Case Study: SPACED

Read on to view the case history of the actual UXUI process.

Click the screen to view this final prototype app.

The year is 2040, and adventure travel into outer space has surged in popularity. SPACED, Inc. offers four-day exploration trips to the Moon, Mars, Europa, and Earth’s orbit.

Innovative Research Approach: In this groundbreaking project, travel subject matter experts have replaced traditional stakeholders. Utilizing insights from actual space exploration travel experts, our research captures the forefront of this emerging industry.

App Features: The proposed SPACED app allows users to immerse themselves in and learn about planetary geography, surface exploration, science, and spacecraft activities. The app experience includes:

• Planetary Exploration: Virtual tours and interactive maps of the Moon, Mars, Europa, and Earth’s orbit.
• Onboard Presentations: Engaging content about space science, exploration techniques, and future missions.
  Entertainment Amenities: A variety of activities designed to enhance the overall space travel experience.
• Safety and Medical Preparedness: The app features comprehensive information on the safety measures and medical support available aboard the spacecraft Luna and Shuttle Kozmo. This emphasis on safety and medical preparedness sets SPACED apart from competitors, who often overlook these critical topics.
• Comprehensive Travel Planning: The SPACED app includes detailed travel plans, agendas, and vibrant visuals, as well as essential information such as:
• Payment Policies: Clear and detailed payment procedures.
• Release Agreements: Necessary legal documentation for space travel.
• Registration Information: Step-by-step guide to register for a space expedition.

By integrating these elements, the SPACED app ensures that users have all the information they need for a safe, informative, and enjoyable space travel experience. Join us in exploring the final frontier with SPACED, Inc., and discover the future of adventure travel.

From lunar expeditions to Moon and Mars missions, orbiting Earth, to exploring Europa, our app SPACED offers unparalleled adventures across our solar system.  It provides comprehensive details on destinations, itineraries, and essentials, in its simple and minimal format

The app, conceived by Millsart Design for NASA TRAVEL, is for a wide range of ages. The biggest market is the wealthy 40’s to 70’s age group. The persona for this app is a highly educated and world experienced traveler.

Users are not entirely dependent on the sharing of information from the travel agency.  This is a big plus for users originating from many foreign time zones especially.

The app continues to be a convenient resource during Spaced travel as well. The app includes technology that even powers in zero-gravity environments. Mobile phones are powered by communication technology transmitted from Spacecraft Luna and Shuttle Kozmo.

The pictorial SPACED app is a complete and informational and planning tool with full details, including the typical fine print, “enlarged”. Aside from the separate four planets section, I even included bios on the spacecraft captains and primary crew members, all within a single one-level menu.

The SPACED mobile app is being designed to have distinctively broad and in-depth and non-traditional travel information.  Its broad range of travel subjects and details is unmatched to close competitor websites and mobile apps. This provides any user 24/7 availability of more inclusive and detailed information.

64% of tourists study trip reports of other travelers before making their final decision on the destination.

As of today, still, 50% of travelers turn to travel agencies when booking a trip.

The consumers consider their personal data is properly secured and protected by the travel agencies. This fact provides the agencies with a good starting position when it comes to competing for potential travelers.

However, the increasing competition in the industry obliges to create new ways to lead the race. That is where digital technologies can provide a crucial added value to the process. Travel agencies can significantly benefit from online services. All these tasks are easily solved through customized mobile apps.

The present-day travelers appreciate to be cared about, receive real-time support whenever it’s necessary and benefit from the online services. All these tasks are easily solved through customized mobile apps.

Users want a swift response to questions and their requests before they can trust the safety of space travel.

• Users want information, without having to look for it or asking repeatedly for it.
• Users want to know what their full day activities consist of and can count on
• Users want to know that should they need medical attention during their SPACED travel they can communicate with a medical team while in space.

• User want to make comparisons between the four-planet options without making phone calls necessarily to travel consultants
• Users don’t want to struggle through a maze of navigation to their information.
• Users like lots of photos of destinations and physical spaces on the Spacecraft Luna and Shuttle Kozmo
• Users combine destinations or even take all four.

• Users want agreement and policy to understand and accessible at all times.
• People like the idea of having a 24/7 international chat feature, though SPACED management would be hit with a steep price tag for it.
• People want to know that they are traveling with a highly professional flight crew
• People want information on-hand before during and after the space travel

Andrew Bullion

Age: 57

Andrew is a professional soccer player. He is involved in competitions usually 3 yo 4 days a week. He loves to travel to other countries. He loves being exposed to so many cultures. He’s looking for something vastly different for his next vacation plans and looks forward to this extraordinary journey into space.

Andrew’s Goals

• To experience space travel very soon
• To be physically comfortable and safe at all times
• To communicate efficiently and effectively for a pleasant experience, void of surprises and misinformation moving forward with planning

Andrew’s Motivations

• INCENTIVE: Space travel exploration, photo and video the experience
• FEAR: A bad incident created by a lack of information
• ACHIEVEMENT: To return to Earth, with a wealth of experience and memories to share
•  SOCIAL: Sharing the travel app with friends having the same interest

Andrew’s Frustrations

• Not getting complete information about features and process for travel registration
• Not having his agenda and plans conveniently available to him at all times
• Having detailed information unavailable unless he can track down a salesperson or ravel consultant

Bianca Mattis

Age: 42

A world traveler, who enjoys rugged adventures such as hiking, mountain climbing, deep-sea scuba diving, and visiting remote cultures.

Bianca’s Goals

• She’s ready for a space travel adventure!
• She would like to visit many planets eventually
• She would like to take her two kids, who love everything about outer space, including Star Trek
• She doesn’t want any travel complications, due to the long distance from home

Bianca’s Motivations

• INCENTIVE: To do a documentary of her whole experience
• ACHIEVEMENT: To try a completely new concept of vacation travel
• SOCIAL: To be amongst like-minded travelers

Bianca’s Frustrations

• Not being prepared for an emergency
• Achievement: To have every detail preplanned and communicated well, whenever
• Unqualified sales staff
• Misinformation or delayed information
• Lack of detail and difficulty in getting it
• Having disappointments due to lack of available information

Pat (interviewer):

What is the order of importance to you during the research of space travel online content:

Interviewed Users:

1. Exploration features
2. Accommodations
3. Socializing
4. Education & discovery
5. Comfort
6. Cost
7. Food & dining
8. Lectures and presentation talks
9. Entertainment aboard spacecraft
10. Personal safety
11. Emergency preparedness

Pat:

What concerns you about planning a trip into space?

Interviewed Users:

1. A vital oversight by me or travel staff
2. What were past bad experiences for previous SPACED travelers
3. The qualifications and professionalism of the crew and the travel consultants
4. Being physically uncomfortable
5. Being in extremely unfamiliar locations, (unforeseen dangers)

6. Needing emergency help immediately|
7. Vital system(s) breaks down aboard spacecraft
8. Not having enough detailed information on the app, requiring constant calls to the travel agency.

Pat:
How important is it to you to view testimonials on the SPACED app?

Interviewed Users:
Not very important. If I found them on the SPACED app, I’d know they were individually selected to be displayed. Therefore, I would seek feedback on platforms like Yelp or Consumer Reports type sources.

David Chimes decides on SPACED for his next vacation travel. His goal is to be aware of his options for exploratory travel.

The first from the main menu is a picture of Mars, followed by the next screen which is a description of various planet exploratory sites. The third screen details the entire day’s agenda at preselected locations and includes the exploration tour information, travel times, arrival locations, a description of the terrain, tour activities, return times, dinner hours, lecture events, and nightclub entertainment. He’s has a day by day comparison of each planet itinerary.

Done.

• He gets a detailed description of Spacecraft Luna and Shuttle Kozmo with all their amenities.
• He gets information regarding his gear and exploration clothing, and how that is facilitated before he arrives for the initial launch.
• Everything is in writing, except travelers’ testimonials which can be added at some point.
• All the legalese is right there on the app, which lessens the time-consuming need for possibly several conversations about it.
• He appreciates the single menu where everything is in one list.

Jewel loves to travel and has the self-confidence to travel anywhere, with or without companions. Because of her ability to get it done right her two assistants, voted her to be the facilitator of their group trip to Mars and Europa. Jewel is initially razor-focused on possible cancellations, details concerning travel installment payments and medical services, should it be needed.

These more solemn travel concerns are among the screen pages, divided up by plenty of useful subheads. What you usually find as fine print is available in these sections and not as fine print.

This is among the following sections, all just one link tap away:

• Registration and Payment
• Terms and Conditions

• Release Agreement
• Base Fee Amenities
• Spacecraft Luna Amenities
• Shuttle Kozmo Amenities

• Observation of user navigating app starts with a pause on the home page, tap, and then tap for each pictorial intro screen.
• Each time the user tapped, it was presented the pie menu to skip the gallery of (12) SPACED intro photos.
• Each user interviewee went through the entire gallery intro. A couple of times while tapping through the gallery, I was asked how many pictures are there. It was at those moments that I was reminded that I should have offered Starbuck gift cards, so interviewees would receive something for their time.

• Upon viewing the main and only menu, I got comments like:

“Wow, look like you covered it all” and “This is great. I’m sure as a real prospect, I’d find all the details right here. I’m sure there will be questions for SPACED staff, but only highly personal or custom in nature.”

• Observation of user navigating app starts with a pause on the home page, tap and then tap for each pictorial intro screen.
• Each time the user tapped, it was presented the pie menu to skip the gallery of (12) SPACED intro photos.
• Each user interviewee went through the entire gallery intro.

A couple of times while tapping through the gallery, I was asked how many picture are there. It was at those moments that I was reminded that I should have offered Starbuck gift cards, so interviewees would receive something for their time.

Upon viewing the main and only menu, I got comments like:

“Wow, look like you covered it all” and “This is great. I’m sure as a real prospect, I’d find all the details right here. I’m sure there will be questions for SPACED staff, but only highly personal or custom in nature.”

Pat: Is there anything missing that you’d like to see?
Interviewed User: Endorsements and chat capability.

Pat: Did you ever lose yourself on this app
Interviewed User: I had a couple of short pauses, but no.

Pat: When you click the upper right menu, do you not see a link that you think is crucial?
Interviewed User: It would be very beneficial to be offered an opportunity to connect with past, present and future SPACED travelers.

Pat: As you might have noticed, the content for actually making payments are not on this app but described as being on the website. Do you understand why?
Interviewed User: Websites are more secure.

Pat: Based on the wireframe (or prototype before you), please describe how you would start the app. How would you turn it off?
Interviewed User: Users found the beginning of navigation to be intuitive.

Pat: There is an intro photo gallery of 12 screens. Is it quickly apparent how you would skip this?
Interviewed User:  Click the upper right menu.

The space app has many different categories of informational content. Yet, the entire navigation is contained within a single menu.  From the many interviewer observations, we did not see difficulty or confusion when they needed to find specifics information for any aspect of SPACED travel.  Going back to Statistica and their research findings, this abundance of information on an app makes information accessible all the time.

The interviewees, overall appreciated all the detail content on the following screen pages, only two clicks away from anywhere on the app:

• Terms and Conditions
• Release Agreement
• Base Fee Inclusions
• Registration and Payment

Users had no objection to making their installment transactions on their computers, instead of using the mobile app. The transactions are very large and more secure when transacted by computer. Some of the interviewees knew this to be generally true, some did not.

I very much enjoyed the process!

The most interesting part of the process for me is the research with persons who fit our personas. The conversations were fun, very enlightening and it helped me to design and write to content that I believe satisfies a user’s goals and objectives.

Adding A Search Bar

Though the feedback on the navigation usage is very favorable, there are other options that SPACED could decide to add to the app to improve it even more.

Because the copy content is a log, a search button would benefit these pages in particular:

• Terms and Conditions
• Release Agreement
• Base Fee Inclusions
• Registration and Payment

Adding A Chat

Another great but pricey option is to add a chat feature to the app. It could be available 8, 12, or 24 hrs a day. I mentioned 24 hours a day because some travelers will be arriving at the launch site from all of the worlds.