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213: UI Design and Development Spring, 2001 xxxx Professor Marti Hearst |
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Problem Statement
Personas and Goals Scenarios Initial Design Ideas Low-fidelity Prototype
First Interactive Prototype Usability Test Final
Report Task Matrix Heuristic Evaluation
Sacha
Pearson |
TraveLite
is a web-based, customized travel guide publisher. It allows travelers
to sort through a database of travel content and choose only what
they decide they need or want. Through a series of tasks, users
create a customized guide, which they can later download to a PDA
or other portable electronic format. In creating guides based on
their interests and needs, travelers will have the opportunity to
purchase their guide, rather than a static, bland product designed
for a generalized perception of what a generic traveler in a region
may need. The system will also allow users to store personalized
guides in an account on TraveLite to later further modify and purchase
the guide. One of the major design hurdles for the project, however,
is how to support user queries over the vast amount of travel information
that is available.
Characteristics of Primary User TraveLite is expected to sell to 'Net savvy travelers who are interested in a slimmed-down convenient version of a travel guide. Rather than load down a backpack with a standard travel guide, these travelers can tote a guidebook of their own creation based on their specific interests and needs. In a focus group (conducted in October 2000) consisting of these 'net savvy frequent travelers, all participants said they already travel with their personal digital assistants because they contain their address and schedule information. Veteran travelers strive to pack only the barest of necessities when they travel. They have complained in the past about purchasing heavy guidebooks that either provide a great deal more information than they need or else do not cover the precise destinations they plan to visit, necessitating the purchase of more than one guide. For example, an individual traveling to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for a month would have to purchase a guide to each of these countries. Creative travelers have learned to slice and dice the physical book and leave the unnecessary pages at home, or else simply bring only one book and hope to trade or purchase the others on the road. By providing customizable guidebooks for download to hand held computers, TraveLite will solve both of these problems: heavy guidebooks with excess information and guidebooks that do not contain all the information needed for a trip. Our contention is that this increased use of handheld computers and familiarity of digitized information on the Internet will intersect in travelers who will, as a population, quickly realize the advantage and convenience of storing personalized travel information on hand held computing devices.
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