Zeit is a new upcoming company that is providing the very real possibility to travel to 289 destinations located all over the world starting from prehistoric times through today. All protocols put forth by the International Concordance on Time Travel will be followed to ensure a safe trip. Travelers will have the experience of a lifetime at one of Zeit’s many luxurious resorts.

UX Research

With my research I unwanted to identify what the average traveler likes to do most while vacationing. I also wanted to find what people are most interested in about the past or history. I needed to know what features to include and the best way to present them including prices and packages. It is also important to discover the best demographic in this phase as well.

Secondary Research Findings

I found that the average traveler is the millennial age group (born between 1981-1996). Since that age group are the top travelers technology is going to continue to be a huge element when it comes to travel. Especially with the new norm of working from home more and more people are looking to vacation while still being able to keep up with their work.

Competitive Analysis Findings

I found that competitor websites in this category had a fun and friendly feel. These sites are straight to the point and show images of places to visit giving you product examples right on the homepage. Also use of natural language is a common theme. All sites had the filter at the top of the visual hierarchy making it the first thing you see when entering. Travel sites seem to follow the same user flow of entering on the homepage, using the filter to search, then going to the search results page before picking the final trip to book. Also, on the homepage they give you a way to searching by not using the filter and using other options like packages or experiences.

Zeit Interview Script

Introduction
Hi, my name is Gillian and I am doing research on what aspects of history do people find most interesting. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions about your interest in history?
Interview questions:
1)What about history do you enjoy?
2) What time frame or event are you most interested in? What about it interest you?
3)Would you enjoy to be able to live for a week in your favorite time period in the past? What if that means living without plumbing or electricity?
Interview 1
Name: Melissa and Andy , married couple
Age: 47, 45
Occupation : Nutritional Practitioner, Turf Manager
History knowledge : Melissa states her knowledge of history is just “ok” while Andy states it doesn’t interest
him at all
Results:
It was interesting interviewing a married couple since they travel together but had very different answer about what interest them or doesn’t interest them about history. While Melissa found history very interesting Andy had no interest in history. For Melissa she enjoys history because it a tells the story of the truths that came before her and enjoys that the cultures are different with an emphasis on politics, food and clothing. If she wasable to go back in time she would want to go back to the 1940’s to enjoy and experience the food and clothing. She would be willing to live a week there to learn new things even if that means living with out electricity and plumbing which at that time was being introduced but not a standard. She did mention that she would prefer modern conveniences but would be ok with roughing it for a week. Andy on the other hand was completely opposite. he had a hard time coming up with where he would want to go so I provided examples from the briefing we were provided and got excited at the chance to see dinosaurs. He likes that idea because of the unknown factor and that people don’t have a valid description of those times. He would be completely fine with living without the modern conveniences as well although would prefer it only be for a few days. At the end Melissa did mention that being a biracial couple did effect a little how she thought about my questions. So I did end up telling about the assignment to see if knowing that she would be mostly surrounded by people from today and if that changed any of her answers. She stated that her answers would still be the same.
Interview 2
Name: Danielle
Age: 37
Occupation: Hair Dresser
History Knowledge: Poor
Results:
While Danielle states that her history knowledge is poor it is something that interest her. She enjoys learning about things that have already happened. Top on her list of interests would be Studio 54. If given the choice she would want to visit Studio 54 with her reasoning to go to that particular era is to ”party” with the locals. She would want to experience that time and have fun with the people of that era. She didnt pick a time that is too far from today but she did say that living a week there sounds hard but would be willing to do it. she stated that that point it wouldn’t be fun but would be more educational. she is in favor of having modern conveniences. But if had the opportunity to go back in time would want it to be true to the time howveer she did admit that she feels that way mostly because she doesn’t want to go too far back. She is also a black woman so racism was a thought of hers and effected her choices. So I did end up telling about the assignment to see if knowing that she would be mostly surrounded by people from today and if that changed any of her answers. She stated that her answers would still be the same.
Interview 3
Name: Scott,
Age: 70
Occupation: Civil engineer
History knowledge: Good
Results:
While history does interest him, he finds it interesting and educational. it was hard for him to pick just one thing he was interested in but one thing was for sure and that was that he had no interest in going back to any of those times.the only way he would want to go back in time is if he would have the same modern conveniences and technology that he has today. After talking more with him, since this is something he had never thought about, I tried to get something that he might like to go see and he did mention that he would be interested in seeing the Roman circus.
Interview 4
Name: Annette
Age: 66
Occupation: Retired
History knowledge: Average - Above Average
Results:
What Annette likes most about history is that it tells a story of real people. She enjoys history a lot so it was difficult for her to pick a time or event that she would want to go back to. Most of her history interests are very specific to Black History so she ended up wanting to go back to 1930’s Louisiana go to back and talk with her ancestor who experience slavery. She wanted to ask them about their lives and how they lived. When asked if it would change her mind if she wouldn’t be able to have interactions with people she stated no. When asked about if she could live a week in that time period she stated ”Yes if I was younger but it would be hard now. I would prefer to have modern conveniences, but to visit the time period would be willing to live without it for a few days.”

Research Debrief

Based on the survey there was a lot of answer that surprised me. For example I thought it was interesting that when asked what activities they like to do while traveling that no one picked to see a show or a concert. I added that question in to see if adding specific events like original plays or concerts would be more preferable over time frames to visit. After doing the interview and making them more about historical references I did find out that people where more split with half talking more about time frames and the other half still interested in events like that.

I asked the WiFi and social media questions to find out how important technology was to people and the answers where as I expected. However when I asked the question about living in a way that reflect the culture that they are in or if they preferred a modern version I was surprised that little over half of the people said the culture reflection with 58.82% wanting that version. That is why when I did my interviews I made sure to stating what if that meant going without plumbing or electricity. I was surprised that 3 out of 5 were fine to go without plumbing or electricity if that meant having the true historical experience. However 100% of those being interviewed did state that they would prefer the modern conveniences over the cultural reflection.

From the survey I was surprised that more people used Airbnb. Then again based on my research one of the trends is to have everyone traveling with you stay in a house which is mostly what Airbnb does. That is something to consider while making the site. Should we offer historical houses for you and your friends to stay in that is true to the time frame you are visiting? That would give people the culture people seem to be craving while giving it that modern Airbnb feel. That could mean that staying that the resort would be the more modern version with plumbing, electricity, and wifi. I also found it interesting that most people use the search feature first making that something that should definitly stand out of the site.

Persona

Project Goals

UI Requirements

User Task:
Arrives to the homepage and wants to book a time travel trip
Pages to Design:
- Homepage
- Search results page
- Destination details page
- Booking page
High Level Requirement:
- A homepage that allows for browsing through and searching for products
- A search result page that has the ability to filter and contains major information that a user would want to see at a glance.
- The destination details page will contain all important trip information
- Booking page will ask for required information to book the trip and provide important information including prices
Detailed Requirements:
Homepage:
- Clear main navigation with browsable collections of products that the user might like to buy
- A omnipresent search accessible from any page that allows users to find a specific product they have in mind
- Top / most popular / on sale products as a teaser to start finding products to buy
- Basic information about the company or services that they provide (delivery if applies, for example)
- Testimonials of happy customers / social media aggregation of posts of happy users
- Access to information about the company including contact info.
Search Results Page:
- Possibility of narrowing down the search results by providing a list of categories, subcategories and filtering options such as location, time frame and price.
- Product listing
- Customer star rating
- Basic destination details like location and time frame
- Price range/ starting price
Destination Details Page:
- Customer star rating and reviews
- Product information
- Location, date, starting price
- Amenities and added features
- Cancellation policy
Booking page:
- Dates to book trip with a calendar drop down and amount of guests.
- Destination information including location and date.
- Pricing information and option to edit.
- Create account including adding personal and payment information.
User Task:
Has recently booked a time travel trip and wants to add activities.
Pages to Design:
- User log in page
- Profile page
- Search result page
- Activity details page
- Books spot(s)
High Level Requirements:
- A user log in page requiring credentials
- A profile home page that includes trip information, early check in, and additional add on’s.
- A search results page with filtering options and time appropriate preplanned group activities.
- Activity details page with activity information including start and end time
- Booking page to check availability and include the amount of people attending activity.
Detailed Requirements:
User Log in Page:
- Will require user name and password.
- Password reset/ forgot password button
- create account
Profile Page:
- Trip details and itinerary
- Early booking link
- Suggested things that you might like base off previous searches
- A omnipresent search accessible from any page that allows users to find a specific product they have in mind
- Add on link to categories such as activities, shows, dinner reservations, and service
Search Results Page:
- Possibility of narrowing down the search results by providing a list of categories, subcategories and filtering options such as location, time frame and price.
- Product listing
- Customer star rating and reviews
Activities Details Page:
- Customer star rating and reviews
- Activity information
- Time frame
- Cancellation policy
Booking Page:
- Available time slots
- Amount of people attending
- Confirmation pop up

Usability Test Planning

Test objective:

• How long does it take a user to click the “book trip” button?

• Can a user easily find a specific destination?

• To observe any confusion or hesitation that a user has while using the website.

Test subject:

Prototype of the Zeit Travel tourism desktop website

Methodology:

• In person testing : Users on their personal computer testing a Figma prototype 

• Remote testing : While screen sharing in a zoom meeting I will observe user testing a Figma prototype

Participants:

• Age range : 30-50

• Amount of participants : 3-5

• Participants will be experienced travelers who have experience with travel sites

Recruiting:

• Personal network 

• Recruiting of previous participants

Usability goal:

• To view users interaction with the desktop website

• To discover any pain points that a user might have or experience while using the website

• Identify areas of improvement.

Procedure script:

Hello, my name is Gillian. I have created an e-commerce website for Zeit, a time travel tourism website. I will ask you to perform a few tasks. While you perform those tastes I will be observing and taking notes. Please feel free to express any emotions and share your thoughts as you go. Do you have any questions?

Scenarios:

Scenarios 1:  Take time and explore the homepage. Find out more information about the top destination, Saint Peter's Square. Is this destination available?

Scenarios 2: You recently heard about a new way to travel to any experience in the past. You and your family decide that you want to try it out and take a time travel adventure. Using the drop downs Find a family friendly destination in southern europe during the ancient era that fits in your family budget of $500-$1000.

Task:

Home page:

• What is your first impression of this site?

• Where does your eye gravitate towards first?

• Is there anything that stands out about the website that is different from other travel websites?

• Does anything feel out of place or hard to understand?

Search results page: 

• Is it easy for you to understand the information for each destination?

• Is there any more information that you wish you had at first glance that is missing?

• Is it easy for you to understand the filter fields?

Details page:

Is there any information that you feel is missing from this page?

Zeit Usability Test Participants:

All participants were found through personal connections and most were participants in the survey. I was able to have half my participants be male and half female. All participants but two were in my target age range. They all travel quite often and are familiar with travel booking websites. I was able to do in person testing with all participants.   

• Jaden, male, 18 years old

• Angel, female, 18 years old  

• Melissa, female, 48 years old

• Andy, male, 45 years old 

• Jennifer, female, 44 years old 

• Robert, male, 37 years old 

• Danielle, female, 37 years old

• Clay, male, 39 years old

Usability Test Results

Test plan objective:

1. How long does it take a user to click the “book trip” button?

2. Can a user easily find a specific destination?

3. To observe any confusion or hesitation that a user has while using the website.

Usability plan goal:

• To view users interaction with the desktop website

• To discover any pain points that a user might have or experience while using the website and to identify areas of improvement.

Summary: 

I sat down in person and observed eight different participants to conduct the usability testing, four males and four females. I had them use the think out loud method to talk me through what they are doing and their thought process. The participants were able to complete both tasks in about 1 to 5 minutes. All participants found the website to be pretty straightforward and self explanatory. The part of the website that seemed to draw them all in unanimously was the search filter which they had no problem using. 

Scenario 1:

Take time and explore the homepage. Find out more information about the top destination, Saint Peter's Square. Is this destination available?

Scenarios 1 Findings:

Most of the users first wanted to find the location by going to the filters. It did take participants a few clicks to get to the right destination because they wanted to go to the filters first. Probably the biggest pain point that all participants seemed to have was figuring out if the destination was available. They were able to click through the “check in/ check out” section but wanted to click “book trip” to find out if it was available. It did take a while for them to figure out where the section was that told them it was available. 

Scenarios 2: 

You recently heard about a new way to travel to any experience in the past. You and your family decide that you want to try it out and take a time travel adventure. Using the drop downs Find a family friendly destination in southern europe during the ancient era that fits in your family budget of $500-$1000.

Scenarios 1 Findings:

All participants were able to quickly locate the drops downs. Once on the search results page participants gravitate towards the refined filters filling in the rest of the details. The pain point that everyone seems to have was finding out if it was family friendly.  I feel like part of that was because I had them using the side filter when looking for the details the scenarios ask for so they didn't immediately understand where it was located.They wanted it to be in with the refined filters and because of that they were not able to find it right away.  

Areas of improvements:

• Participants had a hard time telling if the trip was available or not because they had to scroll down. Also they were expecting to see it around the area that contained the “check in/ check out” and amount of people going. Therefore moving the availability icon closer to the “book trip” button would make it easier for the users to find. 

• A lot of the users had a hard time finding out if a trip was family friendly or not. A few participants admitted that is an important thing that they search for when booking trips and would like to know that information quickly or to be able to filter for it. Therefore adding a filter for family friendly and adults only would be in the users best interests. Also an option is to rethink the location of that information or make it stand out with a bold text.

I was able to make the changes needed from the first round of user testing. Placement of where things were deemed to be the most important seemed to stand out. In the future I would like to do more user testing to perfect the design further. I would want to find out if changing the placement was the best solution to the user problems that came up in the original testing.