MY

INSPIRING NEW EXPERIENCES

Currently there are limited online resources for

holidaymakers wanting to book activity based holidays.

The travel industry is saturated with generic holidays offerings

(sight seeing, city breaks and beaches etc..) As fun and relaxing

as holidays are, people find the initial process of choosing

what to do and where to go the most stressful part.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Think Pinterest meets TripAdvisor for the thrill seeker.

My Adventure is an inspirational website for people looking for fun activities

across the world that they can enjoy. We want to grow a community of

adventurers, and empower them to share their photos, experiences and reviews.

Our mission is to... inspire discovery and new experiences

MY ADVENTURE

How do you choose what you do and where you go on holiday?We interviewed five people (male/female ages 21 - 40)

USER INTERVIEWS

“I’ve always loved travelling and trying out

new things, I have bookmarked all my favourite

traveller sites. I also have some Lonely planet

and Time out guides”

“I search on Google

best places to go

white water rafting”

“I’ve seen a program

on TV about zip wires,

I’m part of an fun activities

Facebook group and

asked the community

for information.”

“I go on Pinterest

to get inspired with

images, then Google

the activity, I also

look at Tripadvisor

for reviews.”

“I’ve seen kite surfing videos

on Instagram, it looks

amazing. My friend told me

Cornwall is fun for this.”

USER INTERVIEWS

Surfing

Snowboarding

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Sea kayaking

Cliff diving

Activity I’d love to try

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Base-jumpingCountryside walks

How adventurous am I?

Something I have always wanted to do

Just to try something a bit extreme, a bit scary

Something for charity, to honour my mum’s memory

Television, films and media

Something I’ve seen on Instagram

What inspires me?

White water rafting in Wales

Sky diving in America

Kite-surfing in Cornwall, UK

Worlds fastest and longest zip wire in Wales

Pamplona - Running of the Bulls in Spain

Most extreme activity I’ve done

KEY FINDINGS

People will travel to

a location solely to

take part in an activity

The majority of

adventure travellers

are male (57%)* People rely heavily on customer

reviews and recommendations

If the location is

desirable, people are

encouraged to book

the activity

Adventure travellers

are younger than non-

adventure travellers, with

an average age of 36*

Desktop is more favourable

than mobile/tablet for

viewing holidays

Sites like Thomas Cook, Expedia, Last minute.com

don’t have much information about activities,

its more about hotel, flight etc..

*Source: http://files.adventuretravel.biz/docs/research/adventure-tourism-market-study-2013-web.pdf

Top magazines read by adventurers are

National Geographic, Cosmopolitan,

National Geographic Traveller, Mens Health,

National Geographic Adventure*

✓ In depth guides written

by local experts

✓ Categorised things to do

✓ Bookings.com API

travel + Hotel

✓ Includes a shop for

guides & ebooks

✓ List of events

✓ Wealth of content

✓ Engaging News

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Desktop and mobile website + app

Positioning

Sta travel offers a lifestyle choice to its audience. Since 1979,

they have helped over 2 million travellers a year start their

adventure, offering round the world tours to working abroad.

Website observations

Website is friendly, one stop shop for everything, shows deals,

engaging. Homepage is cluttered, confusing, colours clash

Key Features

Responsive website + app

Positioning

Comprehensive travellers worldwide guide to art and entertainment,

food and drink, film, travel and more. Established reputation, great

signposting, inspiring and updated content.

Website observations

Adverts are distracting, site is a bit dated, text is hard to read

Key Features

✓ E-commerce site

✓ Book flights, Hotels

✓ Book Insurance

✓ Book Tours

✓ Work abroad

✓ Choose Language

✓ Login area

✓ Itinerary

statravel.co.uk timeout.com

✓ Account area

✓ Ability to save favourites

✓ Create and organise boards

✓ Follow users

✓ Messaging functionality

✓ Large amount of user content

✓ Intuitive, intelligent search

✓ Account area

✓ Booking process

✓ Secure escrow payment setup

✓ List, and host an accommodation

✓ Rent an accommodation

✓ Google map API, located pins

✓ Online guidebooks

✓ In depth information pages

INFLUENCERS

Desktop and mobile website + app

Positioning

Know better, book better, and go

better on the world’s largest travel

site. Heavily trusted by travellers

worldwide.

Key Features

tripadvisor.co.uk

✓ Account area

✓ Personalise currency/language

✓ Search by: hotel, rental, flights

things to do, restaurants,

✓ Notifications

✓ Write and see reviews

✓ Huge amount of useful info

Responsive site + app

Positioning

The world’s catalogue of ideas. Find

and save recipes, parenting hacks,

style inspiration and other ideas to try.

Key Features

Responsive site + app

Positioning

Rent unique places to stay from local hosts

in over 190 countries. Belong anywhere

Key Features

pinterest.com airbnb.com

BEHAVIOURS & HABITS

I am active and social-able. I go to the gym 5 days and week, and have a great circle of friends.

I am hard working, and finished University with a first in Sports Science. I have a smartphone,

tablet and desktop. Social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and

Pinterest. I have a personal email account which I use and read actively.

GOALS

I have worked so hard at university, I wants to treat myself to an adventure holiday.

I feel a bit lost as spent the past 5 years working towards a goal and now its completed,

I want a new challenge.

Ultimately I wants to... be inspired about where to go, and what adventure

/ activity to do.

PERSONA 1 - ANDY JOHNSON

“As soon as I achieve

a goal, I then want to

go and beat it, or find

something else that

challenges me even

more, I’m constantly

looking for my next

adventure.”

ABOUT

Single | post graduate | 26 years old | lives in London

I’m in my mid twenties, I have no brothers or sisters, and my parents live nearby. My flatmate

is my best friend and we’ve always wanted to do something really fun and try a new experience.

FRUSTRATIONS/DOES NOT WANT

✕ Generic holiday websites like Trivago, Expedia

✕ Commercial locations for the tourist

✕ Areas where there is nothing to do

✕ Over priced activities

DOES WANT

✓ A fun/safe activity that I can be proud of

✓ Information about the activity and location

✓ Reviews and photos of area

The post graduate thrill Seeker

BEHAVIOURS & HABITS

I have been taking surfing lessons for the past 3 months, and really want to combine

this with my adventure. I have a smartphone, tablet and laptop. Social media accounts:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Active on email.

GOALS

I’ve got a desire to travel to Australia and go surfing, and meet some new friends.

Ultimately I wants to... be inspired about where to go, and what adventure

to do. I would also love to meet some friends on my travels.

PERSONA 2 - ADRIANNA ROSSI

“I crave an experience

to remember,

something I can be

proud of and brings me

happiness, more than

just another holiday.”

FRUSTRATIONS/DOES NOT WANT

✕ Generic holiday maker websites

✕ Unrealistic photos of the location

✕ Areas where there is nothing to do

✕ Over priced activities

ABOUT

Single | Care-worker | 22 years old | lives in Spain

I live with my parents and have 3 brothers. I’m time rich, and have some savings to spend on

travel. I am open minded, ambitious, and love new experiences. I have been to America once,

and really want to explore the world. I love water based activities

DOES WANT

✓ To experience a fun activity abroad

✓ Make new friends

✓ Information about the area I’m going to

✓ Safe activity

✓ Good reviews from other travellers

The curious friendly traveller

I’ve just woken up and Brian (my flatmate) and I have finally

decided to book our adventure. We’re excited and have spent

months saving up and we’ve both got one month off in August.

My friend on Facebook has just told me about a new website

called My Adventure, never heard of it but it looks like the perfect

site as we haven’t yet decided what to do or where to go.

I land on the homepage, and it encourages me to create an

account, I do this and personalise our interests, it gives us

recommendations of places/activities we’d like to do.

We spend an hour looking through different things to do, we

particularly love the idea of going rock climbing in New Zealand

so we bookmark this one in our favourites. There’s loads of

information of here that is useful, even a link to AirBnB to find

accommodation. Next step is book the travel arrangements!

End result: Rock-climbing in New Zealand

Finished my care work shift, got home and feeling a bit down

as its been really stressful at work recently. I decide this evening

I am going to start looking into holidays to cheer myself up.

I Google ‘adventures and activities’ and ‘My Adventure’ comes

up 3rd in Google. It sounds interesting so I click on the link.

It asks me to sign up, but I don’t want to as I’m always sceptical

about giving away my information and don’t like receiving

spam. I do look through the site, and as I know what I’m after

so I choose Surfing in Australia, and there’s a few places to

choose from. I opt for Bryon Bay as have heard this is a hotspot

for surfers.

I read all the information, I especially find the reviews helpful,

and look through the gallery. I’m definitely interested so I save

this page in my research bookmarks.

End result: Surfing in Australia

Features used:

on-boarding, personalisation, search facility, saving to favourites

Features used:

Search facility, looking through gallery and reviews, weather API

USER BASED SCENARIOS

Andy Johnson

Sat 23rd June, 09.30Adrianna Rossi

Mon 30th June, 09.30

Minimal viable product

The key outcome of this exercise determined

less is more. Instead of offering a booking site,

My Adventure at its core service will offer inspiration

and information. This will be a responsive website,

an app may be developed at a later stage.

The following features will be included:

✓ Search functionality including geo location

✓ Extreme level module

✓ Gallery and videos

✓ Log in area

(sign up with Facebook)

✓ On-boarding process

✓ Content personalisation

✓ Ability to add favourites

✓ Google maps

✓ Write and read reviews

✓ AirBnB API

✓ Newsletter sign-up

FEATURE PRIORITIZATION

CONTENT PERSONALISATION

We know from previous research, that content personalisation

is highly successful for giving the user an optimum experience

and helping them get information that’s relevant to them.

Think of sites like Netflix, Facebook, BBC News.

We want to be able to recommend locations, and activities that are suited

to user’s interests. By introducing an on-boarding process straight after signing

up, we ask them a few rounds of questions so we can deliver content that is

personalised for the user. The user also has the option of updating and adding

more personalisation information at any time they want by visiting

the personalisation sections.

USER FLOW DIAGRAM

1

23

4

# Key pages are highlighted

1. Homepage 2. Create an account 3. Results 4. Location details page

SKETCHES

I decided to start with the four key pages below as these are integral steps

in the user journey. These were tested as paper prototypes.

KEY PAGE WIREFRAMES

The feedback from the sketches was then used before creating the wireframes.

HOME PAGE

1. My Adventure logo

2. Main menu

3. Create an account / login

4. Image slider of adventure

5. Search box

6. Popular location boxes

including an image and title

7. View more location boxes

8. Footer, latest event, tweet

and social media links

CREATE AN ACCOUNT

1. Sign up with Facebook API

2. Basic info, name, password,

email etc..

3. Top 5 favourite activities

4. Top 5 favourite locations

5. Extreme level slider

6. Sign up button

3

4

5

21

8

6

7

1

2

3

5

4

6

KEY PAGE WIREFRAMES

RESULTS

1. Username and photo

(if signed in)

2. Search results text

3. Refine results, including

keyword, location, activity,

review rating, most

popular & extreme level

4. Back to home button

5. Results boxes, image,

location and activity title,

star rating & extreme level

LOCATION DETAIL

1. Image of activity

2. Location / activity heading

3. Extreme level indicator

4. Share / add to favourites

5. Introduction text

6. Google map

7. Photo gallery

8. Traveller reviews

9. Traveller stories

10. Image of traveller & quote

11. Suggested adventures

12. Back to results

1

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

3

5

7

9

11

12

2

4

USER TESTING

The wireframes were tested to three users as a click-able prototype.

User task 1: Starting from the homepage, create an account on My Adventure, load a photo and fill in all the details

User task 2: Find an activity / location you like

User task 3: Choose three adventures you really would like to go on and save these to your favourites

AFFINITY MAPPING

Feedback was then gathered, and presented below as an affinity map.

Trends were identified and each user was associated with a coloured post-it note.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

These are the summary points from the Affinity mapping exercise.

Activity/location page

- Remove travel stories and traveller quote,

confusing and not important for users

+ Like to see nearby accommodation, link to AirBnB

+ Like to see useful information, out of peak season,

local amenities etc.

+ I would like to see recommended locations from the

community within a location

Positioning

+ Add a strap-line to the logo to help position the brand

Photos/Media

+ Show video content

+ Include Instagram, page link to follow

+ Users and companies photos, like TripAdvisor and AirBnB

Navigation

- Remove favourites and personalise if not logged in

- Remove review rating from the refine results options

Sign up process

- Form too long - make it smaller

+ Introduce on-boarding steps for personalised options after sign-up

- Remove text ‘choose 5 activities/locations’, choose any number

+ Show location drop-down

+ Add sign up with Google Plus login as well with Facebook

Personalisation

+ All home page content to be personalised

+ Once signed in, keep search-box but remove banner carousel

Footer

- Remove latest event, tweet and social media links from the footer

+ Add a newsletter sign-up option

HOME PAGE - REVISIONS

Before

After

1

Key revisions

1. Add a strap-line to the logo

to help position the brand

2. Remove favourites and

personalise if not logged in

2

CREATE AN ACCOUNT - REVISIONS

Before

After

A B

DC

E

Key revisions

1. Form too long - have

personalisation on-boarding

process after signing up

2. Show location drop-down

3. Do not need to choose

five activities/locations,

choose any number

1

3

3

2

RESULTS - REVISIONS

After

Before

Key revisions

1. Remove review rating from

the refine results options

2. Using the full width of

the web page to show an

extra column of results

2

1

Before After

INFORMATION PAGE - REVISIONSINFORMATION PAGE - REVISIONS

Key revisions

1. Remove travel stories,

confusing and not important

for users

2. Include useful information,

out of peak season, local

amenities etc.

3. Include video content

4. Add Instagram account

to follow

5. Link to AirBnB accommodations1

5

2

3

4

INFORMATION PAGE - ANNOTATED

The most important page for the

user has been identified as the

activity/location information area.

So a lot of time was invested in

providing the best experience possible

1. Share / add to favourites

2. Sticky menu

3. Top areas / how to get there

4. Guide price, best season

5. Extreme level for user

6. Overview of adventure

7. Google map showing pins

8. Media slider (videos / images)

9. Follow us on social media

10. Live weather / current time

11. AirBnB top accommodation

12. Getting around / traveller tips

13. Before you go advice

14. Write or read a review

15. Suggested adventures

16. Back to top, as long page

17. Back to results button

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15

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4 5

6

7

8

2

1210

9

1113

16

17

PROTOTYPE

Click the screen

MY DISCOVERY

Its clear after this entire process,

users want two things from My Adventure.

1. To get inspired about where to go and what to do

2. Access helpful content to inform them on potential adventure

It was insightful that users were more interested in practical

information like local area, amenities etc. and found travel stories

to be not as useful. Content personalisation seemed to be very

popular with the audience group I worked with as well.

This project has taught me that user testing is vital to providing a

successful, engaging user experience as you cannot presume people

want something you think they will like.

THANKS