Green Flash Travel offers an opportunity for users to offset their "Carbon Footprint" when purchasing airline and/or rail tickets.
HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUP
GREEN FLASH TRAVEL PROJECT OVERVIEW
Users were frustrated when booking rail/airline tickets and not having easy access to the most eco-friendly travel options for the desired journey.
Green Flash Travel informs travelers of the carbon emissions of trains and planes for a given city pair during the search phase. The travel booking tool offers the user an option to purchase carbon credits promoting a more sustainable planet by contributing to different projects around the world, creating a more sustainable planet.
The travel booking tool limits the search to direct airline/rail services and only offers economy tickets. This action minimizes the carbon output into the atmosphere since connecting flights add more gases than direct services.
Go Eco Green searches for the least Carbon emitting travel options for your desired journey.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
The design thinking Process requires frequent iterations for a user-friendly product
When designing a new tool for booking eco-friendly travel, I organized the 10-day design sprint with daily testing and iterations. I emphasized the Design Thinking Process throughout the entire project. I thought receiving daily feedback for each step helped to optimize the end product.
During the sprint, I learned that time flies and accomplishing milestones take much longer than originally planned. I found that doing frequent testing and iterations is the best way to move forward and provide a product with an exceptional experience.
Surveys and Interviews
Airplanes emit more Carbon than alternative transport options
At the discovery phase of the project, I conducted user interviews in order to understand the problem better. My main concern before creating an app was to find out the willingness of users to contribute extra for projects elsewhere around the world, focuses on the environment to reduce their "Carbon Footprint."
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Research Insights
The modern train emits the least amount of carbon into the atmosphere
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Price is the motivating factor when purchasing travel
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Over 60% would take a train if it were a viable option
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Inspiration through the booking process is important
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About 52% surveyed planned to offset their travel
The research phase gave a better understanding of the business and an opportunity to create a user type for a travel booking tool, offering eco-friendly travel options.
User Persona
Based on the user survey and interviews, I created one persona. I decided that Sabine is frustrated with the current booking tools and wanted to book eco-friendly travel on one platform, using both trains and planes. Furthermore, Sabine always likes to travel carbon neutral, but never had the opportunity to buy carbon credits and her journey in one transaction.
Customer Journey Map
To understand how users find and interact with booking airline/rail tickets, I created a Customer Journey Map. This journey map emphasized the dissatisfaction of users with the available booking tools for flights and trains that offer more eco-friendly options.
BREAKING DOWM THE PROCESS FURTHER
Moodboard
I created a mood board for the project, in order to stay focused on the idea of users learning about the impact travel has on the environment.
EVOLUTION OF THE WIREFRAMES DURING IDEATIONS
This section highlights the unfolding of wireframes in a 3 part series of the important elements integrated into the online booking tool. After intensive testing, iterations and a greater understanding of Sketch, I applied what I have learned in the Ironhack Bootcamp to the final outcome that can be viewed in the High- Fidelity Mockup Screens.
A very simple sketch emphasizing the "must have" features for a travel booking tool that evolves throughout the entire design process.
The idea of the search stayed the same, but more information about carbon offsetting your journey becomes available.
The rough idea of how the end product looks, however, testing emphasized a need for a home screen and white space disappears in the final high-fidelity wireframe in this sequence.
The final high-fidelity wireframe continued to evolve with larger text, text prompts for the user, a home screen button and a more engaging experience.
For each wireframe, the content, alignment and overall style evolved. The user always has the option to skip the screen about buying carbon credits.
This low to mid-fidelity wireframe lets the user explore projects that different organizations participate in for a more sustainable planet. The rough layout continues to evolve as testing revealed that information on the screen should be larger.
During testing, the user wanted an option for choosing a specific amount to contribute to reducing their “Carbon Footprint”. The drop-down menu confused the user during testing.
An alternative Pop-up box was created to solve this design flaw. The Green Flash Travel Partners became enlarged to encourage the user to explore different organizations.
This low fidelity sketch highlights a very basic design that evolves throughout the design process
Highlighting the important information for the journey is common on all travel apps. I wanted to integrate and educate the user about carbon emissions.
The first high fidelity wireframe with general travel information and facts about carbon. Testing revealed that the user likes the search to follow them throughout the whole process. This is added to the header for an updated wireframe.
The design changed to integrate larger text and buttons. The added tabs allow for easier navigation between the different fare categories.
Key Learning and Next Steps
I learned the importance of staying focused on the user throughout the entire process. This challenging and interesting project evolved from applying the design process throughout the 2-week design sprint. Of course, with a limited amount of time, I was not able to develop the profile section in the High-Fidelity Mock Up Screens, but continue to iterate and apply new skills acquired from previous weeks to the project.
The next steps for the project include implementing a carbon footprint calculator, a dedicated section for eco-friendly destinations and a points-based incentive program. Green Flash Travel is committed to rewarding the user for booking eco-friendly travel options and eventually will match the contributions, creating an even more sustainable planet in the future.