Soltra
Product Design | Branding | User Research
Brief
A card deck designed for young solo travelers to gain meaningful experiences, realize their personal potential, and make an impact on the world ethically through travel.
Role
Team
Overview
Problem
Goal
Inspire ethical travel in people
User Research
Surveys
240 Respondants
41% Respondants face challenges when planning travel activities
13% of 18-25 years of age desire solo travel but are hesitant
Respondents rated travel an average 8 out of 10 as an important aspect in their life
Interviews
8 conducted interviews
Interviewees desired authentic travel beyond social media expectations & recommendations
Food
Local Interactions
Sight Seeing
Young travelers communicated feeling a lack of confidence & knowledge to solo travel
Participatory Design
1 hour workshops
Deep diving into what causes anxieties in travel for young solo travelers
Disconnect Identified…
How might we build confidence in young travelers to take the first steps in solo travel while having a sincere experience of their destinations?
Introducing Soltra
Soltra is created to be location specific.
For our first prototype, we focused on Oahu, Hawai'i as it is a hotspot tourist location that often gets overlooked when ethics are brought into picture.
Intentional Journey
A card deck with three levels
Each level is created to support young people during a time of their lives where their self-identity is impacted by their discovery of the world through personal experiences. Alongside that, we want young travelers to have a hand in redefining travel. Responsible tourism starts with mindfulness, how, why, and where we travel.
Made to be completed step-by-step, the process gets deeper as users move through the levels.
Beyond Comfort
Pushing personal boundaries,
Connecting Within
Reflecting on the journey
Making Impact
GIve back to the space that allowed these experiences.
Reimagining Travel
Worldwide reach
As Soltra expands with decks for other destinations. As travelers take on each place, they will be able to find a network of travelers to connect and trade decks. Different decks are being designed for those who desire to see themselves, the world, and those in it.
Conclusion
Reflecting Upon Results
This project confirmed to me that design is not a linear process. Sometimes, the one issue given has many underlying aspects that we can not solve within one product. We had to be specific and goal oriented when designing Soltra to make an impact on individuals and a dent into redefining travel.
Continusous Resaerch
We went back and forth between ideas, user research, and participatory workshops throughout. I quickly realized that to ensure our product achieved the goals we intended, it was important to remind ourselves the user and the local communities interacting with our product and experience were the center of the design.
Staying Flexible
Working on a 10-week-long project in a group of 4 where each of us had varying ideas on the direction of the product required me to be open-minded to each step of the process. Staying flexible to ways of improving given by my teammates and critiques was an essential step to making Soltra the best it could be.