Sail Lofts — UX Refinements. Providing easier navigation to the…
By: Matthew Lawes
Tags: UI Design, UX, Projects, UX Research

Figure 1.2 demonstrates an example of how content in tier 2 links to tier 4. The hypothesis here being that reducing friction points between pages and making content more reachable will give users additional confidence in proceeding with a booking.

Proto-personas

Proto-personas were developed to evaluate potential user characteristics, behaviours and form further design hypothesises.

User scenarios

Abi (surfer)

Abi and her husband met on a surfing holiday in the early 2000s. Before having children, the couple always spent time on surfing holidays at Cornwall. The couple previously holidayed in a camper van but have not re-visited Cornwall for a number of years. The camper van suffered from regular maintenance issues therefore the couple decided to cut outgoings where possible.

As the children are now 3 and 5 years of age, Abi wants to have a luxury holiday to teach them how to surf. Abi knows the St Ives area extremely well and makes a booking using her iPad on the Sail Lofts website.

Leonard (elderly user)

Leonard has been married for 54 years and has mostly holidayed abroad. Leonard has been diagnosed with a macular degeneration in the last two years, which has had a significant impact on his life. E.g. Leonard is no longer able to drive.

Leonard will soon be celebrating his 55th wedding anniversary and would like to take his wife on a summer break in the UK given that travelling abroad has become increasingly difficult.

Leonard is a computer (iMac) user and has specially adapted equipment such as an enlarged keyboard to help him be self sufficient and navigate through content via the web.

Leonard continues to be independent as much as possible and has decided to book a holiday as a surprise. He finds several websites advertising accommodation in St Ives where they celebrated their honeymoon. He navigates to the Sail Lofts website and attempts to book accommodation with a sea view for 5 nights.

Rachel (housewife)

Rachel is married and her husband Mark has an extremely demanding, London based job. Mark regularly only spends weekends at home with his wife and 2 children and as a result, the couple spend little quality time on their own.

Rachel has arranged childcare for a weekend in order that the couple can have a relaxing spa break together. Rachel is keen to not travel too far from their home in Exeter. She has been searching the Cornwall and Dorset areas for hotels with self catering accommodation and spa facilities.

Rather than boot up her old computer, Rachel prefers to browse the web using her iPhone for improved speed and flexibility. She attempts to make a booking via the Sail Lofts website for 4 nights in August 2019.

Daniel (graduate)

Daniel lives in Brighton and has recently is a recent university graduate with a degree in Business Management.

He hasn’t had a holiday with his brothers for a number of years as they’ve been living apart. To celebrate Daniels graduation, the boy’s parents have offered to pay for them all to have a luxury surfing holiday in Cornwall.

Daniel’s brothers have been investigating potential holiday options. They shared a link to Sail Lofts website to further explore accommodation and make a booking. Daniel wishes to book accommodation for next summer once all his brothers have time off work. He uses his MacBook pro 13” to make a booking.

User journeys