The Passport Program

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Timeline: 2 Weeks

Role: Lead Research & Visual Design—Synthesis, Ideation,

Wireframing, Visual Design, Branding

Research Methods:

Conducting user interviews
Performing competitive & comparative analyses
Ideation
Wireframing
Prototyping

Techniques:

Affinity Mapping, User Personas, Feature Inventory,

Task Flows, Site Maps

Tools: Figma, Whimsical

Figma File

Prototype

ABOUT THE ENTERPRISE

The Passport Program is a unique solution for travelers who face the overwhelming task of exploring certain cities and finding the best places to eat and drink. The premise is simple in publishing a small, tangible guidebook that offers BOGO deals and other incentives at a variety of venues including but not limited to restaurants, bars, and other locations. When redeeming a deal, the Passport holder would get a stamp from any of the participating businesses.

On their part, the participating businesses draft the details of their commercial deals. The Passport Program prints a passport for them. Created almost a decade ago, operating over 15 cities accoss the U.S, and working with thousands of venues, the Passport Program still does not have an electronic version of their passport booklet.

THE PROBLEM (SITUATION)
Customer’s currently only have the option to carry the passport physically… which can be accidentally lost or difficult to remember to always carry it around. They need a better way to store their coupons and keep track of their offers in a practical way, without getting rid of the physical passport.

THE SOLUTION (TASK)
Creating an app version for the Passport Program! To design an app for the stamp-collecting and bogo deal redeeming book of the Passport Program. As a well-traveled and former passport user, my goal was to create an online presence and increase engagement.

I. RESEARCH PHASE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

AFFINITY MAPPING

I begn conducting my research by introducing the business and demonstrating the needs of current and potential users for a smart electronic version of the infamous passport through organizing and analyzing data using the Affinity Map organizational tool. The findings helped form the two personas that represent the main user poles who would benefit from using the app version of the Passport Program. Nevertheless, the trends generated from the Affinity Map led qualitative research based on which our design decisions were informed.

HOVER OVER!

2. BUSINESS ANALYSES

Using the Feature Inventory comparison tool, I will lay out the differences among some competitors and comparators in the industry as part of conducting business analyses. The analyses helped inform what has been positively working for the Passport Program as well as important features and tools that the business needed to catch up on. Rather than copying and pasting exact features and tools adapted by some competitors and comparators, the business analyses offered inspiration to implement and enhance unique design aspects for the non-virtual passport program’s guide.

One specific feature inspired by comparators and competitors but adapted in our design was the Navigational Structure, which contains the following:

Additionally, I drew inspiration from the Apple Wallet on iPhone for the sharp look and feel of the digitized passports. Then I studied various food and restaurant related platforms including OpenTable and FourSquare which provided insights on each establishment through categories for users to select (e.g. “good for kids,” “Live DJ”, etc.).

3. MEET THE USERS

From our research, we were able to identify 2 personas:

a. Taylor (the social butterfly)

b. Ainsley (the most reserved of the reserved)

TYLOR'S TASK FLOW:

CLAIMING A HAPPY HOUR DEAL (HAPPY FLOW)

In this scenario, Taylor is already familiar with the app and he is using it while traveling. Explore being one of his features through which he gets to find and plan his next adventure. Having earned a lot of points, Taylor’s priority is getting those Flash Deals to redeem.

After finding a place of interest among his catered options, Taylor clicks on the restaurant image and will be prompted to read the establishment’s description, offers and reviews prior to selecting the deal and adding it to My Rewards. Taylor is now ready to redeem his deal by going to the restaurant and scanning the QR code that will generate upon accessing the selected deal.

Go to prototyped Task Flow

AINSLEY'S TASk FLOW:

CHECKING & REDEEMING A REWARD

Having always used the passport booklet in the past, Ainsley is giving the passport app a try. She wants to scan her stamps conveniently as they appear on any digitized passport of the city of her choice.

Prior to redeeming a deal, Ainsley visits My Rewards to check the status of her points and whether she earned any reward. Ainsley can now either redeem her reward(s) by scanning the deal directly on My Rewards or go to any restaurant of her choice on the city-specific passport she chooses. Thus, generating a stamp, similar to using the physical passport. Yet, electronically.

Go to prototyped Task Flow

4. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

After relying on my initial usability tests to reaffirm the Passport Program’s need for a virtual platform to navigate, stamp, and redeem, I started thinking about sorting participating businesses into categories.

I performed a card sorting activity where users grouped restaurants and bars from one of the Passport cities into categories that made sense to them. Although Results varied, some remarkable categories have emerged.

Drawing on feedback from the research participants, we arrived at a set-up wherein a group of venues would fit under at least one of the following categories:

Screenshot 2023-01-12 at 10.09.24 PM.png

Happy Hour

Date Night

BOGO Deals

Friends Night

Cheap Eats

II. Design Phase

My Rewards

After all the research, our next step was finding a way to incorporate our findings into features. As a team, we benefited from a MSCW (Must, Should, Have, and Won't Have) Feature which helped us introduce the Reward system and Explore page. The left screen shows an overview of the rewards system which allow users to frequent favorite local venues and accumulate additional rewards in the form of points. The more users spend, the higher points they will earn. Thus, resulting in more rewards e.g. gifting points to others, having priority seatings at some venues, birthday rewards, etc. Since the current BOGO deal can be redeemed once per restaurant, more customers will be regulars at different venues. Overall, this reward system will help businesses maintain loyal customers, and give incentives to go out and explore.

5. Wireframing & Prototyping

Explore

is a way to get to the next adventure by having local participating businesses categorize by themes and provide detailed information about their space, services, and offers. That includes taking professional photos, leaving a review section, etc. since our research showed that a lot of users prefer researching their outing, this feature will be helpful in these regards. Additionally, the Explore Page has a flash deal category that allows users to earn bonus points if redeeming an offer that expires within a timed week.

USER DESIGN INTERFACE

After having proceeded to the final, high fidelity prototype, I would like to share some insights I navigated as part of building the app’s updated user interface design. Based on research and the user personas, I desired for the app to simulate, as much as possible, the experience of visiting a unique culinary market with a variety of healthy, splendid, and sustainable venues. I found inspiration in words such as “intimate”, “welcoming”, “modern”, and “creative” to inform my moodboard, visual aid, and color palette selection.

Screenshot 2023-01-13 at 12.21.43 AM.png

In addition, I was looking for a typeface that reflects the font of an iOS mobile device. I simply, yet objectively, landed on SF Pro Display font for the headings and SF Pro Text for body content. Downloaded from Apple, SF Pro, this sans-serif typeface, has a casual, dynamic look and an ability to automatically switch Optical sizes (smaller text) according to the font size for best legibility.

UPCOMINGS

Drawing on some observations from other platforms (that were not incorporated in this design) and feedback from new users, I arrived at a set-up wherein each venue would fit under at least one of the following categories (in terms of themes or services offered):

Vegan
Kosher
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Ethnic

LESSONS LEARNED

Accepting challenges and recognizing my strength as part of a growth process by taking on a mission of building an app from scratch for a business that does not operate or sell its services on a web platform to begin with.

I envisioned the creation of this virtual platform to promote the business by catering for current and potential users' needs, as defined in the research, while keeping the original booklet for those who prefer the physical version or don’t have access to technology.

Part of this experience demonstrates my strong research skills in conducting objective business analyses and empathizing with the users of a product I was part of developing without compromising either their needs or the establishment's wishes and expectation

TEAMMATES TESTIMONIALS

Fernie Saldivar

"I had the pleasure of woking with Charlie on developing an app for a long-existing business. His good teamwork efforts combined with design expertise not only made it easy to divide the tasks equally, but also drove satisfactory outcomes in a healthy working environment."

Mikayla Salyer

"Having Charlie on our team as a researcher was a godsend. They are extremely thorough and I knew we had the best possible data to make an amazing product because of them."