# Design RESEARCH
Transportation
Persona Establishment
Challenge
What Other Potential Does Navigation Have? It Brings Your Traveling Surprises
Why this topic?
I was interested in the transportation design, then I started to think about the origin of transportation: the way from A to B. No matter which method you take, one of those things you must do is the navigation. So I started the research from a broader topic, the navigation, and ended up a design opportunity, bringing in surprises into traveling.
MY ROLE
Design Researcher
METHOD AND TOOL
Research Method: Semi-structured interview, prototyping, usability test (convenience sampling)
Data Analysis: Qualitative coding
STEPS
Cross-generational research - to identify the targeted group
Establish the key variable table from secondary studies
Conduct interviews
Analyze data with the key variables
Research Opportunity
Design for Chinese GenZ to Make Their Travel More of "On the Road"
Research Method
To understand the navigation thoroughly, I compared the navigation habits of 3 generations (how they find their ways from point A to B) in a Chinese family (N=3). I conducted 3 semi-structured interviews.
Research Findings
I found that all 3 generations have a tendency to navigate by proxy in unfamiliar locations, especially in traveling scenarios. But the youngest generation, GenZ, compared with the other two elderly generations, are not only taking advantage of the efficiency of information technology, but also using their own sense of exploring the reality. People can get less fun if caring only about "how to get there", however, the GenZ shows a potential to enjoy the fun of 'On The Road' in traveling.
I decided to dig in this phenomenon I found from this first round of interview:
GenZ in China
Traveling scenario
They way one get fun
And the navigation in travel
Secondary Research
Target User Group: Chinese GenZ in Tier 3 and 4 Cities.
Research Method
I went through a Popular Media Scan (101 Design Methods, P24) to have a look at what is happening and emerging in a broader topic: Chinese GenZ & traveling. By going through top Google Search results, TikTok, Weibo, RED, Mafengwo, WeChat Article... I also went through some publicly available data and combined the information together with card sorting.
Research Findings
General understanding of Chinese GenZ's traveling: (can be supplement to the following interview data)
Special characteristic: Chinese GenZ are inhabitant of internet. More GenZs compared with other generations prefer to visit a city multiple times, or travel alone.
Altitude: Values a travel experience by enjoyment, creativity, and depth; Willing to spend money for good stuffs and meanwhile valuing service quality.
Way of travel: Most of GenZ prefer self-guided travel.
Location: Prefer to travel abroad (short trips to Asian countries) and leisure trips (nearby cities).
Duration: Preferred travel duration is roughly 5-7 days.
Market opportunity: "what is MY best choice?"
Travel decisions are usually made based on prevalent information from social networks. However, it seems a paradox that Chinese GenZ in tier 3 and 4 cities also would like to express their unique personalities through consumption decisions. I understand it as a tension that they would like to choose the best solution to their own egos.
Target User Group
While people in tier 1 cities are still the main consumers, people in 3 and 4 tier cities are getting more and more enthusiastic on traveling. The higher proportion of disposable income in tier 3 and 4 cities compared with tier 1 cities is supporting GenZ in tier 3 and 4 cities to "see the world".
Way to Travel
Chinese GenZ prefer self-guided travel more than ever, plus, GenZ is moving towards newer lifestyles driven by new media.
Consumer Behavior
Chinese GenZ have been baptized by consumerism and value personalized self-expression through consumption. However, Chinese GenZ make rational consumer decisions because they are used to gathering and comparing information from the Internet. Chinese GenZ who love social networks have greater willingness and ability to consume.
Socializing
The self-guided travel of Chinese GenZ has become more of a copy & paste activity, with people accepting the recommendation from online celebrities and taking that into consumer actions. Chinese GenZ also love sharing their won lives on the social network to express themselves.
Key variable table
I also established the key variable table of Chinese GenZ by qualitatively analyzing the popular media scan data. And for each key variable, there are several typical descriptions that dividing each variable into detailed classes. This table working as a criteria will help me establish the persona:
Primary Research
Towards the User Group: What are Typical User's Personalities? What are the Problems Target Users are Facing?
Count the key variables
To further understand the users, I collected qualitative data and analyzed with coding. 12 User interviews were conducted, and participants were selected based on the following criteria: 1) Chinese GenZ, 2) live in tier 3 and 4 cities, 3) have been through at least 1 self-guided travel.
After coding the user data, I enriched the key variable table, and statistically evaluated each class in variables by counting the number of time they appeared in the user data.
Connect the variable dots: found 3 personas
To figure out the user pattern (persona), I selected reasonable classes of each variable. However, the persona is not settled yet, I still need the information of pain points (problems) to elaborate usable personas. Classes of high scores were covered as much as possible, while considering the realistic of users, lower-scored classes were also covered occasionally case by case.
However, the persona is merely a description of certain cluster of people, that doesn't suggest any pain point for a specific task. Like when you describe your cat, you might mention that she's furry and cute, she is very curious and alert. But the persona description doesn't directly suggest how to design a toy for likewise cats, the persona only help designers to understand user's requirements.
Inductive coding for pain points
To understand the pain points our users are facing, I used thematic coding to understand the interview data: tagging -> categorizing tags -> finding out patterns of tags.
Deliverable
Personas and their pain points
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