Challenge 3: Usability Evaluation and Site Redesign

In this challenge I’m going to jump into the shoes of a young couple who wants to travel.

The User type is a Young couple (20–40 y/o):
You and your partner decide to go to a special place next summer. You realize you have both saved enough for the tickets and are planning to save as much as possible for the next 6 months to do this trip. You want to be efficient and have everything you need organized to enjoy at 100% while there. Even if you’re young, you want to have special moments to celebrate being together.

The destination is Petra in Jordan because I always dreamt to visit this site and it’s one of the seven wonders of the new millennium !

First of all I had to search for some information about the destination :

• Nearest airport is Amman
• The currency is the Jordan Dinar 1€=0,86 Dj
• To go to Jordan a PCR test (less than 72hours) is required and the Covid vaccin is not mandatory but recommended.
• To enter Jordan you need : A visa that costs 68€ per person and the visa tourist that expires 30 days after your first day in Jordan. And a passport with a minimum 6-month validity.
• Days needed to visit attractions : minimum 1 day

Then I chose 3 travelling app : KAYAK, SKYSCANNER and HOPPER and I conducted Usability Heuristics evaluation with Nielsen’s Principles.

The Yellow Circle are heuristics that I think can be improved

Kayak seems to be the good app to use as it is simple to use, aesthetic and also proposes to book flight, hotels and rental car at various prices.

Testing part :

I interviewed 4 persons and each of them are in a couple and are between 21 and 25 years old.

1st : I gave the user 5 seconds to take a look at the home screen of the metasearch of Kayak. After 5 seconds, I covered the screen and asked them: What did you see? What can this tool do for you? Where would you search for a flight?

2nd : I explained that each of them is planning a trip to Petra, and therefore I asked each of them to book a trip from Brussels to Amman for the 17st June to the 23 June and to add 1 or 2 suitcases.

1. 5 seconds’ challenge :

1st interview :

• What did you see : pictures of nature, title “Où est votre prochaine destination ?”, icons of a plane and a car, a search box
• What can this tool do for you : “find ways of travel for me”
• Where would you search for a flight? : “in the search box”

2nd Interview :

• What did you see : “Quelle sera votre prochaine aventure”, Bonjour, 4 icons, image
• What can this tool do for you : “app to plan my journey”
• Where would you search for a flight? : “in the search box”

3st:

• What did you see : pictures of nature, search box, astuces, choix de destination
• What can this tool do for you : “Booking a trip”
• Where would you search for a flight? : “in the search box”

4st:

• What did you see : land picture, reserver, square blue and orange
• What can this tool do for you : “Book a flight or a car”
• Where would you search for a flight? : “Search bar”

It’s interesting to note that none of the users I interviewed recognized the brand of the app : KAYAK

2 : Booking a flight from Brussels to Amman :

• The 4 of them didn’t notice that the app was searching for all possible flights = The loading bar did not seem to be clear enough
• The 4 of them complained about too much info when arriving at the “choose your flight” page
• 2 out of 4 didn’t notice that the departure from Brussels wasn’t always from Zaventem Airport but sometimes from Charleroi Airport (there are 2 airports close to Brussels)
• 3 of them complained that once you have selected the date you can no longer see where it is and you can no longer change it easily
• 4 of them didn’t know that a visa was required to enter the country and didn’t know if it was possible to go there related to the Covid situation

3: What to change in order to fix the pain points ?

• Fix de loading bar
• Make it clear Go/return flight
• Make the name of the airport clearer
• Information for visa/covid clearer
• Less information in the search page
• Clear the date info, luggage one

4: Wireframes :

Lo-fi wireframes:

Mid-fi wireframes:

Screen 1 : I add the logo of KAYAK

Screen 2: Make bigger the option so that the user can directly choose (category of passenger, number of passengers that are travelling, number of luggage, with/without stopover) and put the filter he/she wants

Screen 3 : Less info, the airport name more clear, the depart and return clearer

Screnn 4: I add the option to look at the visa and Covid information

Screnn 5–6–7 : you select your passport (nationality) and the app tells you if you need a visa, and the type of info you need.

5: The prototype :

It is interesting to see that even an app that already exists can always be improved to get a better version ! It was interesting to always remember that : “I’m not the user of the product I’m creating and evaluating”.