belocal app concept

DESIGN TASK SUBMISSION

Design Task summary

Objective: Create an application for users who are visiting an unfamiliar city. They specifically want to be able to

go to areas of local interest and shop for gifts to take back home (souvenirs, delicacies etc.). Come up with

innovative ideas to assist such kind of shopping.

Process: In this summary I have tried to briefly explain my design choices. For sake of convenience let’s call the app

“BeLocal”.

1.Choice of platform

The intended target audience for this application are travelers and choosing a mobile app platform for this application seems

to be a better option than a website option for the following reasons.

Offline Availability: Since the person is traveling to an unfamiliar city internet connectivity can be a major issue.

Mobile Apps have feature for offline access ( save maps etc.) whereas website needs to be connected to internet to

access information.

Location Services: Accurate location is the backbone of this application and mobile apps use inbuilt GPS navigation

of phone very accurately.

Push notifications: Push notification can be sent to users mobile easily regarding any important updates (such as

near by interest points)

Performance: A well designed app can be much faster than a website (remember our user is on the go)

Less cluttered: Since apps are specifically designed for mobile devices it’s much more optimized and clean.

Quick Access: An app is just an icon tap away from your phone and don’t need to type clumsy URLs like in websites.

2.Personas

Name: James (30)

( fictional user)

Characteristics

Age: 30 years

Working professional

Financially independent .

Travels Independently

Travels frequently for work to other places.

Company paid trips.

Behavior

Like to visit local place during free time.

Brings back a few souvenirs from trip.

Quickly shops at last minute.

Money Expenditures is not a problem

Likes to travel cashless instead carries a

lot of cards.

Needs

Need quick suggestions to find areas of

interests.

Has no knowledge about the place he is

visiting so relies heavily on maps.

Needs to know places that accept cards.

Location of Atm, bank etc for easy cash

where needed.

Needs filtered review to find best items to

shop at last minute.

Name: John (25)

( fictional user)

Characteristics

Age: 25 years

Student

Financially dependent on parents.

Bagpack Traveler.

Travels to other places for vactions.

Travel in groups.

Tight on budget.

Behavior

Like to research before trip.

Brings back a few souvenirs from trip.

Like to find cheaper alternatives (hotels,

food, shopping etc.)

Travels with little cash and a few cards.

Adventurous.

Likes bike trip in local areas.

Needs


local interests.

Comparison to get cheaper services (hotel,

taxi, food).

A local language support in application.


whenever needed.

Needs reviews and tips to find cheap items

at local markets.

Name: David (39) & Betty (38)

( fictional users)

Characteristics

Age Group: Late 30’s

Married Couple

On a descent budget.

Travels to other places for vactions.

Behavior

Like to research before trip.

Brings back a few souvenirs from trip

Like to find interesting local areas.

Look for easy, fun, safe activities.

Spends a lot on shopping and trying out

local delicacies.

Needs


local interests.

Comparison to get best services (hotel,

taxi, food).

Look for Family friendly places.

A local language support in application.


whenever needed.

Needs reviews and tips to find best items

at local markets.

3. Goals

Based on the user requirement of the three set of users, we can generate goals that are needed to be fulfilled by the

application.

Accurate map and navigation services.

Local interest discovery and suggestions.

Ratings and review of local interest sites.

Comparison filters to choose between various suggestions.

Offline information saving features.

Calling redirect integrated in the app itself.

Location and info sharing features.

4. Stake Holders

The various stake holders involved in this ecosystem:

Consumers: Obviously who are using the products and integrated services.

Vendors: Those who are listed on the platform or whose services are listed.

Service Providers: The third party apps used in the application such as google/apple map.

5. Feature List for the app

Features needed in the app:

1. Easy Login options- Login through Google or Facebook is sufficient as this a personal application.

2. GPS location setting- Automatic settings to detect user’s accurate location also an option to change his/or her

location (if the detected location is not accurate)

3. Map Integration- App should redirect to native map (google map /Apple map) in the phone if case user needs

navigation or location map.

4. Local interest point discovery and suggestion.

5. Search option to provide a custom/ detailed search to user in case his/her option is not included in auto suggestions.

6. Call function integration- App should redirect to native dialer of the phone in case user need to contact a listed entity

on the app.

7. Offline Save- An offline save option to save location details, map, contact Info. of an entity.

8. Rating and Review- To rate and review a place. Also to see ratings and recommendation from fellow travelers.

9. Reminder- To set reminders for an event or a location or interest point.

10. Currency Converter- Handy for international travelers.

11. App preferences- User can set app preferences such as profile settings, location, phone no., notifications etc.

12. Additional Features- App redirection to third party services such as “on demand Taxi services” and online payment

services such as Visa/Mastercard may come in handy.

* I have explained these feature in details below.

6. Feature Explanation

1. Category List

Users are greeted with a list of popular categories for things to do in the local

area day when they login to the app.

A trending category which suggests activities to based on what fellow app

users are doing in the local area.

User can choose from any of the given category or can search for any

custom thing directly in the search bar.

The categories contain popular things to do such as shopping, eating, tourist

attraction, near by ATM that may come handy for users.

2. Sub Category

Once user have decided what activity they like, they can dwell into more

specific sub categories associated with the past categories.

They can search for custom items if their choice is not on the view.

Here shopping category shows up various option that you can search for

such as souvenirs, delicacies, books etc.

3. List of related interest points

Here user can see all the interest points that matches his/her previous

search.

In this case users are shown various shops where they can buy Souvenirs.

This list view shows basic information about the entity such as name,

ratings, category, thumbnail and an approximate distance from user’s current

location.

Filters are also provided to sort the result in terms of distance, rating,

availability to accept cards, open/close timings, outdoor seating, take away,

parking space, kids and family friendly, online reservation, wifi etc.

User can even search for more option.

User can tap on any option to get detailed information about the place.

One thing to note here is that it’s a three level hierarchy system from main

categories to the item view and search bar associated with any level, searches

in the entire hierarchy rather than just searching the current level. Which

means a search of gifts in the main category list would yield all the results

even including the shop result in the Souvenirs section as well.

4. Details Page

This page contains the details of the entity

A share option to quickly post check-in location in

Facebook (to let friends and family know).

Share option has features to share location of the

place via whatsapp and message option on phone

The full location address along with a map and

opening/closing time of the place.

Map icon redirects user to the native map

application (apple map/google map) with destination

pre populated on the map app. This is beneficial as

user is familiar with his native map application and it

makes the app fairly light.

Call option redirects user to their dialer application

with the registered number of the place pre –

populated. This is handy if user wants to get quick

info about the place.

Review Option to rate/review the place.

Favorites option for easy tagging of favorite places.

Save option to save all the data related to the place

on phone for offline access.

Bottom of the page shows reviews written by fellow

travelers.

5.Reminders

This section is called reminder.

As the name suggests it reminds about an event. Users can save reminders

about an activity or a place and can add alert when he/she near to the place of

interest.

User can also add notes regarding the event.

In this example the app will remind the user to buy souvenir as soon as

he/she is near a shop that is listed in the souvenir category.

This feature is handy for travelers who are short on time.

4. Currency Converter

This section is pretty handy for international travelers.

They can easily get a fair idea of what is the equivalent of their currency is

equal to local currency to get a fair idea about the price.

It also suggests nearby Atm or Banks for easy cash withdrawals.

7. Additional Feature Recommendation

While I have mentioned my design choices for the features that are necessary for a simple app, I would also like to address

some additional features that I think can enhance the experience with the app.

Option to book a cab directly from the app such as OLA/UBER.

Adding a calendar feature to preplan events for future dates.

Adding a payment option to directly pay using the phone via Apple pay or Google Wallet.

Option to follow fellow travelers or those who leaves good reviews about a particular place.

Adding option to directly share picture on his/her social media accounts. This will enhance the retention of users on

the app.

8. Plan for project launch

Research, wireframe, prototype, repeat (first one and half month)

The research team should start out by doing research with outside participants while the design team should

quickly get to work looking at what is out there to see, what is being done well, what we think we can do

better (Competitor analysis) and defining an early style guide for the new BeLocal App.

Early days should be used in talking, sketching, wire framing, prototyping ideas and directions for App.

Regular meetings with all of the stakeholders involved to present progress and refine ideas. This will create

the backbone for our IA and navigation.

Quickly building working prototype on Android /Ios and doing research on a working prototype with real

people who would use the app. This will get us great answers to behavioral and UX questions relating to

some of the new features, and will help to evaluate the effectiveness of the different ways to find local

interest point that our initial prototype proposed.

Branding and visual explorations (next half month)

Once we have locked down features and softened out any of the complex areas, we should head down in

building out our visual system. That started with the creation of an internal style guide that covered

everything from Logo, color, iconography, type styles, how to use imagery, button use cases, and

reusable components.

Laying that foundation will allow us to move together in unison, multiple designers working on different

aspects of the app design with ease and efficiency will result in a single uniform design style app-wide.

App development and bug fixes (next one month)

Since we have developed a crude version of the app by this time, the next thing needed to be done is to

understand the technical feasibility of the features we have visualized.

Finding bottleneck and polishing the app.

A beta user testing in last weeks of the month to check bug fixes.

Next step would be to launch the product.