Globe Trotter
Overview: Globe Trotter is an app used to make connections and plan out trips. Using Globe Trotter, users can connect with other travellers and host travellers in their hometown.
Duration: January 2025 - April 2025 (4 Months)
Toolkit: Figma & FigJam
Role: UX Designer, User Researcher
Team Members:
Tiffany Tam - UX Designer, UX Researcher
Jessica Imaz - Business Analyst
Michael Keoleian - Business Analyst
Exploration
Research
Ideation
Step 1: Gathering Ideas
During this phase, my team and I were asked to identify a problem space where there was a large consumer base, a valuable problem to solve, a competitive gap in the market. We then took 5 minutes to brainstorm ideas on our own and came together as a group to further discuss the ideas that we came to.
After much deliberation, we chose to branch off of the idea of an app for finding others with similar hobbies and zone in on travel specifically. All 4 members felt as though they could empathize with the problem of wanting to travel but not having any one to travel with. A secondary issue that we thought about as well was finding somewhere to travel and having a difficult time planning an itinerary that did not feel touristy.
Initial Solution Hypotheses
Travelers are seeking connections while traveling
Travelers might feel burdened by cultural and language barriers
Users are worried about their privacy and safety using apps
Users want personalized experiences
Initial Problem Statement
With the growing number of solo travelers, projected to exceed 1.4 billion by 2024, there is a significant demand for innovative solutions that address the social needs of travelers. However, while accommodation and travel planning apps are abundant, they often fail to foster genuine social interactions or provide a community-driven experience. This gap presents an opportunity to explore how technology can enhance human connections by enabling travelers to meet like-minded individuals, find shared accommodations, and engage in social experiences that enrich their journeys and overcome the barriers of isolation and cultural differences.
Market Research
After coming up with our initial idea, it was time to conduct market research. My team gathered insights on the size of the market, our target audience, social and cultural implications, and how we can utilize emerging technologies. I assisted in conducting a competitive analysis of competitors, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses so that Globe Trotters can look to fill those gaps that these applications might have.
Competitive Anaylsis
Bumble (for Friends)
Mission Statement:
“Healthy relationships are central to living a positive, productive life. Bumble is designed to help you feel empowered while you make those connections, whether you’re dating, looking for friends, or growing your professional network.”
Target Market:
Young adults and individuals in transition who are looking to expand their social circles
Strengths:
Specific focus on friendship
Safety Guidelines
Matches based on interest
Weaknesses:
Limited user-base in smaller areas
Travel feature is behind a premium subscription pay-wall
MeetUp
Mission Statement:
Meetup’s mission is to help people grow and achieve their goals through real-life, human connections. From professional networking to craft brewery crawls to coding workshops, people use Meetup to get out of their comfort zones, meet new people, learn new things, pursue passions, and find supportive communities that will help them thrive.
Target Market:
Young adults and individuals looking to expand their social circles and participate in local events
Strengths:
Specific focus on gathering groups together for a similar interest
Variety of interests covered by events held by meetup
Ease of creating events to host
Weaknesses:
Lack of experience control
Couchsurfing
Mission Statement:
"We envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect.”
Target Market:
young, budget-conscious travelers who enjoy cultural exchange and meeting new people
Strengths:
Small cost
Culturally emmersive
Local-insight
Weaknesses:
Safety Concerns
Host-dependency
Challenge #1
During this phase, I began to doubt our ideation. I was afraid that our application was not a viable idea. After advising my team about my concerns, I sought out a potential member of our customer base. Using my previous experiences in user experience research, I prepared an interview guide that covered key questions that would confirm the need for our application. The interview expressed concerns about safety while using competing applications. Furthermore, the participant expressed a desire for a connection with locals. After this interview, I felt more confident in moving forward with this application.
Product Vision & Strategy
On the side of our customer’s profile (the circle), we identified that the problems that the customers were trying to solve (i.e. Customer Jobs) included: a desire for authentic experiences, a way to connect with locals, a way to prioritize destinations to visit and for how long, and a way to find accommodations. As for pain points or risks that one faces, our interviewee expressed that safety is the main pain point when it comes to traveling and not knowing how to prioritize destinations to travel to. Gains included the ability to travel more affordably and to meet new people while travelling.
Business Lean Canvas
To help us better understand our prospective users, we created a journey map, showing where value proposition canvas. By doing this, we were able to better visualize how our product could appeal to our users. Using insight from my interview, we were able to more accurately populate the canvas with real-world insights.
Value Proposition Canvas
Prototype
Given the dual function our application covers, (i.e. looking for a travel buddy for a given travel destination vs. looking for a travel destination) we tried our best to model both in our prototype. Drawing inspiration from the application reddit and travel blogs in general, we initially decided to go for a blog like format.
Customer Research
Using the above prototype, my team conducted a usabillity tests and we took this step to empathize with our customer base. We interviewed 5 individuals aged 18-25 who have solo-travelled. After our interviews, the other User Experiencer designer on my team and I conducted a thematic analysis using this interview data.
Discovery
After the discovery portion of our interview, we came across some strong themes that supported our application’s purpose. We also discovered that our user base tends to lean towards using social media to plan out their trips.
We also conducted usability tests and found out that
Confirm
Reflection
Globe Trotters was an incredibly valuable experience for me to have. As a growing UI/UX designer and researcher, I am eager to take on opportunities in order to grow my skills. In this particular process, my favorite learning experience was collaborating with a team of students with different educational backgrounds. Learning how to merge our ideas and collaborate was eye-opening. I also got to dip my toes in the entrepreneurial world. Prior to this experience I did not know what a business lean canvas was, the different avenues to market a product, or how to pitch a product.
Looking back on this project, knowing what I know now, I would want to follow the 5 stages of design thinking (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test). Although we ultimately interviewed individuals in the target audience, I wish that we had done this earlier in order to better refine the idea for our application. Moving forward, in future projects, I hope to follow this framework step-by-step!