Mark Murphy Designs

Mark Murphy DesignsMark Murphy DesignsMark Murphy Designs

Mark Murphy Designs

Mark Murphy DesignsMark Murphy DesignsMark Murphy Designs
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"Lonely Planet"

 Lonely Planet is a travel resource for those considering exploring new places. My work for Lonely Planet took place as a group academic project which focused on the "Digital Nomad". Our task was to bring existing content to this growing audience. 

Our Team

Our Approach

Our Approach

We had a four person group with two team members focused on research and two focused on design. As a member of the research team, I made sure to touch base with our design brief throughout the project and to make sure the user was represented in our deliverables.

Our Approach

Our Approach

Our Approach

We set out to redesign the Lonely Planet site. However, the key to doing this was providing a structure for content that was already accessible to the user. We needed to connect the user more directly with the content and provide a graphical user interface where this was appealing.

Competitive Research

nomadlist.org

digitalnomadworld.com

digitalnomadworld.com

Faceted navigation allows access to a range of metrics important to travelers. Safety and internet for example were criteria that came up in our user research. Filtering by those metrics has a clear advantage to the growing audience of digital nomad

digitalnomadworld.com

digitalnomadworld.com

digitalnomadworld.com

Similar to our client, this website offers a "sign up" feature and consultations with experts. While membership is not required for either Lonely Planet or Digital Nomad World, we acknowledge that making this information accessible is advantageous for the user experience.

User Persona

We created a user persona by conducting four user interviews and performing a content analysis of digital nomad resources on YouTube and Reddit. We gained a more intimate understanding of our user, their behaviors, needs and frustrations.

Behaviors

Frustrations

Behaviors

Our user is looking to stay in one location for up to three months. This individual is working about 8 hours per day and is looking for inspiration using their mobile phone while planning and getting work done on their laptop. 

Needs

Frustrations

Behaviors

Our user needs a comfortable and practical work setup. They need to engage in a meaningful community either in-person or online and they need a plan and a backup plan for every scenario.

Frustrations

Frustrations

Frustrations

Lodging accommodations were a pain point for our user: A desk and chair, in addition to reliable internet were not always accessible.  Also the user frequently needed to take care of personal needs such as accessing prescription medication.

Mapping Out the User's Journey

Through our user research we created a visualization of the user's experience from planning to arrive at a destination to leaving it. The subsequent steps allowed us to analyze low points in the user journey.

It's been a journey!

Our research directed us to a particular low point in the user journey. This was the period after traveling and before relaxing. This living/working hybrid phase was fraught with needs to find reliable internet and set up a personal office space. We also acknowledge that you'll be acclimating to new surroundings, finding nearby stores and restaurants and unpacking.

Creating a Sitemap Was Key

With our goals in mind we set out to make the existing site content more accessible through a single "Digital Nomad" tab in the primary navigation. When this was unsuccessful, we nested all of our digital nomads content under the existing tabs of the Lonely Planet site.

Sitemap 2.0

After our first sitemap failed tree testing we decided to include the digital nomads content within the existing site structure. With this aspect of our ideation complete we were free to design solutions for the Lonely Planet website.

A User Flow

We devised a plan. We would allow the user access to information through planning > setting up their workspace (and)> selecting a city. Some of our feedback was around a user seeking inspiration on mobile. We were going to offer the user a mobile friendly user experience where they could explore articles on their favorite city before they arrived.

Go with the Flow

We provide the user direct access to, "Setting up a workspace." We identified this area as a low point in their user experience and we were able to use the existing site architecture to bring them this unique content which will address the challenge of finding adequate accommodations, finding an internet café or co-working space, or even locating inexpensive office furniture to buy or rent.

A Mid-Fidelity Prototype

The new design for Lonely Planet uses the same typeface and color scheme of their existing site while adding some overlays and drop-downs that are entirely new. We were confident we had executed an interface familiar to the user but we'd have to test our solution.

Flow #1

For the primary navigation in the dropdown menu we focused on the "Working While Abroad" tab as most of our users expressed difficulty with this aspect of their experience. From there we brought them directly to content relative to their destination, in this case, Paris and provided a range of articles on Paris lodging accommodations.

Flow #2

Another low point in our user experience was isolation. Users wanted to be able to reach out and access other travelers. In this spirit we created content for our user to see "Tips from Fellow Nomads" and prompted our users to find this during our usability testing.

Usability Testing

Completing the Task

Understanding the Wording

Understanding the Wording

5/5 users successfully completed our task.

Understanding the Wording

Understanding the Wording

Understanding the Wording

 Our users disliked some of the wording, particularly on the destination page where they felt it was confusing at some points, making it hard to easily read and understand. 

User Flows

Understanding the Wording

User Flows

While users understood our content was slightly different, they also felt it could be grouped together into a single area on our site.

A Responsive Desktop Design

Due to our users planning some of their travels on their desktop, we included a responsive desktop design in our final deliverable

A Lonely Planet

One major learning can be taken away from this project: Do your research. In developing a site structure we created content. Lonely Planet already has content specific to the digital nomad. Our solution could've been so much more elegant if we chose to use their existing content and paid attention to their existing site structure.

Next Project

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