Claims Analysis
The travelers capture a live reaction of their good time at the bar they are visiting in Heraklion.
Authentic review
No language barrier
really fast way to react/review
Building community among travelers
Shared face in front of strangers
Disclosure of location
Requires camera permission
can't explain anything in detail that isn't in pictures
The traveler uses an emoji caption to further explain their emotions in their live reaction.
Creates fun environment
Visual expression of emotions
Adds flexibility in expression
Potential misunderstanding of info
Potential confusion caused by mismatch with photo
ambiguity in emoji meaning
some people aren't familiar with emojis
The travelers view trending posts by previous users to inform their decisions on which destinations to visit.
can find recommendations near them
can see people's genuine reactions to what they're posting about
can find the most positive reacted place
Lack of factual information, e.g. when places are open/closed
Possibility of seeing irrelevant information
Findings
For our final user evaluation we altered our script from previous testing to make it more concise, removing questions surrounding the concept of the app and focused purely on user experience questions. Our participants were fellow hotel guests that were stopped by either us or our professor and were offered a €5 Phyllosophies gift card in compensation for their time, we tested 3 guests total, 2 of which were also other classmates working in this design course.
We gave a brief introduction to the app, keeping the details light in hopes that the tutorial would explain the rest. We followed the script listed below then administered a usability survey in the form of this website: System Usability Scale Score Calculator , to accurately judge how well we have refined our app. We gathered the statistics and organized our findings below.
Average SUS Score: 91.67
The chart above shows the average adjusted system usability score for each of the question. For question 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, the adjusted score = original score -1. For reversed question 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, the adjusted score = 5 - original score. Overall, users feel comfortable using the system once they get used to it after their initial exploration.
Primary UX Strengths and Weakness
Strengths
Appropriate Information Load:
No users felt overwhelmed with the information presented on any screen
Playfulness and Engagement:
Users felt the app was fun and particularly liked Pebbles, the turtle.
Front-Rear Camera Design for reliable reviews:
Users like the design of taking photos from both sides of camera, a unique feature for travel apps.
Informative "Turtorial":
Users understand the goal of the app accurately from the turtorial.
Weaknesses - Resolved
Solution - remove the thumbnail and maintain reactions with location name
Solution - eliminated needless back arrow at the bottom left corner and added labels to arrows to prevent errors
Solution - shorten tutorial by taking out sections users and HCI experts felt were self-explanatory and opted to demo other parts of the app users felt confused by
Solution - changed the plus sign to a camera icon
Weaknesses - To be Improved
Recommendation(s): explain the camera functionality in the tutorial, add words to camera screen on first time viewing, add help icon on camera page
Recommendation: implement more filtering logic, especially emoji filter
Recommendation: change the icon for saved posts to book or other recognizable icon
Recommendation(s): increase font size, make font size customizable in settings
Recommendation(s): change language (“hot” → “trending” or “most liked”), add explanation in tutorial, expect users will learn quickly after toggling the first time
Recommendation: change map icon
Recommendation: none, this was an intentional design choice that we know would be controversial outside of our target age group (young, 18-30)
Recommendation: make posts clickable → direct to single post view or to location page
Final Wireframe
High-Fidelity Prototype (with flows)
High-Fidelity Prototype