Designing new app for travelers to Moscow


Conducting user research and using findings to build a high-fidelity prototype of an app for tourists and business visitors to Moscow. Project for the Government of Moscow and mos.ru.

Full-time work @ Lab Wonderfull, Moscow

Where and when:

Lab Wonderfull, Moscow
August - November 2016

Summary of my main contributions:

- leading user research and research analysis
- project management in the research phase
- leading user testing activities
- wireframes and low-fidelity prototyping in the design phase


Context:

Mos.ru, an official Moscow's portal hosting digital solutions for citizens, approached Lab Wonderfull with a request to do a design project. The portal wanted us to develop a high-fidelity prototype of a smartphone app which would cover the most important needs of visitors to Russia’s capital. We were asked to cover both tourists and those on a business trip.

Problem definition:

Almost every large city in the world has an official app for tourists to help make their stay a more memorable and positive experience. Moscow is an exception - the city hasn't published any digital product aimed at those visiting the city. Foreign visitors are basically left relying on themselves in a city were locals are generally friendly, but often don't speak much English and can be of little help. Visitors from other parts of Russia are often lost in the city of such scale, having to navigate through the complexity of Moscow's geography and forced to adapt to the fast pace of life.

While there are certain obvious things to be improved for tourists in Moscow, like navigation signs and universal access to the internet, we expected to find problematic life scenarios unique to Moscow.

Audience:

The audience of our solution consists of two types of visitors - those arriving from abroad and those visiting from other parts of Russia. We also had a hypothesis about the different needs of business travelers to the city, but we later found out that in general, they share most of the same needs with regular tourists.

We also found out that the app could be of used to locals as well, as it would provide them with updated information on historical points of interest and help them select entertainment activities among the large variety of thereof.

The team:

The project team consisted of two user researchers, myself included, a UI designer, and a graphic designer. We were in constant touch with the mos.ru team, running monthly meetings and progress evaluations.

My role:

I was appointed as the project manager for the research phase. I began with planning the research activities and hired a second researcher to my team to help with in-depth interviews and research analysis. Once we settled on visitor's life scenarios that require our attention, I switched to assisting with UI design activities and managed all the tests of the prototypes.

Sacrificial paper prototypes after been tested on streets

Testing paper prototypes with random people (guerilla research) around Moscow

Design process:

We split the project into two parts: research and design. The research phase started with 10 in-depth interviews with people who recently visited the city either for leisure or business purposes. Through those interviews, we accumulated our understanding in the most problematic parts of visitor's journey and identified key areas for improvement. We also have done extensive analysis of existing solutions around the world and spoke with local experts to gather insights about the Russian industry of tourism.

Armed with the in-depth understanding of key issues, we began prototyping, working in 3-week long design sprints. Each spring included design work and testing days, followed by another iteration on design. Testing was mostly done in guerilla style, meaning that we sought random foreign and local tourists and showed them our prototypes.

The final solution was delivered to mos.ru in form of a digital high-fidelity prototype. Users had a very positive feedback about the app, yet to the date, we don't know if mos.ru is planning to give it a go and start the development process.

High-fidelity prototype of the screen with mapped main attractions

High-fidelity prototype of the screen with attractions available at a short walking distance

Solution for a case when someone involved doesn't speak English

Mini-blog designed within the app to cover for the use case of sharing your trip details with friends and family