Free Journey
Personal project
Connecting people, fostering cultural exchange, and building vibrant communities through digital platforms.
Timeline
June 2022 - Aug 2022
Team
Individual
Role
User research
Product design
UI/UX design
Usability test
Overview
Tourists' Pain
Tonle Sap Lake, a Cambodian tourism gem, doesn't benefit its local refugees who face poverty and exclusion. Language and education gaps keep them out of the loop, while tourists often leave dissatisfied, witnessing these social disparities.
Solutions
I introduce SapJourney, an app that revolutionizes Cambodian tourism at Tonle Sap Lake by involving local refugees as hosts and cultural guides. This dual-benefit platform elevates the travel experience with authentic interactions and supports refugee communities economically, fostering a sustainable, inclusive tourism ecosystem that benefits all.
Solution
01. Get inspiration from handbook
Offers travel tips, direct booking, and maps to explore nearby floating villages. Solves the issues of limited destination info, unclear insights on local life, and confusing reviews from past visitors.
02.Book a journey
Allows recommended and customizable tours, supporting locals with jobs instead of relying on begging. Resolves issues of difficult trip customization, inconvenient scheduling, and surprise fees.
03.Get advices in tourists community
Enable tourists to exchange travel advice, ask for trip inspiration, and share their experiences. Addresses the issues of an unregulated market and unclear comments by standardizing information and facilitating clear communication.
04.Language help breaking barriers
Built-in translator for on-the-spot translations enable hiring local translators for better travel experiences and video tutorials teaching common phrases. Address issues like insufficient communication, lack of introductions and difficulties integrating into local life.
05.Donate to support locals
Allow tourists to learn locals’ lives and see their challenges, and donate supplies or money. Provides transparent feedback on donations, creating a connection between donors and recipients.
Research
Background - See the Gap
Through research and personal experience, I found a gap between Tonle SAP’s rich resources, the marginalized refugee community, and the tourists.
To figure out the real problems in tourism and better understand the needs, quantitative and qualitative researches are carried out.
Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Interview
Takeaways
Through triangle research, I found tourists are attracted by Nature scenery, Local customs, and Native lifestyle. While Mixed comments, Unfree schedule problems, Unexpected charges & tips, and Language barriers keep them away.
Therefore, despite its popularity, the Floating Village requires a bridge to offer tourists an enhanced travel experience and simultaneously provide economic support to the local community.
How might we
Integrate refugees and visitors to co-create a lively and relaxed floating village experience ?
Ideation
Brainstorm - needs to function
Based on tourists’ problems through research, I brainstormed potential needs and categories them with an affinity wall. It revealed some key functions.
It is a platform for mutual assistance between tourists and locals.
Information Architecture
I defined the information architecture to organize 4 main features.
Wireframes
I created a low-fidelity prototype based on the information architecture. The main challenge was organizing page transitions with two journey customization options. Later I used usability test to validate.
Usability
I scheduled 3 user testing sessions. They are all fans of Tonle Sap Lake tourism. According to the testing results, I made some changes.
Change 1
Combine two pages into one to avoid going back and forth
As user say "I’m Confused by going back and forth between two pages."
Before: switch between two pages
After: finish setting in one page
Change 2
Optimize the level of detail to avoid overwhelming
As user say “There's too much information, made me dazzling when I need to find useful information quickly during the journey.”
Before: too much details in one page
After: hide some minor information and be brief
Change 3
Adjust the booking page’ hierarchy to be consistent with other second-level pages
As user say “The page seems not in the same hierarchy with others.”
Before: too much details in one page
After: put the booking page on a secondary page
Reflection and Next Step
Constraints and concerns
The project is my vision of creating a tourist community in the floating village of Tonle Sap Lake. However, effectively engaging stakeholders such as local communities, tourism operators, and NPOs remains an real issue to address.
Next step
My urban planning background drives my passion for creating networks that connect people. I aim to develop a matchmaking system for locals and tourists, facilitating job selection, professional training, and online payment for refugees. This system will serve as a vital bridge between tourists and locals, enhancing our app's impact.