Adding a Feature · Travel · Augmented Reality
Atlas Obscura is a digital platform and community celebrating the world’s hidden and unusual wonders. It thrives on contributions from an engaged user base, aiming to spark curiosity by sharing stories of remarkable, obscure places.
Planning and saving an itinerary
Existing map view
Existing POI card
Existing filter screen
THE CHALLENGE
With diverse explorer personas in mind, my goal was to design a universally appealing feature. I started by defining a dozen explorer archetypes from letsroam.com and identifying commonalities across them. Key tasks that all explorers share include budgeting, communication, essential documentation, navigation, planning, and safety.
After compiling the list, I assessed which tasks would best enhance Atlas Obscura’s discovery theme. While the platform shows nearby points of interest, its planning features are limited.
A 2019 Google Consumer Insights survey found that 69% of travelers start with a general destination idea but no fixed plans, revealing an opportunity to streamline planning and navigation. This led to the idea of an itinerary planner for sequencing multiple points of interest.
I led the development of Atlas Obscura’s new feature from May to June 2023, working closely with Praveen Naga and six passionate participants, including a product manager, educator, program manager, writer, interior designer, and recruiter.
KICKOFF
Gaining insights into explorers' planning and navigation habits was crucial. Before 1-on-1 interviews, I ran a poll to understand preferred travel modes, revealing that most people favor walking when exploring. This finding guided my exploration of innovative methods, like augmented reality (AR), to enhance pedestrian navigation.
I interviewed five participants to identify obstacles in planning and navigating between points of interest. Using affinity mapping, I charted recurring patterns and developed two user personas to represent the shared traits of interviewees.
My interviews revealed two traveler profiles: meticulous planners who research every detail and spontaneous explorers who prefer flexibility.
Amanda prefers a relaxed, straightforward approach to trip planning, enjoying vacations without overthinking the details.
Andrew, a frequent traveler with a finance background, uses his analytical skills to make informed decisions, maximizing both his experiences and travel value.
THE DISCOVERY
The interviews and personas revealed an interesting framework for categorizing planning behaviors: "maximizers" and "satisficers." According to social psychologists, these decision-making types reflect how individuals seek satisfaction in life choices, including travel and exploration
Research highlighted the importance of a versatile tool to support diverse traveler preferences. Understanding maximizers and satisficers as opposite ends of a spectrum, I aimed to design an itinerary planner that caters to both. By encouraging maximizers to embrace spontaneity and providing satisficers with occasional structure, the tool seeks to accommodate and expand each type's travel experience effectively.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
Before designing, I analyzed existing itinerary planners to pinpoint opportunities for differentiation.
Amid heavy competition, most trip-planning tools focus on organizing travel plans by parsing confirmation emails for flights, hotels, and car rentals. However, there’s a clear gap in tools designed for spontaneity—like finding nearby points of interest to explore after a meal when you have a few hours to spare.
Most itinerary planners cater to extended trips lasting several days, but spontaneous, off-the-beaten-path adventures often feel more authentic, guided by locals rather than tourism boards. Recognizing a gap in customization for such moments, I envisioned a questionnaire allowing users to specify travel distance and available time, enabling a curated set of explorations tailored to their preferences and constraints.
EARLY DESIGN STAGE
The adventure planner concept aimed to use user-defined parameters and interests to craft a tailored itinerary, removing guesswork from the planning process. This approach sought to ease the cognitive demands faced by both maximizers and satisficers, especially when time and money are limited.
Key parameters, informed by user interview insights, included:
Mode of Travel:
Walking, driving, cycling or scooting
These criteria would form a user-friendly questionnaire, allowing users to set preferences that an algorithm would then use to create a personalized itinerary.
Once the itinerary is set, the next phase focuses on navigating between points of interest. Inspired by a visit to Balboa Park in San Diego, I envisioned an enhanced pedestrian navigation experience using augmented reality. I chose AR as a feature based on user feedback, which emphasized a preference for walking and highlighted navigation challenges in unfamiliar settings.
The concept enables users to scan their surroundings with their phones, showing nearby points of interest and distances. Selecting a marker reveals an info card, and arrows guide users to each POI with real-time distance updates. Upon arrival, a notification prompts them to tap for more info. To proceed to the next POI, users simply rescan to reactivate the AR feature.
Sketches of proposed AR feature after exploring existing patterns in Google Maps, Pokemon Go and various interior design AR products.
NAVIGATION ITERATION
As the adventure planner and AR flow developed, a key insight emerged from interviews: participants valued guidance from locals, as it greatly enhances discovery and navigation.
This inspired the creation of a digital companion, Addy—a personalized guide to assist with planning, navigating, and exploring as an interactive journey partner.
Addy starts planning by gathering key journey details from the user, creating a custom route. Acting as a real-time AR guide, Addy provides step-by-step directions and insights at each POI, enhancing each stop before leading to the next. This interactive approach personalizes the entire exploration experience.
HOW WE GOT THERE
My design strategy focused on five goals:
Balancing User Types: Satisfying both maximizers and satisficers by addressing their distinct decision-making styles.
Prioritizing Key Parameters: Ensuring core needs for explorers are met.
Seamless Addy Integration: Embedding Addy intuitively for a smooth user experience.
Dynamic Responsiveness: Creating a tool that adapts to user inputs for a personalized experience.
Designing for Confidence: Building trust in the tool's reliability for easy navigation.
These principles aimed to provide a user-focused, adaptable journey that fosters trust and confidence.
Integrating Addy into Atlas Obscura began with deciding where to introduce it. The app has three main pages accessible via the footer:
Homepage: A showcase of fascinating global places—a hub for discovery.
Map: Geolocates the user, presenting nearby Points of Interest (POIs) in real time.
Profile: Tracks visited places, desired destinations, contributions, improvements, and countries visited.
Given the map’s primary role in POI discovery, it was the most intuitive spot for the adventure planner tool. Sequencing multiple POIs naturally extends from discovering one, making it a seamless addition to the user's journey.
The concept for a mascot like Addy drew inspiration from user-friendly interfaces like Microsoft’s Clippy and Google Maps AR's proposed 3D fox character, which aimed to personalize navigation. Although Google Maps ultimately did not use the fox, the idea underscored the appeal of adding a friendly guide.
Given project time constraints, creating a 3D character was unfeasible, so I explored the Figma community for a playful, gender-neutral cartoon. Adapting a set by @gouthamgtronics to Atlas Obscura’s colors, Addy the Adventure Planner came to life.
Ensuring a seamless integration of the new feature's UI with the existing design was crucial. I carefully aligned fonts, cards, colors, and icons to match preexisting styles. The AR component took inspiration from Google Maps' AR, providing users with a familiar and trusted design experience.
FROM PROTOTYPE TO FINAL PRODUCT
After completing the prototype, a moderated usability test with five adult participants was conducted. They were assigned seven tasks, including:
Locate Addy and create an adventure itinerary
Minimize the step-by-step itinerary view
Access details about a POI
Remove a POI from the itinerary
Interpret the icons on the map's right side
Navigate using the AR feature
Proceed to the second destination
The test provided insights into the user experience, helping ensure the design met user needs while highlighting improvement areas.
KEY IMPROVEMENTS
Before
After
ICON CLARIFICATION
The original icon set on the mapped route page confused all users, leading to a replacement and reorganization for greater clarity.
Before
After
PREPLAN ITINERARIES
Previously, users couldn't map their journey before reaching the starting point. A new feature now lets them enter a starting location, enabling itinerary planning in advance.
Before
After
FLEXIBLE MODIFICATION
Enabling users to modify their itinerary was essential. Initially, a long press on the POI marker activated the delete option; now, the delete icon is clearly displayed on the POI card for easier access.
Before
After
not ready, that's ok
Users wanted a way to signal when they were ready to proceed. Adding a simple instruction to "scan your surroundings" proved effective.
The design
In busy travel moments, Addy simplifies exploration by creating the perfect itinerary based on your preferences. With augmented reality, Addy acts as your personal tour guide, helping you make the most of each day confidently.
Navigating in real time with augmented reality guide
FINAL THOUGHTS
Given time constraints, development prioritized enhancing the map feature in Atlas Obscura. With additional resources, several expansion opportunities could further enrich the user experience:
Profile Integration: Add an "Itinerary" tile in the profile as a hub for saved itineraries.
UI/UX Refinement: Develop a sleek, intuitive interface within the profile for organizing adventures.
Personalized Recommendations: Suggest new adventures based on users' travel history and preferences.
Reviews and Testimonials: Add traveler reviews to support confident decision-making, especially for maximizers.
These enhancements could elevate Atlas Obscura, offering users more personalized planning and exploration tools.
New itinerary tile on profile page to manage itineraries