How can Solo traveller can travel safely ?
Overview
Buddy guard is social live location sharing application for security of digital nomades. Digital nomads or travelers can ask escort them to the person whom they can trust by their related social graph with them.
This project is started from Hackerthon project which was finalist in ETH Istanbul. The cofounders came up with idea from the experience in hackerhouse where between roomates share their location when they came late at the room for their security.
I joined to develop this project as MVP product and proceeded it in Lean way. I charged of UXUI design but also led product refining process.
Location
Remote
Timeline
Overall: +1 months
Role
UXUI Design
Product Manage
Industry
Social Dapp (Decentralized App)
Context
Rising of solo travel with revenge tourism
After Pendemic, 'Revenge tourism' is rise up, phenomenon where people travel a lot to make up for lost time after being stuck at home due to restrictions or challenges during the pandemic.
Specially the growth in solo travel was accelerated by the pandemic: bookings by solo travelers have been increased by 42% over the last two years.
Researches for ‘solo travel’ spiked by 267% from December 2020 to April 2022, showing strong interest in this type of trip. Airbnb reported that over 50% of stays booked in the first quarter of 2022 were for solo travelers.
But we could ask that question then,
“Can solo traveller safely
travel alone?”
User’s Painpoint
According to reader survey of “Solo traveler world” in 2023, it shows the result as
a split of 75% female and 25% male for solo travelers.
It was interesting, because it totally inversed our general assumption that
”Many women can not travel alone, because it’s dangerous for them”.
However 60% of the female traveler said that they would stop traveling if there are safy issue.
In this point, we could figured out there is significant market’s need.
During this project, I stayed in Argentina, one of the target countries of our team. Latin America generally has low security levels, and it is especially more dangerous for women. There, I conducted interviews with solo female travelers and local women, gaining deeper insights into how they actually cope with these situations and understanding the local environment in more detail.
“In Buenos aires, it’s quite ok, but other countries in Latin America, for example, Mexico, the security for woman is not really good. Somethime woman can be victim by Feminicidio*”
— Rochilla from Argentina
*Femincidio: Feminicide :The intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender
“When I go to some places and have to return my home late, I always send messages to my trustful freinds to notify my status”
— Emilia from France
Lean Persona
Based on the reserarch and interview, for the tight time schedule, I made Lean Persona to align user need with my team members.
Ideation
Including female solo travelers, to help digital nomads to travel long term or be engaged to new environment such as IRL while feeling more safe, the product purposes social graph* as a solution from the ideation step.
The way to leverage social graph for solving the problem is that people can find someone else that they can trust, by common social graph which is represented by NFT such as POAP.
* Social graph : a representation of relationships and interactions among individuals, groups, or entities within a social network. it maps the connections and interactions between users, enabling personalized experiences, content discovery, and network effects.
User Scenario as hypothesis
Based on the Lean persona and considering the directions of the product which has been from the ideation step, I arranged the user scenario (happy path to use our solution) that we had to test on the market.
Assumption
To test the suggested solution from ideation, we had to clarify assumptions to construct the hypothesis to test MVP.
Within short brainstorming sessions, whole team aligned and share the points that we have to think to concentrate for product’s direction.
Making a structure to Real -interactive Product
The product was made during the hackathon, and most of the codes have been hard coded. Therefore, there were no actual user yet within the product.
After scruming the product, I found out that there were a lot of blocking points that can not be really worked as interactive social app. So main task to build UX is make structure of overall's application's UX more feasible and interactive, which was almost from scratch.
I faciliated with team to align with, to build real-working MVP by following journey.
During the process to better make UX structure, I visualized the current UX version to share more easily . Thanks to this user flow, it can lead fast communication above it.
After checking first alignement through user flow, I organized meeting to kick off to discuss about key features to focus to to make a MVP in Lean way with teams.
User Flow Scrum with team memebers for first version
2. Feature list to finalize what feature to focus on
After serveral meetings, we could align what features that we would concentrate on building and also review roadmap of the product .
The first direction of the MVP is decided to be concentrated more on “safety side” of the users, which is related to
"How can user can really trust and recognize the others?"
" How this application can really helps the user when they got in trouble (SOS situation)?".
The interaction between the two personas, the “escort requester” and the “escort request receiver”, constructs the product’s main user flows and product’s interface.
From a UX perspective, I focused on
-naturally encouraging user interactions
-ensuring that their experience is remembered as a positive one, ultimately enhancing retention.
I applied this idea to End-to-End flow. through it, the entire team was able to gain a clearer understanding of the complex process, and we were able to discuss the potential technical challenges and how to address them from a UX standpoint.
3. Design reciprocal user flow for multi-persona interaction.
Visual Design
How can users get attached to the product's community?
UI Design system
Based on the visual concept with dynamic and vital vibe for friendly looking for community, I worked on Design system in lean way, considering time line and how we can build up efficiently more after launching MVP.
Logo design
I created a character-based logo inspired by location mark to make the product intuitively understanable and approachable.
This logo will also be used in various variations for marketing assets in the community and in the application.
Given the app's purpose of helping users protect one another in unfamiliar environments while traveling, the visual concept was crafted to prioritize a welcoming and warm atmosphere, ensuring a sense of safety and comfort.
Prototype
Onboarding
Escort Requester
Request Escort
During the onboarding, the first-comer user must find a buddyguard users to escort them. To match suitable buddyguards to them, we designed profile questions flow to offer best-matching buddyguards for them.
The scope of the MVP implementation is decided to be an escort services which helps user’s journey until they reach their destination. Based on the destination, escort request users can set a safe timer and choose their own buddyguard in the flow.
Escort Request Receiver
Get SOS& Help
In the event of receiving an SOS message, the buddy guard user who is responsible for escorting, will be able to view the emergency contacts pre-registered by the user requesting the escort.
They can then notify the user's contacts that their buddy is currently in an SOS situation.
Arrived
If the escort request users successfully reach the destination, they can press "Arrived" sending thank you message to the escorting buddy guard which can give compensational sense for accomplishment to buddyguard users.
Sending SOS
If escort request users find themselves in a real SOS situation, they can press the SOS button on the main page to automatically send a message to their buddyguard.
Additionally, I proposed the user flow that SOS requester user can get out from SOS situation independently. So even after sending the SOS, the user can independently handles the emergency by using the CTA to directly call the local police.
Lesson
& Learn
I focused on UX/UI design to transform a demo-style project into a fully functional app. Throughout this process, I thought deeply about how to restructure the app effectively. In fact, my role as UXUI Designer in this project was prioritized was more for reconstructing the structure, considering how this app could interact as a social platform more user-friendly.
Despite the tight one-month design timeline, I worked closely with team members to maintain a clear focus, taking the lead in scrum meetings and played a product manager role, guiding the team to concentrate on essential tasks. In the end, We successfully implemented the visual interface quickly.
As a designer, I also considered how to introduce the product to the market. This project allowed me to adopt an ownership mindset beyond just design tasks, aiming for a successful product launch.
Additionally, I learned a lot from my teammates, which increased my understanding of how Web3 dApps operate. I remain committed to continuous learning and growth.
“ Despite a tight one-month timeline, Domou worked efficiently and effectively. This cross-functional collaboration showcased her ability to take on product manager responsibilities when needed, ensuring that the team remained focused on creating a viable MVP.
What impressed me most about Domou was her eagerness to learn and grow. “
- Joy Mun, Co-founder of Buddy Guard
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