What is Itinero?
The process of producing an itinerary app named Itinero began from the frustration of the inefficiency of figuring out what to do locally wherever one is, wasting time choosing what to do, and forgetting places you wanted to go that you saw on social media. Intinero aims to take these frustrations from personal experiences to create an itinerary plan to get the most out of your day. Through research and refinement, the project aims to provide a solution to these challenges.
The initial idea was to create an itinerary app where users could log events they wanted to see or do, and it would show you how far each event was in between. Then, the concept started moving into a social platform where users could share their itineraries with others to share their experiences and receive likes, ratings, and comments. The final expansion of the idea was to include the ability to integrate with other social platforms. When users find a post on an event, activity, or place to eat they can save it to the app and be able to include those places in their itineraries so they are not forgotten. The more features that were added, the app would be able to organize events and route your plan for the day.
The current problem is the itinerary app seeks to address the overwhelming choices and the time spent consuming the process of planning local activities. According to a survey conducted in the earlier stages of development, thirty respondents and five interviewees expressed frustration with the need for a solution to plan and discover local events. When answering the question about how they would feel about using an app that would generate an itinerary to help plan their day, 83.3% of people said they would be interested. Another 84% would be interested in viewing and trying other people’s fun itineraries. When it comes to missing out on local events, 80% of people never knew about them after finding out about them later. Also, when people responded to the question about the difficulties of using technology to plan their day, one responded by expressing frustration that their application did not integrate systems into one and had to go between different apps to plan their day. Others said there needed to be more reviews and help finding things related to their interests. The quotes and statistics from these responses show the problem’s severity and help establish a strong foundation for the solution.
When moving on to the visual strategy, the goal was to have a look that aligned with current design trends and was not outdated. Choosing a logo was a difficult task, and Alyssa had to develop many ideas, concepts, and sketches. In the end, the logo was brought down to the final six. One of the final six logos was a large circle with smaller circles surrounding it. This logo represented the choices the user could make. Another logo was a light bulb with a small letter i inside. This would represent ideas the user would be given when using the app. The following logo was a similar idea but with arrows pointing outwards, which continues to express the choices that could be made. The logo used directional signs and a post, creating the letter i. The two arrows pointing in different directions represent where the user would like to go. The final logo was the one I chose to be the logo, and it consisted of a square zig-zag line leading to the user’s destination, like on a GPS map. The reason this logo was selected out of the other five logos is its simplistic yet fun aesthetic of guiding the user to their destination.
The process of producing the prototype began in low fidelity on paper with a wire frame template to sketch out thoughts on how to organize the app and where to start. The sketches helped map out thoughts on the different sections of the app, such as the home page, search, creating an itinerary, favorites, and profile. After sketching the app in low fidelity, it was now ready to bring into Adobe XD for medium fidelity. Creating all the sketches in tones of grey boxes representing different elements to continue laying out the design of the app. While finishing up each page, the color schemes were brought into the buttons and backgrounds. When doing this, the app was now in its final stages of high fidelity. Designs from the low and medium fidelity started to change, becoming more detailed and given more thought. The buttons and some corners became rounded. The colors were added to continue the cohesive style throughout the pages. The logo became a pattern that was used with low opacity in the background.
The advertising goal of the project is to reach anyone who needs help when it comes to planning and anyone who gets overwhelmed deciding with the abundance of choices that are out there. While anyone can use the app, the primary target audience will be marketed to are teens, young adults, and adults. One way to reach customers through advertising would be to have catchy designs with a title and a QR code. Customers could then connect with the app through the QR code, where they are introduced to the features that will entice them to use the app. This advertising will be on social media, flyers at popular businesses, bus stations, and billboards. Also, having branded merchandise such as key chains, stickers, pop sockets, phone wallets, tote bags, hoodies, t-shirts and more.