, they also said they had been disappointed in travel for several reasons: they needed lots of time and money, it was hard to find reliable information, and some famous places were less than expected.

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...I want to experience the lifestyle of the locals. I want to experience the country more deeply by experiencing the recommendations of locals who really live there, not just by visiting the country as a tourist.

G. Kim

STEP 2: SURVEY

Based on the interview results, I learned people had several experiences going to landmarks and returning disappointed. So, I surveyed the reason for disappointing experiences in landmarks for more data on the assumption.

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According to the survey, 91.9% of 37 participants said that visiting famous tourist attractions is one of their purposes/expectations for travel. However, 81.1% of the participants had experienced being disappointed by those attractions. 

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There are three main reasons why they felt disappointed after visiting the landmark. Less than expected, too many people, and a need for more things to do. Among the reasons for not meeting expectations, the biggest one was that the real thing was worse than the picture; nothing was special except seeing it and focusing on commercial purposes. Those disappointed by too many people cited the dirty environment and disturbance nearby merchants caused. Finally, those who picked the reason for a need for more things to do said that the landmark visit had no specialty because it felt like tourists were visiting to take pictures, not for memories.

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COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Based on the user research, I discovered that extra effort and time are needed to find reliable information about destinations, and it could be the most painful point people experience even before starting travel. Therefore, I realized that analyzing competitors where provide travel services or information of destinations and figuring out what their strengthens and weaknesses are. 

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KEY POINTS WHAT I FOUND

Many travel websites existed, but I realized that the credibility of information was significantly compromised due to an overwhelming amount of information and advertisements. Moreover, most of the information catered to the standards of 'tourists,' making it challenging for true 'locals' who seek unique information to enjoy their travels. I discovered the inconvenience of finding distinctive information for those who wish to experience travel as a genuine 'local.' While there were services offering tailored travel information and itinerary planning, there still existed inconveniences concerning pricing and selective choices of travel destinations.

SOLUTIONS

Imagine when we, who are not native, travel to France, the destination might be Paris. Even if you are familiar with France, it might be impossible to know all details like information of each small town. It would be difficult also to native.

 

So, even though we travel the typical country, if we do not have enough information about, we only follow the same way all other travelers alreadys did and it causes why our travel are not guaranteed. 

HOW MIGHT WE...

  1. ​ Promote unfamiliar places but still be attractive at destinations.

  2.  Assist in managing all sources for itineraries on the same platform and allow collaboration for managing and organizing with your family, friends, and anyone you want to travel with.

OPPORTUNITIES

Hidden Gems”

+

“Information about
local people enjoys”

+

“An assistant for
managing & organizing
information”

=

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DEFINE

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

Each interviewee was classified into different colors of sticky notes to organize their interview answers. Then, all answers from the interviewees were categorized depending on the topics. As a result, there are common pain points/needs on three main topics: time, money, and information.

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USER INSIGHTS

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USER PERSONAS

DESIGN

UX CONCEPT

LOCAL

“Share hidden gems at destinations”

  • Provide information from real, local people

  • Focus on sharing local communities' information and events

  • Encourage local revitalization

DIVERSITY

“Connect diverse people, cultures, etc”

  • Recommend posts that are only available at destinations (but still based on their interests)

  • Encourage them to experience new styles of trips at destinations

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RELIABILITY

“Trustworthy information from real local people at destinations”

  • Review system

  • Recommend posts based on user’s interest

  • Testing system to verify real local people

  • Data from local organizations/communities

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COLLECTIVE

“Process all travel-related information at once”

  • Linked with map and any reserved sites

  • Collaborate to create and manage an itinerary 

  • Invite a person who has the same taste in travel

  • Save interested post and add an itinerary directly

IA & USER FLOW

The most important thing about creating a user flow was 'How to make a flow that allows users to get the right information as flexibly as possible in MiMiC where numerous information (from famous tourist cities worldwide and small areas that are famous only to locals) is shared. Therefore, rather than requiring time for users to adapt to a new innovative flow, I used an information architecture and a flow that allowed users to quickly and easily adapt to MiMiC by utilizing the already commercialized flow rapidly.

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WIREFRAMES & USER TESTING

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💣 AS-IS
  • Unable to provide a suitable home screen

  • Failure to show appropriate information about what needed

  • Hard to interact between ‘Itinerary’ and ‘Explore’

  • No invitation system at ‘Itinerary’

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💡 TO-BE
  • Provide ‘map’ and ‘invitation’ features to encourage interworking between ‘Itinerary’ and ‘Explore’

  • Improve information reliability by providing categorization

  • Able to check the upcoming schedule on the home screen

Home
Home
Itinerary

PROTOTYPES

01.

FEATURE 1.

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HOME SCREEN

Check the summarized information what you need for upcoming and dream trips and recommended posts what are necessary for upcoming trips.

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  • Upcoming trips

  • Recommended posts

  • Saved Itineraries

  • Trending Now

"CONSISTENT TRAVEL CONCEPT"

The 'Upcoming Trips' was designed in the shape of a ticket by referring to the actual ticket shape, and the 'Saved Itineraries' was designed in the shape of an airplane window by referring to the plane window design, so that the overall travel concept could be maintained and expressed well.

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FEATURE 2.

"INCREASE RELIABILITY WITH VERIFIED BADGE"

In the case of posts that have been certified for the reliability of information, such as information posted by actual locals or local communities, a 'Verified' badge is displayed to increase the reliability of information.

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02.

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EXPLORE SCREEN

Recommend posts based on users’ interests and provide reliable data from natural and local people, communities, and organizations.

FEATURE 1.

"QUICKLY AND EASILY OBTAINING DESIRED INFORMATION"

By offering two options, a list or a map, enhances users to access desired information more easily and quickly in their preferred way. Leveraging the map's ability to display multiple information at a glance, differentiating between verified and non-verified posts with distinct flag colors has improved information accessibility.

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03.

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ITINERARY (UNDER TRIPS SCREEN)

Create an itinerary and invite mates who you want to travel together. Also, the mates can choose to join an event or not.

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FEATURE 1.

"NO IMPOSSIBLE THINGS IF WITH OTHERS"

Invite your friends, families, or anyone you want to go with and collaborate to plan trips.

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FEATURE 2.

"EASY PARTICIPATION CHECK"

Even if you travel with others, you do not have to be involved in all schedules. All invited party members are free to choose their participation.

04.

ITINERARY (UNDER TRIPS SCREEN)

Based on your answers about your travel taste, interested regions to travel, and people you want to mimic, MiMiC will provide and recommend the best travel information!

INTEREST SURVEY #1

Select your travel style, food tastes, and experience/purpose of travel.

INTEREST SURVEY #2

Select regions where you want to travel or want to get information about.

INTEREST SURVEY #3

Select the life that you want to mimic and want to keep in touch with.

REFLECTION

THINGS
I LEARNED

Everything was unfamiliar, and it took more time than expected at every stage because it was my first project to finish, from the ideation to the final design. In particular, it was difficult for me to decide on the user's pain points that I had to focus on after the interview. I was initially obsessed with the responsibility of solving all the pain points users had. Therefore, analyzing pain points with prioritization was the most significant assignment that I had to solve.

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So, I used the affinity diagram to visualize the interview data to understand and emphasize the interviewees' answers fully. After I figured out the primary pain point I could help solve, I tried to survey to get more specific reasons for pain points. With the characteristics of the survey, it was possible to get lots of data from many people within a shorter time than by doing the interview. Setting up the user insights and UX strategy more efficiently was beneficial. As a result, I enhanced discernment in information categorization through MiMiC .

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