The initial idea of TravelSafe came about through our research on human trafficking in a problem based learning studio lecture with 4 other girls. The research was purely student based and the aim was to work on a real life problem based on a word catalyst our’s was “Fraudulentness”. We created a team of designers from all different streams with allocated roles in the group; chair, scribe, secretary, and observers. The purpose of this project was to exercise our collaborative nature as creative thinkers. I then further developed my app solution in that group in another individual assessment based on the design thinking process.
MISSION STATEMENT
Focus on informing travellers of potential risks and areas to avoid to reduce fear and uncertainty, instil safety and trust, and have highly accessible forms of help available for life threatening/ emergency situations.
UNDERSTAND
whats the need?
Travellers aren’t aware of the current risks and dangers of their destination. Most crimes that directly affect foreigners are due to lack of awareness. The overall needs of the app is to provide viable and updated information, easy to use methods of safety, tackle language barriers and ensure a trustworthy experience for travellers.
Primary Research
According to ITB World travel trends report 2016/17/18 - 45% of outbound travellers have serious safety and security concerns - two-thirds of the volunteers said they still plan to travel abroad but only to destinations perceived as safe. The media plays a large role on influencing the actions of travellers.
“A comparison of travel risks shows international outbound travellers are much more likely to be affected by health issues or crime rather than terror attacks” - Rolf Freitag, 2017
8% of international travellers suffered a “risk event” between Jan-August 2017;
4% serious crime,
3% serious health issues and accidents
1% of natural catastrophes.
I also found that some solutions that already exist for these problems.
methods of prevention:
keeping your travel/accommodation details to yourself - avoid “seedy” areas( especially at night), carrying Embassy details with you at all times - stay around cities and streets with women and children - keep personal documents in a safe place - don’t wear expensive jewellery/money belts around your waist - staying beware of common scams
Viable methods of getting help/ preventing risks:
researching the safety of your intended destination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, - contacting your Embassy, - consulting with hotel managers or a local tourist information officer for updates on ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ areas, travel agents, local police and department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Which I concluded to be task-extensive and a lot to do for someone who is trying to go on a holiday; adding unnecessary stress and becomes a hassle.
EMPATHISE
SECONDARY RESEARCH
I conducted a few empathy interviews to gain an understanding of the potential users perspective, through these observations i listened carefully to the pre-conceived notions that people exhibited
The environments they’ve experienced played a great role on how safe they felt.
I used a series of simple open-ended questions to evoke a past memory or to relate to their experience.
For example, one of my participants felt safe on the cruise ship he was on, but that security diminished once he got off the cruise at Noumea as shop owners were displaying the fact that they have firearms on hand to scare criminals, I could emphasise with the anxiety and fear he felt at that moment.
“I was offered to buy marijuana in Noumea, I refused but you never know what they could’ve done to it, they took my friend to get it, who knows where they could’ve taken him”
Through a couple of interviews and talks with people who travel fairly often I was able to empathise with their needs and wants. I then collected my findings into a value proposition canvas and empathy map; this helped look at my understandings in a coherent manner.
DEFINE
Throughout my findings I gathered a list of needs:
-Viable and updated information -Easy to use/find methods of safety
-Component that deals with language barriers
-trustworthy experiences
This led to my mission statement:
Focus on informing travellers of potential risks and areas to avoid to reduce fear and uncertainty, instil safety and trust, and have highly accessible forms of help available for life threatening/ emergency situations.
To make the idea viable I created a business model canvas:
IDEATE
After gathering my findings I was able to create some prototypes, I started off with paper sketches before taking the designs into Axure for user testing mockups.
USER TESTING
Effectiveness: Users found the app would work to protect them- selves when travelling
Usefulness: Users liked how informative the content is, as well as the security they felt
Aesthetics: minimalist, clean and discreet, users did recommend more colour
Appropriateness: The interface displayed an easy-to-use navigation system with only few call to actions to be made; good for emergency situations