product, UX Strategy
Wanderful
Homestay
Team
Primary UX Designer working with Wanderful's Creative Director
Duration
Around 3 months -> closed due to COVID
Techniques
Industry research, sitemapping, information architecture, sketching, wireframing, mood boarding, visual design, prototyping
Tools
Pencil and paper, Sketch, InVision App
About
Wanderful is the leading network for women travelers, who empower women to travel safely and confidently through their identity verified network of nearly 40,000 members worldwide and 45 chapters around the world.
I originally got connected with Wanderful during their travel conference in Quebec City. That year, Wanderful launched its homestay service.
I designed a website and app for Wanderful members to use to book homestay experiences, in line with Wanderful's existing brand.
Goals
Increase user leads and bookings.
1. Generate more leads and conversions by making the primary and secondary calls-to-action much more prominent in the main navigation. Add a search functionality in the header.
2. Ensure that the mobile experience is equally beautiful and functional as the desktop experience.
3. Enhance the user experience and SEO ranking by updating the navigation to be more intuitive with drop-down menus, nomenclature updates, and enhancements to page organization.
4. Ensure SEO-friendly meta data is built into every page and asset of the new website, helping bring in organic leads.
5. Ensure the booking experience is smooth and intuitive, following paradigms commonly used on competitor sites.
6. Advise on content strategy/keywords for the blog and throughout the site.
Refresh website to better showcase the Wanderful brand.
Update a unique website design system that follows Wanderful’s typography, iconography, illustrations, textures, photo treatments, layouts, and more that feel clean and high quality.
Research
Audience Survey
At the beginning of the project,
- Dive into how the site functioned and pain points that users and the client had
- Competitor research conducted in terms of apps and services that were director competitors of Wanderful
Strategy
The strategy portion of our process included understanding key differentiators, and breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of the current website, and defining unique goals for the new website.
Sitemap & Wireframes
After the Creative Brief is the sitemap and information architecture steps. The sitemap was built using Slickplan. The full IA document can be found in Dropbox Paper.
You can see the full IA document here.
Design
Moodboard
In the case of this mood board, I pitched two directions: The Elegant Tourist and The Modern Adventurer. I imagined the client wanted to be feminine and approachable, yet powerful, something that their brand already represented.
You can see the full Wanderful Homestay mood board here.
Visual Design
I also pulled inspiration from travel sites I frequently visited as well as the library I've gathered during my time at 829.
The final (working) site blended new characteristics, such as more generous use of white space, as well as assets from their main site. Repeated elements include their logo, color scheme, typography, and CTA treatment.
That same brand voice of the empowered female traveler was echoed in their product. I gathered inspiration from already existing accommodation apps: AirBnb, Homestay.com, Vrbo, Couchsurfing, and HomeExchange as well as sites at 829.
Wireframing and designing the product was interesting as I tried to use language that was best practice, personable, and unique to Wanderful. The end (working) booking flow was something that struck a balance between an AirBnb booking and a Homestay request.
Takeaways
This has been one of my favorite projects to work on thus far. It was exciting to think beyond conversions and step into a potential traveler’s mind. The booking flows and research was something I enjoyed immensely. I loved the deep thinking required behind building the user experience, in this case for the booking flow.
It was great working for something that I could relate to and believed in, as I could see myself using this product and service. To design for something that could leave an impact on someone was an empowering thing to do.