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Nommad Chat

Definition

Digital Nomads- travelers who work remotely and online

UX/UI Designers:
 

Joyce Chen

Parul Malik

Alex Su

Ana Paula Orozco Murillo

Brittany Armstrong

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Timeline: 

Two weeks

This is a fictitious project created by my group and I in UC Berkeley's UX/UI boot camp.

My Role

I led my team on all phases of the double diamond design method: discover, define to get a problem definition, design&develop, and deliver to get a solution. 

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Background

  • Humanity has always been on the move: Migrants (Voluntary, Forced), Immigrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Nomads, Digital Nomads

  • Migrant: Any person moving across international border away from their place of habitual residence 

  • Mobility has both privilege and precarity 

  • 272M international migrants (2019), up from 221M (2010)

  • International migrants are 3.5% of the global population  

  • Romanticized accounts of moving and living as ‘digital nomads’ on social media platforms

The Problem

People looking to move to foreign countries often grapple with a variety of challenges and usually encounter culture shock upon arrival. Their difficulties are compounded when they don’t have precedents to follow or do not have support from schools and employers when moving to a new country.

Phase 1: Discover

The goals for our research process are to find out: 

  • How do people moving to a new country prepare themselves for the move?

  • What are some steps or rituals that individuals typically engage in when adapting to a new environment? 

  • Where do they find relevant information?

  • How do they adjust to new countries and cultures once they have moved? 

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Interview Insights

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We interviewed 9 people 1:1 who have moved to a new country, and our actionable insights include:

  • People moving abroad for education and work are often supported by universities and employers; get invited to virtual groups, mailing lists, etc.

  • Those doing it by themselves, on their own, without access to existing networks have a harder time

  • All face various types of challenges: Language, Housing, Transportation, Food, Cost of Living, Loneliness, Culture Shocks

  • All positively viewed their decision of moving to live in a new country 

  • Had formally and informally given and received advice to and from friends, extended family, classmates, colleagues   

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We derived our empathy map from the information we got from our affinity diagram/interviews:

empathy-Nommad.PNG

Problem Statement

People relocating to a foreign country encounter significant hurdles in terms of cultural assimilation. 

They grapple with unfamiliar customs, language barriers, housing troubles, safety, finances, transportation, and a pervasive sense of isolation, impeding their ability to establish meaningful connections and more fully integrate into their new cultural milieu. 

To minimize culture shock, there is a demonstrated need for a solution that facilitates connection and offers accessible, practical guidance through destination guides, empowering individuals to navigate their new environment with confidence and ease.

In the Feature Prioritization Matrix, I brainstormed a few features that would make it into the final product: 

  • 1:1 chat by text

  • Notifications

  • Reviews and ratings for Destination Experts​

  • User profile

  • Location blurb

  • Filter by location, language, and specialty

  • Login through social media and email

  • Schedule function for booking meetings

Competitor Analysis

One example of our direct competitors, Nomad Travel Tools, is a website that digital nomads can use to compare two places according to filters (cost of living, time zone, pollution, traffic, city size, crime levels, safety, CO2 emissions, health care, and property affordability). The very eye-catching, easy-to-use info-cards are an informative way for locals or previous travelers to let digital nomads know the pros and cons between two places; however, it is only available as a website, so it's hard for nomads who are always on the go, and also some info-cards are incomplete. Our app, Nommad Chat, is a mobile app and it will be nice for people who have specific questions tailored to be answered by destination experts.

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One example of our indirect competitors, Mentspot, is a hobby-based, sports-based, work-based, or life-based mentorship program where the mentee can choose who they want to guide them. First, the mentee creates a profile with their email and a brief personal statement on what they'd like to learn from their mentor. The onboarding seems very simple to use, and the amenities are 100% free. We liked how this website featured mentors, how users created profiles, and how there was a messaging feature to message your mentor. However, this program doesn't have language mentors and specific specialties of mentors (making it so you have to sift through all the mentors yourself); some mentors aren't very professional looking (no profile pic, little to no description, etc.); the website doesn't have many features, as well as no about page. 

Value Proposition

The Nommad Chat App empowers ‘Digital Nomads’ by connecting them with experts who can provide advice and speak from experience.

 

Through 1:1 interaction with 'Destination Experts', nomads moving internationally can prepare themselves to learn and thrive in foreign lands.

Phase 3: Design

Phase 4: Develop

UI Style Guide

style guide-final.PNG

Phase 2: Define

The definition stage had us make a user persona (who we called Kai Chan), a user insight statement, a problem statement, a storyboard, a persona-based scenario, a feature prioritization matrix, a competitor analysis, and a value proposition.

User Insight Statement

Kai Chan, an illustrator from Hong Kong is thinking of moving to a new country. He believes he can work remotely, live affordably, and savor rich cultural experiences in countries such as Thailand, Mexico, Nepal, and Spain. Even though Kai really wants to get out of Hong Kong, he is not confident about making an international move, especially because no one in his family has done that until now.

He is nervous about challenges around language, housing, safety, finances, and transportation.

He would like to find a way to connect and speak with people who have relocated from Hong Kong to the places he's interested in to learn from their lived experiences. He feels this would help him get a better sense of where he should relocate.

pp.png

Task Flow

I decided to do several iterations of Nommad Chat's task flow to get a sense of what goes where and how the individual tasks would flow.

(right)

I also did some sketches to map out where I wanted all the features to go, in the order that made more sense. I was really inspired by the profile creation as well as its simplicity in our competitor, Mentspot so I included that. I proposed and made a calendar (or world map, as it started out) for when digital nomads/users as well in the beginning stages.

task flow.png

Low-fi Prototype

This Lo-fi prototype includes:

  • Sign-up

  • User Profile Creation

  • Find Destination Experts (DEs)

  • Navigation

  • World Map

  • Blog

  • Inbox 

  • FAQs

Mid-Fi Prototype Iterations

In our mid-fi above:

  • Hamburger menu replaced with bottom navigation bar 

  • Simplified user profile creation

  • Passport upload requirement removed

  • Replaced ‘About’ section with Onboarding & Pre-login teaser screens

  • Detailed Calendar booking 

  • Replaced ‘Inbox’ with ‘Notifications’

  • Combined screens to remove redundancy & ensured each screen served distinct purpose & did not overlap

  • Added bit of color, images, interactive elements

Final Hi-Fi Prototype

In the final Hi-Fi iteration:

  • Changed the second page to be shorter, explaining the purpose of the countries

  • Added more colors from UI Style Guide

  • Added time zone to calendar

  • Added purpose to login/sign up page

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