GlobeSisters provides safe couch-surfing services and meet-ups for women travelers and local residents. We aim at empowering women to see the world and to form lasting connections in the process.

Overview

The Globesisters' initial app designs had significant usability issues which prevented users from having an enjoyable and productive experience. The first designs failed to accomplish many of the GlobeSister goals because there wasn’t extensive research done prior to launching the design ideas.

The Challenge

How might we design an app for women to safely meet up with hosts and other travelers, and form lasting connections in the process?

Improving the key “map explore” experience by enhancing usability
Redesigning the onboarding experience

My Contribution

Solutions At a Glance

Improving Map Experience usability

View Prototype

Onboarding redesign

We have a small team for this large-scale project, which encourages us to work more closely together. Weekly standups, team calls, several hundred Slack messages, and collaborating efficiently are what pave the route to delivering strong solutions.

4 designers
4 software developers
1 Product Manager
2 Stakeholders

The Team

We conducted user interviews to do a deep dive into the pain points that users face. As we gathered the qualitative data, it shed light on key areas of improvement. Here are the areas I personally focused on.

Onboarding
- “As a first-time user, I was unsure what GlobeSisters was truly about. In the beginning, I need to read a bit more about it to feel confident enough to use its services.”
- “I’m only asked for my phone number but what if I’m in a country where I can’t use my phone and only email?”
“Map-Explore” experience
- “What are these names on the map for?”
- “How do I know who is hosting and who is not?

The Users

In light of all the user research, we were able to understand the users better. With that, I present you to Olivia who is an avid traveler and loves the products and services that GlobeSisters provides.

After discussing branding with our stakeholders, we created a fundamental framework for the visual designs to ensure that all four designers were being consistent with each other and adhering to the branding that the stakeholders envisioned.

UI Design System

The current onboarding experience is very limited. From the usability testing, I gathered that after onboarding, users still have a vague understanding of what GlobeSisters is truly about. Due to this, it’s not possible for users to interact with the app confidently or to feel secure giving the app their confidential information.

The Current Onboarding Experience

In this solution, I included the logo and removed all the different pictures and artistic elements. The reason for this design decision was to allow the user to focus on the written content most of all, instead of being distracted by different colored shapes. I chose these images because they help communicate the idea of adventure and friendship which is what GlobeSisters is really about.

The Onboarding Solution

Through usability testing, I discovered that the current map-explore experience left many users confused. At first glance, it was very difficult to tell that the names on the map were other globesisters who were able to host others. This kept users from interacting with the screen in an appropriate way, leaving them disoriented.

The Current Map Explore Experience

To enhance usability, I designed a screen that would clearly communicate to the users, which kind of globesister they were seeing on the map. This allows the user to have a more productive, and enjoyable experience.

The Map Explore Solution