Nankii was an online platform designed to provide security and confidence for users booking adventure tours by verifying tour guides and offering secure payments with a refund guarantee. As the lead designer, I handled the UX/UI design and rebranded the startup to enhance its identity.
Finding independent tour guides was challenging, as the market was dominated by large tour companies. This lack of accessibility made it difficult to ensure the formality and quality of smaller independent companies with the services they offered. Often, travelers had to rely on spot bookings, leading to unpredictable experiences with no way to discern good tour guides from bad ones beforehand. This uncertainty created a lottery-like situation for tourists, affecting their overall experience.
In Ecuador and other parts of Latin America, finding independent tour guides is a significant challenge due to the dominance of large tour companies. This makes it difficult for travelers to access smaller businesses that offer formal and reliable tour services. As a result, many tourists end up booking guides on the spot, leading to unpredictable experiences with no prior knowledge of the guide's quality. This situation creates uncertainty and a lack of trust in the booking process, impacting the overall travel experience.
The project aimed to create a platform that ensured safety and confidence for both guides and tourists. The primary objectives were to:
1. Provide a reliable and accessible platform for independent tour guides to offer their services.
2. Ensure tourists felt confident that the tours they booked would meet their quality expectations.
3. Establish trust through verified guides and secure payment methods.
4. Offer a user-friendly experience that facilitated easy discovery and booking of adventure tours.
If we create a platform that verifies independent tour guides and offers secure payment options, then tourists will feel more confident in booking adventure tours, leading to increased satisfaction and trust in the service. This will also provide tour guides with a reliable platform to reach a wider audience, ensuring a consistent and formalized booking experience.
1. Tourists lacked a dedicated platform specifically for searching and booking adventure tours.
2. People were generally mistrustful of hiring guides online due to concerns about authenticity and quality.
3. Tourists primarily relied on recommendations from their social circles when hiring tour guides.
The project delivered a fully designed platform that catered to both tour guides and clients. It provided a user-friendly interface for guides to publish and manage their tours effortlessly, while offering an intuitive booking system for clients to seamlessly search for and book various adventure tours. The platform ensured smooth navigation, allowing users to easily switch between publishing an adventure as a guide and exploring different tours as a client.
The primary target audience for the project includes:
1. Independent Tour Guides: Individuals or small groups offering adventure tours who seek a reliable platform to reach potential clients and manage their bookings.
2. Adventure Tourists: Travelers looking for unique and personalized adventure experiences who value security, reliability, and quality in their bookings.
3. Outdoor Enthusiasts: People interested in exploring nature and engaging in outdoor activities who prefer booking tours with verified guides.
4. Travel Planners: Individuals or groups planning trips that include adventure activities, who want a trustworthy source to book and organize their tours.
I found a significant gap in the market for platforms dedicated to showcasing short-duration tour guide services, particularly in Latin America, as existing platforms primarily focus on longer tours and full-trip planning.
Budget Limitations: Limited funds for platform development, marketing, and design enhancements.
Time Constraints: Tight deadlines for launching the platform and delivering features on schedule.
Technical Limitations: Challenges in integrating diverse service providers and ensuring seamless booking functionality.
User Experience: Balancing simplicity with functionality to create an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
Scalability: Designing a platform that can scale with the increasing number of users and service providers.
Content Management: Ensuring consistent and high-quality content from various service providers.
Security Concerns: Protecting user data and ensuring secure transactions on the platform.
Compliance Requirements: Adhering to local regulations and industry standards for online services.
Cross-Platform Compatibility: Making sure the platform works seamlessly on both web and mobile devices.
Market Competition: Differentiating Nankii from competitors while meeting market expectations.
Stakeholder Alignment: Managing differing visions and priorities from stakeholders involved in the project.
Starting with sketches, I selected key elements and designed the main homepage wireframe. This page serves as the entry point, guiding users seamlessly through the platform, aligned with the user flow and architecture.
In my UX research for Nankii, I discovered that service providers are frustrated by the industry's informalities and the lack of a centralized platform for clients to find and compare their offerings. Clients often rely on personal recommendations and social media to discover adventure services, highlighting a clear need for a more formalized solution. This gap presents a strong opportunity for Nankii to connect clients with service providers more effectively.
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