ALPACKA
A packing app that eliminates forgotten items and frustrations while traveling.
THE PROBLEM
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Preparing for travel is stressful, and packing is no exception. Travelers who forget things while packing have trouble feeling confident that they are ready for their trip, and are annoyed when they have to waste valuable vacation time buying forgotten items.
A comprehensive, personalized, interactive list app may solve this problem by helping users prepare for their trips and feel more comfortable before and during their trip.
TIMELINE
3 weeks (March 2019))
MY ROLE
UX Researcher & Designer (individual project)
TOOLS USED
Sketch, Invision, Miro
USER RESEARCH
I started with the idea that I would improve an aspect of the travel experience. I was especially interested in the topics of budgeting and packing. The first step was to perform some interviews to determine what the pain points were around these topics.
A few insights I discovered from my initial interviews:
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Being ill-prepared before a trip causes more stress during the actual vacation
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EVERYONE forgets to pack something
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It is frustrating when there is no room for gifts and souvenirs
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Most often forgotten items are everyday items: chargers, toothbrushes, etc.
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It’s hard to predict the weather when packing
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Packing is very time-consuming
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I organized my key takeaways from each interview and analyzed the results in an affinity diagram. I found that forgetting to pack items was the most prominent pain point. Many users also mentioned stress and weather, so I decided to keep those as secondary goals in my app design.
USER PERSONA
From there, I created a user persona based on my interviews and survey data.
STORYBOARD
Thinking about how the average user might need an app like the one I proposed, I drew a storyboard that follows the user through a typical use case.
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
Once I identified what my users would need in a packing app, I brainstormed some features and prioritized them in a matrix.
The backbone of the app is a checklist, so that is essential. Every single person I talked to mentioned checking the weather as part of their packing ritual, so I included an in-app weather feature. Another top priority was reminders so that users wouldn’t forget to pack anything.
USER FLOW
I organized the features I planned to design and mapped out the user flow of my proposed app, Alpacka. Here is the onboarding flow.
SKETCHES
I fleshed out the user flow into some quick sketches. Using Sketch, I made wireframes, which I prototyped on Invision to test with users.
WIREFRAMES
Next, I built out more of the app’s functionality as lo-fi mockups in Sketch. Link to Invision prototype v1
PROTOTYPING
I made a mid-fi prototype on Invision to test with users. Link to Invision prototype v2.
USER TESTING
I tested my app by asking several users to complete a series of five tasks with my mid-fi prototype. From this testing, I was able to identify some areas for design and feature improvements. My questions and key takeaways are as follows.
TASKS
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Complete onboarding
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Create a packing list from a template
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Add items based on planned activity
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Save list as new template
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Create a reminder for a last-minute item
TAKEAWAYS
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Users were able to accomplish all tasks without much trouble
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The purpose of the app is unclear from the splash screen.
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Add Activity screen is confusing because the CTA doesn’t appear until they check a box.
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Users would like to be able to track which items are packed into each suitcase.
ITERATION
For my final mid-fi iOS prototype, I took into account the user tests and made improvements to the design. Link to Invision prototype v3. Some of the changes I made are described below.
I added a value proposition and eye-catching image to the splash screen so that users know what to expect and are enticed to use the app.
I made the CTA on the Activity screen visible in a disable state when nothing is selected on the screen, so that it is more clear to users how to use the Add Activity function.
I added a packing volume indicator so users can see approximately how much of their luggage they have filled and how much room they have left.
I iterated on the design as a whole in other ways to make it more polished and cohesive.
MID-FI iOS MOCKUP
FINAL THOUGHTS
Designing for iOS
I’ve always been an Android user, so switching to iOS app design was a challenge. Despite doing research online and on others’ iPhones, I still found myself leaning toward Material design. I iterated on my design several times, relying on iPhone app examples and iPhone users to guide my designs closer to iOS. It will be something I work on and get better at as I become more comfortable with iOS.
Software Limitations
Although prototyping software is very helpful, I sometimes wished I could prototype some of the more animated functionalities of my app. InVision and Sketch didn’t meet my expectations in this regard. I think part of app design is the responses the app makes when the user interacts with it, so it would be nice to be able to mock these up in the prototype as well. I would love to continue my work on this project and prototype with a software that allows more animation.
Next Steps
This project focused more on the UX research than on visual and UI design, so the next step would be to create hi-fi mockups. I’d like to do another round of testing before finalizing my idea, and eventually make it a real product for the app store. Based on my extensive research and testing, I think a lot of people would find value from Alpacka.
