Roam
— End-to-end mobile application building from concept ideation through prototyping
Project Overview
As the desire for remote work and the community of Digital Nomads continues to grow, it can be difficult for them to form connections and develop a sense of belonging wherever they are.
Roam is the tool for Digital Nomads to create communities and share information about the lifestyle with one another as they navigate the nuances of remote work and living abroad.
Role: UX+UI Designer / UX Researcher
Duration: 10 weeks
Tools: Figma / Qualtrics / Xtensio / Miro
An estimated 15.5 million people in the US alone are choosing to forgo a stationary lifestyle to travel and work abroad. Due to the recent pandemic, this number is steadily rising. However, there are still few tools for them to gather information about places to go, what cafes have the best Wifi or how to even begin a nomadic lifestyle.
As someone interested in the culture of Digital Nomads, I wanted to find innovative solutions to questions including how someone choosing this more independent and nomadic lifestyle can find a sense of belonging and community in new places.
Background
Conduct research on current Digital Nomad behaviors and the market for their digital communities
Identify and develop opportunities and app features that integrate and target user wants, needs and goals for a community based tool
Build out a design that combines community building and information sharing, fostering practicality and delight for user’s everyday lives as nomads
Objectives
To explore solutions to the question: How might I build a trustworthy digital platform for Digital Nomads around the world?
Goal
— My Process
Comparative Analysis
User Survey
Research
Persona Development
User Journey Mapping
Define
Wireframe Sketches
Lo-Fi Prototype
Brainstorming
Ideate
Prototype
Hi-Fi Prototype
Iterate
Test
Usability Testing
— Research
To understand who current Digital Nomads are, what their lifestyle looks like and what resources are out there for them to use.
Analysis of 4 different platforms currently out there are used by Digital Nomads {1 mobile app and 3 web-based communities}:
Comparative Analysis
Currently, nomads can find…
01
Online communities through social media/website platforms to connect and share information {Facebook, Reddit, Instagram}
Many Web Communities
02
Users post about various topics daily, including information about locations and places to live, jobs, insurances, Visas, meetups, dating and general travel
Wide Range of Discussion Topics
03
Very few successful mobile applications that are tailored to nomads and have a substantial user base
Few Mobile Communities
To understand two major aspects of the Digital Nomad community: Who they are and what their daily experiences are as nomads. View all my data and question breakdown here.
User Survey
Currently, nomads feel…
🕊
Place a heavy value on freedom, often choosing to be nomads because they love to travel and their jobs allows them to
Free
😔
Experience gaps in human connection — loneliness, lack of a supportive community, missing home or difficulties networking
Disconnected
🧗
Nomads of all ages and career types often live in 2-3 different locations within the span of 1 year, and spend 4+ years doing so.
Adventurous
— Define
Narrowing the scope of Roam and beginning to define more specifically who my user is and what they want in a community based app resources to identify areas of opportunity.
The focus of my research was on current Digital Nomads, so I developed the persona Melissa, the Experienced Nomad, to frequently reference back to while brainstorming potential experiences and features of Roam.
Persona Development
Following Melissa as she navigates reaching out to the community to find information on her next destination and connect with others.
User Journey Map
— Narrowing Focus
Due to time constraints, I narrowed my focus to two problems in the Digital Nomad community to direct my attention toward solving for the duration of my project:
Nomads experience loneliness, lack of human connection and have difficulties networking while traveling around.
01
Current platforms are mostly web-based and provide a huge amount of information that can be overwhelming to comb through quickly and efficiently.
02
— Ideate
Generating solutions and identifying areas of opportunity {started in the User Journey Map}, consisting of various ideas for features or experiences to add to Roam that directly target the problems outlined above.
Brainstorming
A mobile application that integrates…
👥
Community
Users can network, share with one another and remain connected
🔍
Information
Users can share, ask each other questions and receive answers directly from each other
Achieved through the features…
🤝
Friending/following other users
Posting photos and updates
Private and group messaging
Connect
🗺
Interactive map with user-sourced data
Event creation and sharing for meet-ups, activities, etc.
Explore
💬
Groups created by users to join
Specified by countries, cities, interests, etc.
Forums
— Prototype
Good ole pen and paper wireframe sketching to establish physical ideas of the structure of Roam, various Navigation options and build out of the main features combatting my two user problems.
Sketching
First iteration of digital wireframes, making sure to keep in mind the two most important user needs: ways for users to connect with one another and ways for them to continually interact and share information.
Lo-Fi Prototype
— Test
Clearer language in Navigation
Details users would need to properly navigate between screens — filter options, user review system under ‘Explore’ map, interests, ‘Room’ details
Better context and use of real information and photos a user might see — inviting ‘Rooms’ to events, chat and notification details
Addition of design elements to make Roam inviting and delightful to use
Two Usability Testing sessions were conducted to determine intuitiveness of the app. {Due to time constraints, these participants were not part of the Digital Nomad community}
Usability Testing Feedback
— Iterate
Iterated over the Lo-Fi design incorporating alterations into a final prototype and beginning to explore some of the branding and UI for Roam.
Final Prototype
Interactive Prototype
— Reflections
Gather more survey responses — Not yet being within the community of Digital Nomads myself, it was difficult at first to get enough data to use. Having more time to effectively distribute the survey would allow me to better interpret current trends.
Test with Digital Nomads — Due to time constraints, I did not have enough time to test my design on people who are currently Digital Nomads. It would have been beneficial to get feedback from the target audience on the features implemented.
Improvements
How do current nomads feel about the state and features of Roam currently? What is missing, if anything?
How might current and aspiring Digital Nomads differ in what they want out of an app specifically for nomads?
What other brands do nomads trust and want to see integrated into Roam? How would these be implemented?
Unanswered Questions
