Evaluation

Overall, we were happy with the outcome of our travel app, however if we had time to further develop our app we would.

•Make accessible to other phones such as Androids.

•We would add a video element that the user would be able to watch if they liked showing what experiences STA offers to make the app personal.

•More elements on the app accessible without the internet.  

#BGShoes

This is where our inspiration came from to share instagram photos with friends around the world, BG shoes focused on people taking photographs and posting them wherever they were at that moment in time.

'Great example of using Instagram’s API to publish fan shared photo in a more engaging way.  Driving photo creation and sharing for the brand, whilst using the geo-location features of Instagram.  Love the creative styling too'.

Creating The App

It was really fun putting the app together, and it was really easy as we had created our wire frames previously, and had made them really detailed so we knew exactly where everything was going.

Firstly we set our pixels to the correct size to ensure a good quality outcome.

 We then set out our 9 pages on Illustrator and downloaded our GUI.

 We then started to follow our wireframes that we had previously drawn step by step and add in elements of our app.

 When we had created a page of the app on a larger scale we would copy it and then make it smaller and fit in into the iPhone GUI we had downloaded.

 This is our loading page which is made up of the STA Travel logo and a globe. The globe in the centre of the page will spin whilst the app is loading to give the user something to look at whilst waiting. We have encorporated the iPhone waiting wheel so that the user knows what is happening.

 The user will then be taken to the log in page where they will be asked to enter their details. This is for security purposes as important details such as their flight information and passport will be stored on the app. The user will have three attempts to log in before being blocked. There is also an option to register for those who havent before they travel.

 Once they have logged in the user will be taken to the menu page where they can decide where they would like to go next. At the bottom of the app is a navigation tab that will feature on all pages so that the user can return to 'Home' which will take them back to this menu page 'Search' where they can search for something specific on the app, 'Chat' where they can chat through Instagram to other travellers and friends and 'More' which would feature games to keep them occupied whilst waiting to board the plane.

 If the user clicked on 'My Stuff' this is the page that would come up. This is where all of their important and personal details are stored, such as their passport, flight information, important phone numbers and hotel information. Clicking on each tab will provide this information.

 If the user was to click on 'Instagram' it would take them to their Instagram via the app. Here they can click on their profile, connect with other Instagram users, view their photos, and create their own scrapbook of images from certain places using geo tagging.

 If the user clicked on 'Destinations' a globe would come up which they can spin in order to search different destinations around the world, we feel this adds an interactive element to our app. If the user does not want to search destinations in this way, they can also use the search bar across the top.

 If the user were to click on 'Connect' on the Instagram section of the app this is the page they would be taken to. This page allows the user to search for their Instagram friends/followers and view their pictures. They can search by specific user in the search bar at the top, or scroll through their profile pictures at the bottom. Alternatively they can click on the tags on the globe to see where in the world their friends have taken pictures.

 If the user was to click on 'Scrapbook' on the Instagram page they could create their own scrapbook of images and tag them to a certain location in the world. This allows our users to create albums of holiday pictures and never forget where they were taken or what they were doing at the time, creating lasting memories. We feel this adds a personal touch to our app and what will make it that little bit more special. The user can also customise their photos using the tab along the bottom which allows them to; add text, enhance the colour, add accessories such as drawing pins, safety clips and sticky tape, and also cut images out. We hope this brings the user hours of fun.

Customer Profile

As you can see we have designed a customer profile board targeting a particular audience we think will benefit from this App the most. We have based this board on a young student who likes to buy nice things and explore the world, someone who is very open minded and up for new experiences.

Our Goals

• Demonstrate the technical features through the iPhone icons and illustrations.
• Show the fun Factor though the instagram element.
• Express Brand Values through the layout of the App.
• Gain Brand awareness by the target audience of the App and the collaboration with instagram.
• Personalise the App, and connect with the consumers.
• Innovate and stand out.
• surprise and shock.
• Provides important information about your travels.
• Gather data through the consumer survey.

SHARE it

See it, Feel it, Get it, Do it, Share it.

The 'it' we are focusing on is 'Share it' as we want to use the element of sharing your instagram photographs with your friends through the STA travel app, although the app offers the safety element with all your important documents its main focus is connecting people together and being able to see where your friends are around the world.

Instagram

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as media sites including Facebook or Twitter.^[3] A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device cameras.

We have decided that we are going to collaborate STA and Instagram as from our survey you can see that the public agree that being able to share your travelling photographs and see where your friends are around the world is a new exciting idea. We hope that this idea will not be a fad and will take off like the original Instagram. 

Links

Most websites have these main links at the bottom of the websites, as they want you to share there information with the social networking public, and follow them, its all about carrying the experience on.

STA Travel in particular are linked to these sites, some of these sites are used to create an awareness of the brand and to gain more followers. And some to just share and save images. 

Survey Results

Great news with the survey, after only leaving the questionnaire on social media for two days we have managed to get 100 people to answer the questions giving us a great deal of data.

This graph is very positive as it shows that a big percentage of the public would use the travel app so we know that our idea would be useful and be used. 

Although the majority of the public are in there twenties who answered the survey it just proves other ages would also benefit from the app even though they would not be the main target audience. 

Not only would the app be beneficial before travelling, this graph shows the public would use this app while on there travels too which is good to know. 

Linking instagram to the travel app is a successful idea shown by the graph as more than half the public have said they would post holiday pictures.

By asking the public who are the target audience for this travel app which phone they have, gives us an idea of what kind of app we are going to design for. Judging by this graph a large number of the public own an iPhone so therefore this would be something we would look into. 

Hardly anyone thought that they did not see the point in the travel app keeping your documents save, so therefore this will appear on a section of the app. With this graph being positive this gives us a good indication that the idea is successful with the public. 

A massive percentage of the public have said they would use the app to see where there friends are around the world this shows that the app has to massively focus on this section as it is popular with the public.

This graph shows exactly what we were expecting that the majority of the public have never heard of STA travel before which shows that if this app came out it would not only attract the travelling young students but also show an awareness of the brand itself.  

Wireframes

We have started to draw up what we want our app to look like so that it is easier to create the final app on Illustrator. We have put together all the key components from our research and also our ideas to create our sketches.

Here are is our loading page and log in page, sketched and scanned onto the computer. The globe will spin as the app is loading, and then a log in box will appear. We will ask the user to enter their log in details, into the boxes provided. We have decided to add a log in box, as we plan on putting the users important documents on the app, such as a copy of their passport and travel details in case they lose them. The user will have three attempts to log into their account before they will be blocked, this is for added security, and so that if their phone is found others cannot access their documents.

We drew up two different menu pages, however much like the second one we drew as it looks less regimented and has bette sized and shaped buttons for the users fingers, making it more accesible. We are going to have the world clock at the top, which the user can change the time and date on by tapping it, however it will automatically set itself to the users current time zone. Under 'My Stuff' will be the users important documents, 'Near Me' will use geo tagging to tell the user what is directly around them that may be useful, 'Destinations' will bring up a globe, which the user can spin to find differnt destinations, linking in with google maps, and finally 'Instagram' will take the user to Instagram where they can view their followers pictures from all around the world, and where they can also create a scrapbook of photos from that certain trip they have taken using geo tagging again.

Under 'My Stuff' will be a copy of the users passport in case they lost it, their flight information, important phone numbers such as; family members, other travellers, their travel company and their embassy, and their hotel documents. We wanted to include all of this into our app so that the user has to access this particular app, and no other.

'Near Me' will use geo tagging to inform the user of what is currently around them. If they click on each icon it will tell them for instance which hotels, restaurants, and attractions are around them, and there is an option to view a map if they would like to travel further or are looking to go somewhere specific.
'Destinations' allows the user to spin the globe and click on certain places they wish to view. They will also have  the option to save destinations so that they dont have to search for the same ones over and over.

We want to make Instagram the main focus of our app as this is the ESP, the fact that you can create memories and albums in specific parts of the world, and also view your followers that are doing the same. The user will have the option to make a scrapbook, by which they can put together a collection of photos from a certain holiday destination and it will tag the photos to that place, allowing them lasting memories.

The globe will show all the places that the users followers have taken pictures, so the user has the option to click on the location or their followers which will be displayed across the bottom of the screen.

Travel App Research

We have researched into other travel apps to give us an idea of the kind of features we need to include and that competitors are providing in their apps. Researching into other travel apps will also allow us to make our app better than other apps, as we need to make the customer use our app over any other app.




 

Firstly we looked at the Trip Adisor app. We found that that the things that it featured were really good and would be useful to use on our app also, however we didnt like the over all layout and colour scheme for what we are trying to produce. The green colour scheme used on the Trip Advisor app connotes organic/nature/healthy where as we would like to symbolise innovation, excitement and energy.

We also looked at the Easy Jet app, and we really liked the layout and the colours, they were bright bold and exciting. However the bright orange colour is iconic of Easy Jet and so we cannot use it, however STA Travel have their own colour pallet of blue and yellow which will portray freshness/brightness and innovation. We really liked the layout of the Easy Jet app, as it has an inspirational picture in the background and is also very simple to navigate, without being too boring and informative as our target audince of students and young people may lose interest quickly.

STA Travel & Social Media

Source: Travel Trade Gazette UK 13-03-2009

UK 17-03-2009

STA Travel, the youth travel specialist, has kicked off a social media campaign to promote working holidays in Western Australia and Victoria via sites such as Twitter and YouTube.

The "Earn Your Stripes" promotion is conducted in association with Tiger Airways and gives three British travellers the chance to experience a six-week working holiday Down Under, and they will report back on several social media sites. All the content the travellers produce will be brought together in a dedicated section on statravellbuzz.co.uk

 

Source: New Media Age 15-03-2007

UK 14-03-2007

In an attempt to become the leading travel destination site for young travellers, STA Travel will be adding blog facilities and video content to its website. Users will also be able to upload images directly from their mobile phone.

Spannerworks has been appointed to manage SEO for the site.

 

Above are articles that we found on the online database Mintel which show the ways in which STA Travel have expanded into the social media market. This has given us confidence that an app is a good idea for this brand, and will be a natural next step for them. An app also fits in extremely well with their target customer of students, as they are the most likely to use an app, instead of more traditional forms of help such as maps when on holiday.

 

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/display/id=69144 

Selling Points

USP's (Unique Selling Point) - STA travel have never made an iPhone app before this is what makes the travel app so unique, also no other travel app have linked with instagram so this is what makes our app different from the rest giving the customer a reason to download this app.

ESP's (Emotional Selling Point) - In the App there is also a photo library where you can store your photographs from where you have been around the world, this gives the customer a meaningful and long lasting relationship with the the travel app. The app will gather memories that will last forever.

EnSP's (Rational & Emotional Selling Point) - The engagement, interaction and involvement with our travel app is where your instagram friends around the world can Geo tag themselves so you can see where they are, and zoom to see the travelling pictures this is all about connecting people together.

Digital Experience - The travel app will clearly show the core function which is to show the interaction with the travellers around the world, and being able to share instagram pictures with friends.

STA Travel

We have decided to create our travel app for the travel company STA Travel, as we noticed they did not already have one. We really want to make our app useful for people going travelling as this is what STA specialise in as a company.

About STA.

STA Travel is a global travel specialist with 30 years experience advising young people on holidays and adventures abroad. We offer a unique range of flights, accommodation, tours and expeditions in 60 countries and send over 2 million passengers away each year. STA Travel has over 240 branches worldwide.

Mission Statement
Bringing You Face to Face With the World.

Our Responsibility
At STA Travel, we are committed to making a positive impact upon the lives of people, communities and the environment around the world.

• STA Travel also offers travel scholarships to university students to help subsidize travel costs in order to help students travel who wouldn't otherwise be able to.
• STA Travel also offers a World Traveler Internship, an opportunity for two young students to travel the world during their summer breaks for free.

Our Values
Passionate, Responsible, Expertise, Working Together and Customer Obsessed.

STA's CORE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Our products speak for themselves and truly showcase how STA Travel is a one-stop shop for every student's travel needs.

• Student airfare: STA's Student Exclusive Ticket provides students with competitive airfare pricing and unmatched flexibility and ease when booking their travel. It's what sets us apart from the rest!
  
• Adventures: We distribute more than 1,500 products for accommodation, tours, work, study and volunteer programs, making it clear and simple for students to plan their trip. It's easy to organize your ideas and put them into motion.
  
• Discount cards: The International Student (ISIC), Teacher (ITIC) and Youth Travel (IYTC) ID Cards provide access to over 35,000 international and domestic discounts including airfare, accommodations, tours, shopping, dining and entertainment with partners such as Target.com, Apple Store, Virgin Megastore and The Body Shop.
  
• Travel insurance: Insurance coverage is offered for trip, baggage, medical and accident protection as well as providing 24-hour worldwide emergency assistance.
  
• Global cell phones: Provide students an easy and cost effective way of keeping in touch with friends and family while touring the world.
  
• Online visa application: With its exclusive partnership with VisaHQ.com, STA Travel customers now have access to timely, online visa application services at competitive rates. By logging onto http://statravel.visaheadquarters.com/visas.php, students can apply for new visas as needed by accessing their profile through a secure online account. This service reduces the average application time from 30 minutes to two minutes compared to other passport and visa services. Additionally, the online service allows STA Travel customers to track application status online 24/7 and receive real-time electronic updates.

We will consider all of these factors when we are creating the app as we will have to keep it within the values of STA Travel. However this information gives us some indication as to who are target market is as the information mentions students a lot and offering discounts.
All information above is from http://www.statravel.com/about-us.htm

Research

Sophie gave us a task to complete for the next lesson, we had to research interactive websites and apps. It was really good to see all the different websites that people had managed to find as it gave us inspiration. Below are a few that we really found inspirational.

 1. www.drawastickman.com

 We loved the interactive element of this website, how the consumer has to do something as we feel this is what keeps them interested. It's also really well navigated so that the user will not get annoyed or confused when they dont know what to do next

2. http://www.skrillexquest.com

This website is not only promoting Skrillex for music but they have created an interactive game for the users to interact but also listen at the same time. We thought this was a good way of promoting a product or brand so that you remember. 

3. http://experiencevirginamerica.com

This interactive site is our absolute favourite, as it really shows the full experience of virgin while keeping the person behind the computer incised and wanting to carry involving themselves in the website this is something that we will have to consider when designing our App.

Primary Research

We have created a survey asking a number of questions, so that we can see what target audience we are dealing with, what phone the target audience has, and also if they would use the app that we are going to create. This survey then puts us in perspective so we know where to start with creating and designing our App. Feedback from the survey will be posted in a few days. 

A link was sent out to mine and Jordan Facebook users, these are the people we think would answer our survey and use the App in general so we needed to see what they thought of the idea.

A link was also posted on Facebook so that people could share and pass the word around. As social is a great of getting information quickly.