The Challenge

Since Zeit is the first company to offer this novel travel experience, there we concerns about price, safety, and logistics of time traveling.

High-Level Goals

1. Launch a responsive, user-friendly travel booking website

2. Build Zeit branding and customer trust

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

I created an open card sorting using OptimalSort and shared the link with seven people within the age of 15 through 40.

At first, it was difficult trying to make sense with the data as everyone’s groupings didn’t have a lot of overlap. I proceeded on with the site mapping using Writemaps and attempted to categorize the historical places and figures based on the feedback provided from the card sorting.

I felt unsure whether I yield any good data from these two methods, so I spoke with my mentor and shared my frustrations

It was challenging to categorize the past because so much has happened. You know only what happened if someone recorded it and even that information has so much bias, as history is written by the victor. I couldn’t group the experiences geographically as borderlines always changed. My interviewees questioned the logistics and safety of time travel. How would a traveler find a place to stay in Ancient China? Would it be safe? What if they need to call customer service but there are no phones? Was the experience way too authentic? Even my mentor feels overwhelmed eating at an authentic Chinese restaurant so he sticks with the “#2” order. When there’s too many things to think about, it slows our response. This was an example of Hick’s Law.

That’s when I had my “aha” moment!

Perhaps instead of having a true authentic Chinese experience, why not have a Panda Express experience? You’re still served authentic Chinese food with a simplified process of picking and choosing. How do I provide a “Panda Express” travel experience?

That’s when I thought about the 15 year old who attempted to group the historical terms. On average, the majority spent 20 minutes whereas the 15 year old spent more than an hour googling the terms. I started to think how would I simplify the process, that even a 15 year old can digest quickly? I reviewed my interview responses and majority of them mentioned a historical figure. That’s when I thought Zeit should focus only on historical figures. This would also allow the historical figure to tell their own story.

I went out for a second open card sorting focusing only historical figures and iterated my site map. Overall, the second open card sorting provided better data and participants labeled the groups based on the subject the historical figure is known best for.

INTERACTION DESIGN

Based on the sitemapping, I created a task flow of booking a trip as a user and a user flow if Juan were to book a trip.

I drafted some low fidelity versions of the landing page with elements my interviewees deemed were important on a travel booking website. I took elements from each version and created a mid fidelity version of the landing page and profile page on Figma.

USABILITY TESTING

I had four participants to test the final prototyping. I gathered my notes and placed them into an affinity mapping, breaking them down to wins, pains, potential additional features, and next steps of iteration.

REFLECTION

During the time of this project humans cannot time travel. Although users want to have an exciting and novel experience, the booking experience still needs to be similar like other travel agencies. Users value practicality in price, design, and experience. Let these values guide the design process and the structure of the interface. Overall, I had a fun experience with Zeit and working with The Doctor.