Economy Flight Booking Web App Design
Interviews / Wireframes / Information Architecture / Prototype / User Testing
VALUFlight simplifies the process
of finding and booking flights online.
User Interviews
Three people were met with individually and asked to talk about their experience with finding and booking flights online. It was found that all participants used different methods, yet they all wanted an easy experience. Each person usually had flexible travel days and shared their unique flight booking preferences. The purpose of this interviewing process was to determine the user goals, which fueled the web app design.
"The user wants an easy way to book an economical flight."
Wireframes
Initial pen and paper wireframes came to life as an effort to explore many possible solutions. Site content was grouped , organized and structured. Through rounds of revisions, sketches became more simplified, keeping the ultimate user goal in mind.
Information Architecture
A screen flow was created to communicate the overall organization and interaction on the site's main pages.
Interactive Prototype
Digital wireframes served as a starting point for creating an interactive prototype using Axure. With UI widgets and dynamic panels, the prototype communicated the overall flow of the site.
User Testing
Three users were met with individually to test the site. Through a briefing, the users were asked to perform one task and two scenarios, while providing verbal commentary on their thought process as they interacted with the site prototype. The users successfully completed the task:
Book the cheapest flight possible in February from Minneapolis to San Francisco for one passenger flying economy.
Only two of the three users were able to successfully complete the scenarios with ease. Areas of struggle with the prototype helped indicate pain points along the user's interaction at this phase of the site development.
Next Steps
Following the user testing, it was determined that additional rounds of design and usability tests would be necessary to ensure the best user experience. Fine-tuning micro-interactions on the site would help eliminate any minor usability challenges.
A/B Tests with new test groups should be conducted following revisions to the prototype.
During the next phase of the project, improvements to the following areas can help solve critical and major usability issues:
Calendar Design + Functionality
"More Info" Design + Terminology
Flight Details