CASE STUDY
Designing an engaging tourism portal
Tartu is the second largest town in Estonia and coincidently the European Capital of Culture 2024.
I carried out the project in 2017 for the Tartu county Tourism Foundation as a UX desiner at Trinidad Wiseman which is the oldest and largest UX consultancy in Estonia.
The goal of the project was to design and develop a contemporary, informative and engaging tourism portal for the region.
The portal has been in use since then with minor updates and can be seen here: visittartu.com
My role
In this tourism portal project, I served as the UX designer, working closely with a graphic designer, a project manager, and developers, while collaborating with representatives from the tourism foundation. My role encompassed conducting user research through interviews and questionnaires to understand traveler needs and preferences. I created detailed personas and led workshops to establish the TO-BE user journey, ensuring our design was effectively aligned with user expectations.
I developed initial wireframes to test our concepts, which evolved into a high-fidelity prototype designed specifically for the tourism portal. This prototype was rigorously tested to assess its usability and effectiveness. I analyzed the results of these tests and presented my findings to the team, contributing to a user-centered design approach and significantly enhancing the overall user experience of the portal.
Project outline
Brief, planning & recruiting
Interviews & questionnaires
Personas
Journey mapping
Prototyping
Testing
Presentation of the results
Methods
The methodology was a classic user centred design approach, starting with user research, followed by prototyping and evaluation in several rounds to iteratively improve the design.
Tools: Zoom, OBS, Dovetail, Axure, Optimal Workshop, Figma, Zeplin
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I conducted 20 interviews with existing customers and 10 with people not familiar with the existing service. We launched a feedback questionnaire and received 120 answers from existing service users. I recorded the interviews and used Dovetail to transcribe and code interviews with keywords to mark meaningful topics & quotes to work with during analysis & synthesized the findings by creating affinity diagrams.
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Based on the interview data, I created 8 personas and short scenarios to be used as input for journey mapping.
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In order to get the team on one page and introduce the results of the target group interviews, we conducted TO BE journey mapping sessions with the product team.
I was able to use the knowledge gained from the target group interviews and survey to consolidate a vision for a TO BE user journey that included both end user input, technological constraints and business needs
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Based on the developed user journeys and personas, I initiated the creation of the information architecture and wireframes for the Smart TV interface. These wireframes were regularly reviewed and refined in collaboration with the core team. To validate the navigation structure, I employed card sorting and conducted brief online navigation tests using Optimal Workshop.
Once the wireframes were validated, a graphic designer created a styleguide in Figma that I used for developing a high-fidelity prototype in Axure. This prototype was rigorously tested through a series of user sessions involving a TV and remote control. Based on the feedback gathered from these tests, the prototype was incrementally improved to better meet user needs and enhance overall usability.
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The prototype was tested over video calls. The test-sessions were screen recorder with OBS software.
The sessions were analysed and usability problems categorised with the help of a usability problem severity decision tree.
The identified issues were explained and visualised in the form of a slide presentation.
The results were presented to the core team and prototype was improved based on the results
Impact
By conducting thorough initial user research and developing detailed personas, I provided the team with essential insights that informed a user-centered design approach for the tourism portal. Working closely with an agile Scrum development team and a graphic designer, I established the information architecture and created wireframes, which were validated through card sorting and online navigation tests.
I then developed a high-fidelity prototype, iteratively refined based on extensive user testing to enhance usability and functionality. Additionally, I ensured a smooth transition to development by meticulously handing over all relevant information and documentation to the dev team. My contributions ensured that the final portal was both user-centered and effective, resulting in a more engaging and user-friendly experience.
Deliverables
Coded & anonymised transcripts of interviews
Personas and user journey maps
Wireframes and information architecture
Validated and tested prototype
Testing results