Adobe+
Airbnb
Creative Jam
Project Problem
How can we empower families and groups of friends to document and share their travel experiences upon the existing Airbnb community.
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Project Overview
content_paste Responsibilities
This project was the result of an Adobe Creative Jam in partnership with Airbnb.
Our team wasthe following: Leo Geng, Adam Borthwick, and Alex Borthwick.
For this project, we were asked to improve the Airbnb experience by building a feature that would enhance the travel experience of Airbnb's pre-established user base. Our solution was built around the concept of extending the existing Airbnb app. We introduced the concept of a "trip" section within the app.
schedule Constraints
The main constraint for this project was the 48-hour time limit to complete the project. Therefore, we had to work as efficiently as possible to come up with a solution that the judges would be happy with.
Because of this short time constraint, our team had to think about where we spent our time and prioritize tasks.
Rather than redesigning the entire Airbnb app, we decided it would be a more efficient use of our time to extend the current Airbnb functionality and take advantage of the design criteria already in place at Airbnb.
group Users & Audience
The primary users and target audience of this project are the existing users of the Airbnb application. Because it is already an established company, there are many different breakdowns of the application's user base that we used as a guide for this project.
In the research phase of this project, we took a detailed look at the demographics and users of the Airbnb application.
We wanted to focus on the families and groups of friends that use this application. By making the application more of a social experience, we wanted to emphasize the ability of users to document and share their travel experiences.
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Research
Research Questions
- What are Airbnb's current style and design brand guidelines?
- What functionality does airbnb currently provide to help users plan their trips?
- What share of Airbnb's current userbase would use trip making functionality?
- Are there any in-industry competition and software that offer users the ability to plan trips?
Airbnb Analysis
One advantage that Airbnb has over traditional booking services is that Airbnb tends to be more cost effective for larger groups of people. Discounts and additional cleaning services also make Airbnb more economical for longer stays as opposed to shorter stays.
Airbnb also offers a diverse range of accommodations, from cozy cottages to unique homes giving Airbnb a market advantage in less traveled and more remote areas.
Airbnb also provides a more local and community-oriented experience - guests can interact with hosts who know the area and that can offer insider tips and recommendations. Highlighting these interactions could emphasize the social aspect of Airbnb.
Style and design standards for the Airbnb app, we based our project off of these standards. Guidelines for their design expectations were found on the Airbnb style breakdown website.
https://airbnb.design/building-a-visual-language/
Competitive Analysis - TripAdvisor
One of the main services we looked at when working on this project was the functionality of TripAdvisor.
TripAdvisor is a travel planning and sharing platform that allows users to share and add events to a planned trip. The platform also gives recommendations on what to do during a trip, and keeps track of nearby restaurants and services. One advantage Airbnb would have over TripAdvisor if they were to implement a trip feature is that as a platform, they are a homestay service provider - unlike TripAdvisor, which promotes hotels for users to stay in. This discrepancy could allow for more tailored results that take into account users' housing situation when using the platform.
Our team also looked at the mobile version of the TripAdvisor app to see what features are standard for a product in this space.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6000bebdbeb7e999b27bdaf9/65512e7ea69010c6cee4de78_trip-advisor-logo-01.png)
User flow
For this project we completed three short user flows which would show off the sharing potential of the "trips" feature.
- The first user flow is from the perspective of initially setting up a trip and adding the details of the trip.
- The second user flow is from the perspective of someone who is attending the trip with the first individual adding photos and notes as the trip happens.
- The final user flow is from the perspective of a friend of the two going on the trip as they view content from the trip.
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Solution & Reflection
To solve the problem posed by the Adobe Creative Jam staff, our team developed a "Trips'' section as an add-on to the Airbnb app.
The Trips feature allows users to create and plan entire trips and share those trips with friends and family, as well as add planned events to those trips and invite their friends to join them.
Once a friend was added, they could also post photos, videos or journal entries. Added media is automatically shared with everyone associated with the vacation.
This trip feature was designed to have two main functions. First, it was designed to make planning a vacation with multiple people seamless. Secondly, this feature allows users to easily share the vacation experience not only with the members of their trip, but also with their loved ones who weren't part of the vacation.
The design of the app is intended to integrate with the existing Airbnb app and follows Airbnb's design requirements and style palettes. This app was built in Adobe XD as part of the contest requirements.
I believe this project is a good example of my ability to work under a tight deadline and a great example of why its important to plan a proper user flow. Overall, I'm proud of the final designs we came up with and the user flow we created for this project.
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