SoloGuardian
Welcome to SoloGuardian – a sanctuary for women who embrace the spirit of solo travel while prioritizing safety and empowerment. Here, we recognize the transformative power of embarking on journeys alone, whether it's exploring far-flung destinations or discovering hidden gems closer to home.
SoloGuardian is more than just a platform; it's a vibrant community where women from all walks of life come together to share their experiences, insights, and tips for navigating the world solo. We understand that while solo travel can be liberating, safety concerns can sometimes cast a shadow on the adventure. That's why we're committed to providing tailored resources, support systems, and a safe space for women to communicate openly about their travel experiences.
Whether you're a seasoned solo traveler or just starting to dip your toes into the world of independent exploration, SoloGuardian is here to inspire, empower, and connect you with like-minded women who share your passion for adventure and your commitment to safety. Join us as we embark on this journey together, empowering each other to fearlessly explore the world on our own terms.
Overview
Role: Research and Discovery, Information Architect, Prototype Designer, UI Designer, UX Designer.
Duration: 10 Weeks
Type: Brainstation Agile Project • School Project
Tools: Figma (Wireframes, Prototypes), Adobe Illustrate (Illustrations), Paper & Pen (Sketching), Stark Figma Plugin (Accessibility), Redline Figma Plugin (UI Library), Canva (Charts), Rotato (Mockups), Mobbin (Inspiration)
The Problem Space
In the realm of solo travel, where freedom meets adventure, there's been a notable surge in women opting to journey solo, marking a significant societal shift. However, amidst this burgeoning trend, a formidable obstacle looms large: safety concerns. Despite the allure of independence, a staggering number of solo female travelers grapple with a palpable sense of vulnerability. Research underscores this reality, revealing that 73% of travel agents acknowledge the uptick in women setting out on solo expeditions, with a noteworthy 26% of millennial women embracing this trend.
Yet, beneath this veneer of empowerment lies a sobering truth: 88% of women admit to feeling threatened while traversing the world alone. Furthermore, a mere 38% express confidence in their ability to defend themselves should the need arise. This alarming disparity between the desire for solo exploration and the persistent specter of danger underscores a pressing need for tailored safety measures and robust support systems.
To navigate this complex landscape, it's imperative to delve deeper into the multifaceted challenges faced by solo female travelers. From navigating unfamiliar terrain to confronting cultural norms and language barriers, the obstacles are manifold. Moreover, the pervasive threat of harassment, assault, and discrimination casts a shadow over the liberating experience of solo travel, eroding confidence and stifling freedom.
As we confront these formidable challenges, it becomes abundantly clear that a one-size-fits-all approach will not suffice. Instead, a nuanced understanding of the unique safety concerns and needs of solo female travelers is essential. By fostering dialogue, advocating for change, and implementing targeted strategies, we can empower women to embark on solo journeys with confidence, reclaiming the narrative of adventure on their own terms.
Assumptions
Solo female travelers in North America face common safety concerns that may not be adequately addressed by current safety measures.
There is a readiness among solo female travelers to embrace new safety measures and support systems tailored to their needs.
The age and destination preferences of travelers play a significant role in shaping their safety concerns and requirements.
Meaningful collaboration with stakeholders in the travel industry is crucial to implementing effective safety enhancements for solo female travelers.
Secondary Research
This chart provides insights into the concerns and comfort levels of women considering solo travel, highlighting significant apprehensions about safety, loneliness, and family opinions on traveling alone. It also shows a considerable portion of women who wouldn't mind engaging in solo activities like eating in a restaurant or walking into a bar by themselves.
The pie chart with light colours has been created successfully, illustrating the perceptions of solo travel safety among women.
Interviews
For user understanding, I adopted a strategic approach focused on conducting interviews with solo female travelers. I firmly believe that this method provides the best pathway to gain deep insights into the experiences, aspirations, and concerns of solo female travelers in various travel scenarios. These interviews allowed me to gather firsthand insights into their unique challenges, safety considerations, and support needs, guiding the development of a user-centric approach to enhance the solo travel experience for women.
Participant Information
Participant "A":
Age: 30
Destinations: Barcelona, Dubai, Egypt
Quote: "I believe in the power of solo travel. It's all about exploring the world on my terms, but safety is my top priority. Creating communities where solo female travelers can share advice and support is essential. I always take precautions like sharing my location and carrying two phones to ensure a safe journey."
Participant Information
Participant "B":
Age: 34
Solo Travel Experience: Enthusiastic solo traveler
Destinations: New York, Turkey, Bora Bora, Spain, France
Quote: "Solo travel allows me to explore the world freely, but safety is paramount. I meticulously research destinations, rely on reviews from fellow travelers, and avoid solo excursions to ensure my well-being. Travel companies should prioritize fostering communication among solo female travelers and enhancing safety measures to make solo journeys even more empowering."
Participant "C":
Age: 30
Solo Travel Experience: Independent solo traveler
Destinations: Turkey, Mexico, Hawaii, London
Quote: "Solo travel allows me to explore new cultures and destinations, but safety is non-negotiable for me. I carefully choose my destinations, avoiding poorly-reviewed places and favoring busy locations. Incident reporting is crucial, and I believe there should be collaboration between travel companies and governments to ensure the safety of women during solo travel."
Interview Protocol
Participant Criteria
Female travelers aged between 27 and 42 years old.
Must possess experience or a keen interest in solo travel, both within North America and overseas.
Seeking diverse representation across age groups, ethnicities, and travel preferences to ensure a comprehensive understanding of solo female travelers' perspectives.
Participants should be willing to openly share insights and personal experiences regarding safety concerns encountered during solo journeys.
Openness to providing constructive feedback on proposed safety measures and support systems aimed at enhancing the solo travel experience for women.
Interview Guide
Warm-Up Questions:
1. What is your age?
2. What is your occupation?
3. Where do you live? Problem Space Specific Open-Ended Questions:
1. How many times have you travelled alone?
2. Where have you travelled?
3. What things do you think about when you decide to travel alone as a woman? 4. How important is safety when planning your trip?
5. How do you think the travel industry could do better to keep solo female travellers safe?
6. What specific safety things do you look for when picking where to stay or how to get around on your solo trips?
7. What do you do to handle safety concerns in different countries or places with different cultures when travelling alone as a woman?
8. Have you ever felt scared or in danger when travelling alone as a woman? If yes, what did you do?
9. When it comes to solo travel, what aspects do you enjoy the most? Is it the freedom to explore at your own pace, the chance to meet new people, or something else?
10. Are there any places or activities you avoid and want to try more but because of safety worries you didn't get to do when you travel alone as a woman?
11. How do you balance wanting to explore new places and staying safe when travelling solo as a woman?
12. What ideas do you have for travel companies to make sure solo female travellers are safe and happy on their trips?
13. Can you share any tricks or tips you've learned for staying safe when travelling alone as a woman?
14. How do people's opinions about women travelling alone affect your decisions and experiences?
15. Did you ever have to change your plans because of safety issues? How did you handle it?
16. How important are government warnings about safety in other countries when you decide where to go by yourself?
17. How do you think travel companies can work with local people and governments to make sure solo female travellers are safe everywhere?Affinity Mapping
Safety Concerns and Incidents
“Solo women travelers' safety concerns have long-term effects on their perceptions and travel decisions. The emotional resonance of these incidents calls for a safety framework that addresses both immediate security and long-term well-being.”
Now that interviews were done, I went through the process of affinity mapping to find common themes and insights from the interviews.
Support Systems and Recommendations
“Solo women travelers in North America rely on community-driven advice for travel decisions, emphasizing the need for a safety framework that provides practical assistance and fosters a supportive network.”
Preventive Measures and Preparedness
“Solo women travelers in North America are proactive about safety, engaging in self-defense preparations and precautionary measures. This suggests a potential safety framework that can support their self-empowerment narrative and foster confidence.”
Creating The Persona
Meet Layla
Layla Smith, a 35-year-old solo female traveler based in North America, finds fulfillment in exploring new territories independently, drawing empowerment from her adventures. With a background in project management and a Bachelor of Science degree, Layla meticulously plans her journeys, prioritizing safety while seeking cultural immersion and personal growth. As a single individual hailing from Vancouver, BC, Layla stays connected with loved ones during her travels, valuing their support and sharing her whereabouts for added security.
Additionally, Layla desires to connect with other women who share her passion for solo travel. She seeks to gain insight and share experiences with like-minded individuals, fostering a sense of community among independent female travelers. Through networking and collaboration, Layla aims to create a supportive environment where women can exchange tips, stories, and encouragement, empowering each other to embark on their own solo adventures confidently.
HMW Question
After conducting both primary and secondary research, and carefully considering the insights gathered from research and user personas, I deeply understand the needs and experiences of the target audience. With this understanding in mind, I posed the main question:
How can we make sure solo women travellers feel safer and more supported while exploring the world alone by improving safety measures, providing helpful information, and offering strong support?
Experience Mapping
User Stories:
After reviewing the experience map, I crafted a series of user stories, focusing on the theme of Building a Learning Schedule. From a pool of around 30 stories, one stood out: Safety Integration. This story emphasized the need for a safety structure that incorporates well-being components into post-incident support for solo female travelers. This approach ensures that the emotional consequences of safety incidents are effectively addressed, fostering open communication channels for psychological support.
"As a solo women traveler, I want the safety structure to integrate well-being components into post-incident support, so that the emotional consequences of safety incidents are effectively addressed, ensuring open communication channels for psychological support."
Opportunity: I propose the development of a platform where solo female travelers like myself can engage in discussions and share our experiences in a safe and supportive environment. This platform will foster community and communication among us, offering a space to exchange tips, stories, and encouragement. Through facilitated discussions and interactive features, the platform will empower us to connect with like-minded individuals, gain valuable insights, and build a network of support to enhance our solo travel experiences.
Task Flow Diagram
This task flow demonstrates the typical usage of the app by a millennial woman. Starting from the home screen, she navigates to the Locations Screen to explore reviews of various destinations. Afterward, she engages with the Chat screen to connect with other users, followed by using the Camera screen to capture moments. Next, she checks the Upcoming Events screen for any planned activities. Finally, she receives a confirmation screen after completing an action or task within the app.
UI Inspiration Board
While seeking visual inspiration for the app, I drew heavily from existing solo travel and itinerary planning apps. Despite the abundance of such apps, many of them feature visually cluttered or complicated interfaces. In my app, the timeline for travel schedules must be simple and intuitive to ensure there's no confusion or learning curve. My aim is to make each page quick to navigate, as solo travelers shouldn't waste time fumbling through the app. User flow should be swift and seamless, especially within features like chats and profiles, ensuring travelers can easily connect and share experiences on the go.
Sketches & Wireframe
Using the inspiration board as a guide, I generated three initial sketches for each page of the app, following the established user flow. From these exploratory sketches, I selected one solution sketch per page that incorporated the most promising elements. Then, I combined the best features from each chosen sketch to create a refined set of solution sketches. These refined sketches serve as the foundation for building the first set of wireframes in Figma, ensuring a cohesive and user-friendly design for the app.
I developed a series of grayscale wireframes in Figma, illustrating the app's functionality and visual layout for a solo travel experience. These wireframes depict the user's journey through the app: browsing the home screen, exploring destination reviews on the Locations Screen, engaging with fellow travelers on the Chat screen, capturing moments with the Camera screen, checking upcoming events on the Upcoming Events screen, and receiving confirmation after completing an action. The wireframes also demonstrate how users can easily navigate through the app, ensuring a seamless experience while planning their solo adventures.
User Testing Sessions
To enhance the user-friendliness of my app and validate the effectiveness of the current user flow, I enlisted the help of five individuals to navigate through my app wireframes and accomplish four straightforward tasks:
Task 1:
Pick a destination
Task 2:
Review rates and Choose a nightclub
Task 3:
See attendees and Chat
Task 4:
Take a photo in Chat
Task 5:
Confirm Event
User testing 1
Prioritization Matrix for Action Items from Testers' Feedback
High Effort, High Impact:
Add a logo and align elements vertically using grid lines.
Expand/stretch the keyboard bar to fit the screen horizontally.
Dissolve and remove the Explore page from the prototype flow.
High Effort, Low Impact:
Duplicate a row of 5-star ratings on each page.
Replace lines with text like "please take a photo."
Make the logo and image smaller and place the logo on the left side.
Low Effort, High Impact:
Add a "use this photo" button after taking a photo instead of a back button.
Remove the scoring page from the prototype.
User testing 2
Prioritization Matrix for Action Items from Testers' Feedback
High Effort, High Impact:
Add a logo and align elements vertically using grid lines.
Expand/stretch the keyboard bar to fit the screen horizontally.
Dissolve and remove the Explore page from the prototype flow.
High Effort, Low Impact:
Duplicate a row of 5-star ratings on each page.
Replace lines with text like "please take a photo."
Make the logo and image smaller and place the logo on the left side.
Low Effort, High Impact:
Add a "use this photo" button after taking a photo instead of a back button.
Remove the scoring page from the prototype.
While all participants successfully completed the tasks, their feedback revealed areas for improvement in Tasks 2, 3, and 4:
Task 2:
Participants found the visuals on the dashboard displaying the schedule to be confusing.
Task 3:
There was confusion surrounding the interpretation of subtask progress bars.
Task 4:
Participants found the "Schedule Changed" modal to be lacking in clarity and information.
Prioritization Matrix
The second round of user tests showed an overall improvement in app usability compared to the first session. However, some issues remained:
Participants still found the Subtasks page to be overly text-heavy and confusing.
The limited color scheme in the prototype made certain elements difficult to distinguish, impacting user experience.
Users continued to skip certain entry fields or selections, possibly due to a confusing visual layout.
Improved Prototype
Visual Identity Story
Brand Adjectives & App Name
To establish a brand story and color scheme for my app, I began by defining a visual brand identity. I chose several adjectives that encapsulated the essence of my app's brand:
Relaxing
Refreshing
Carefree
Serene
Blissful
Glossy
After creating a long list of potential names for my app, I settled on a few good ones and checked their availability. Eventually, I chose to name my app "SoloGuardian" because of the multiple meanings and suggestions inherent in the word.
SoloGuardian
"SoloGuardian" embodies the concept of protection and watchfulness for solo travelers. The term "solo" emphasizes the individual nature of the journey, while "guardian" conveys a sense of security and safeguarding.
Wordmark
I experimented with various line weights, scripts, and styles by sketching ideas on paper.
Next, I started to convert some of my preferred choices into vectors, allowing me to visualize how they would appear in my eventual application.
I opted to move forward with the last version as displayed below. Many colleagues responded favorably to the upward movement of the "S" and appreciated the creativity evident in this design.
I was designing for iOS, so I then explored how this watermark could look within the iOS app icon.
I've chosen to go with "SoloGuardian" centered within the application icon.
Moodboard
Afterward, I refined my mood board to convey a more targeted vision of my brand. I selected images featuring beaches, sand, cites, growth, and inspiration to evoke potential and possibilities. These visuals aimed to represent concepts such as relaxation, refreshment, carefree, serenity, glossy vibes, and bliss while moving away from clichéd beach or cityscape scenes.
Once I finalized my mood board, I began extracting colors from each of the images. Subsequently, I merged these colors and arranged them into cohesive groups to create color palettes or "neighborhoods." After deciding to work within my Bluebell Haven color neighborhood, I started testing these colors within my screens.
Final App Prototype
UI Library
After completing the app design, including the colors and visual language, I developed a UI library containing all the elements and building blocks of my app. This serves as my app's design system, enabling the creation of additional pages with consistency and efficiency.
App Marketing Website
For the final stage of SoloGuardian's app design, I developed a marketing website with several objectives:
Create awareness and promote the app to potential users.
Showcase the app's features.
Explain how the app addresses users' needs.
Communicate the app's brand values.
Introduce the app to the public effectively.
The website was created using the Design Thinking process, which involved understanding visitor needs, defining content, creating sketches, wireframes, and prototypes. Feedback from fellow designers led to the implementation of eight changes to enhance the website.
This resulted in a responsive marketing website for SoloGuardian, featuring details on app features, reviews, comparisons with competitor apps, and an FAQ section. A comprehensive case study of the app marketing website will be available in the upcoming website update in late April 2024.
In the app design process, I transitioned from low-fidelity wireframes to adding color and experimenting with various design elements. For instance, I introduced a circle behind the phone to symbolize goal progress. I encountered challenges with color harmony, so I utilized gradients for key elements like the hero image and employed darker color schemes for call-to-action buttons and headings. High-fidelity renditions of both desktop and mobile wireframes are provided on the following page.
Speculations on Design Impact & Future Thinking
Cultural habits can significantly influence how SoloGuardian is used by its users. For example, in cultures where solo travel is less common or even discouraged for women, the app may serve as a catalyst for change by empowering women to break societal norms and embark on solo journeys with confidence. Conversely, in cultures where solo travel is already prevalent, SoloGuardian may reinforce existing cultural habits by providing a platform for solo travelers to connect and share their experiences more easily.
A community of SoloGuardian's most passionate users would likely be highly engaged and supportive. They would actively share their solo travel experiences, offer tips and advice to fellow members, and celebrate each other's accomplishments in exploring the world solo. They may organize meetups, share travel itineraries, and collaborate on safety initiatives to empower and protect one another during their solo journeys.
Key Learnings
Complete UX/UI Design Process:
SoloGuardian served as my capstone project during BrainStation bootcamp, affording me the opportunity to delve into the entire design process from problem definition to solution implementation. Through rigorous research and empathizing with the target audience, I gained insight into crafting a solution that truly addresses users' needs and preferences. Most importantly, I realized that effective UX design isn't solely about the end result but also about navigating through the design process in a manner that ensures the resulting solution is genuinely impactful for the target users.
Colors and Brand Identity Development:
During the latter stages of the project, I ventured into developing a brand language and color scheme for SoloGuardian. This process underscored the significance of selecting colors based on the audience's needs and the app's brand identity, rather than merely opting for visually appealing choices. I learned that color decisions should align with the app's purpose and resonate with the intended audience, rather than being driven solely by aesthetics.
Navigating a Tight Timeline:
SoloGuardian's development spanned a mere 10 weeks, amidst juggling academic commitments and other obligations. This necessitated a swift and efficient approach, prioritizing tasks crucial for enhancing the app's quality. I quickly grasped the importance of focusing on core functionalities rather than getting bogged down in minor details, such as intricate UI icons or word choices.What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
