Travel Diary
For travelers taking attractive photos, managing photos effectively, and sharing happy moments
Type
Individual Course Project
Duration
Jan.–May 2020 (15weeks)
Role
UX | UI | Interaction
OVERVIEW
Problem
Travelers aren't able to get instant and professional instructions on taking photos by one application. Even you collect inspiration photos before a trip, you still might not get to the exact shooting spot for photography.
Solution
When In Travel: APP
When Back Home: TV
Providing photography guidance with navigation for travelers to make attractive posts and take professional photos.
- Pose instruction
- Composition guidance
- Inspiration community
Providing bulk photos management and sharing happy moments
- Delete similar photos
- Send photos to friends
Get Inspirations
After allowing the app to get your location, you can view photos taken here from other users as inspiration.
Follow Posture Guidance
Dragging an inspired photo as camera background, you can adjust the darkness and opacity to follow the pose guidance
Choose Composition
Follow the composition guidance, you can take pofessional photos for objects
RESEARCH
Summary
Content Analysis + Participatory Observation + Cognitive Mapping + Interview
At first, I did a content analysis to find out what the most popular features in travel photography applications. The top 3 are photo editing, portrait retouching, and using templates for social media. Those functions are all used after taking photos. Are there any special needs in the travel photography scenario? Considering the participatory observation from my California State Route 1 road trip, I did a cognitive mapping and find the need was to get instant instruction when taking photos on the road. To gain more comprehensive insights, I interviewed my friends who were with me on the trip. The pain points I identified are below:
Pain Points
For Model
- Don’t know how to pose
- Don’t know how to interact with the environment
- Unsatisfied with unprofessional photographer
For Photographer
- Can’t find the best photography spot
- Don’t know how to make professional compositions
For Travelers
- Decide difficultly to delete similar photos
- Want to share happy moments with travel companions
Competitive Analysis
Sovs2
Model Cam
Poze
Unscripted
Good things to learn
- Classified compositions for object: food, nature, city, landmark
- 2 styles for reference photos: realistic & abstract
- The user community for inspiring others or getting inspired
Bad things to avoid
No navigation to the best view for photography
No consideration for group travel photo sharing
No consideration for recall happy moment on the trip
User Archetypes
& Stories
Beginner
Characteristic:
- Unprofessional
- The very beginning
- No travel photography experience
Concern: If I don’t travel with a person who has travel photography experience, I would not be instructed to take excellent photos.
Need: I need a shooting guide and default filters when editing photos.
Expectation: Detailed，Multifunctional，Easy to start
Story: As a beginner, I want to get specific guidance when taking photos (composition, lighting, scene, etc.) so that I can record the most beautiful angle of the scenery
Blogger
Characteristic:
- Good at finding the angle of scenery
- Familiar with the process from shooting to uploading
Concern: If the system mechanically applies the effect of a photo I edited on similar photos, the effect will not be guaranteed
Need: I like to take lots of copies from one shooting angle so I need the system to remember my edits and apply them to similar photos
Expectation: Real-time editing，Multifunctional
Story: As a blogger, I'd like to be an opinion leader sharing my posing /photography idea for fancy photos.
Completionist
Characteristic:
- Get everything done perfectly
- Have a sense of ritual
Concern: There are so many ways to categorize travel photos that I have trouble finding the right narrative
Need: I want to thread the memories of the trip into a storyline
Expectation: Storytelling album, well-organized, Interactive
Story：As a completionist，I want to exchange group photos with my companions so that I can experience more fun during the trip
Journey Map
HOW
MIGHT
WE?
How might we help travelers get inspiration from photos taken by others at their current place in travel?
How might we educate the model on posture and the photographer on photo composition at the same time?
How might we help travelers organize photos effectively and share happy moments with their companions after back home?
DESIGN
Goals
Actionable
Users can view inspired photos by categories and can be navigated to the exact shooting spot.
Instructional
There should have 2 modes:
posture guidance for models and composition guidance for photographers.
Organized
The system helps users delete similar or low-quality photos. Users can share friends with their photos and recall happy moments.
App Flow
Wireframe Flow
Iteration
To make sure I always keep the users in mind and indesign, I asked for feedback from my users who have experience in travel photography once I finished a version. The problems I found were like:
- The language usage is not from a user's perspective
- The information hierarchy is not clear
- The design is lack of considering using habits
Mood board
California Amusement Park
Delightful
Relaxed
Fresh
Energetic
Dreamlike
TV Flow
1 Delete blurred & duplicated photos
2 Delete similar photos based on the user's preferences
3 Compare & send photos to friends
4 Watch a video composed of photos to recall the good time
