iaso
health travel assistant
Overview
The iaso digital platform makes planning international travel during a pandemic easier and provides peace of mind for everchanging COVID restrictions and regulations.
Roles
UX Research - Alysen Acton
Visual Design - Brooke Scarborough
Product Design - Rasha Abuhassan
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing
March 2022 - May 2022
problem
how can we better help international travelers access up-to-date COVID information and travel regulations?
research
we interviewed five people who traveled internationally over the pandemic on Zoom for twenty to thirty minutes each. We asked interviewees a series of questions to better understand the difficulties of traveling internationally during the pandemic and identify pain points in their journeys to validate key features in the iaso app.
themes and pain points
travelers want to stay informed on COVID-19 restrictions and regulations while traveling.
pain points: Information is not continually updated or in English on government websites, and it can be challenging to stay on top of it.
travelers want to be able to schedule tests in advance.
pain points: There is confusion around where, when, and what kind of test a traveler needs to take in order to get to their next destination.
findings
traveling without planning or assistance is very difficult and stressful during the pandemic.
five-out-of-five participants were confused at some point with COVID-19 restrictions and regulations when traveling.
all participants had the same underlying issue: their lack of information
information online was not always accurate
all participants had someone or several people they could rely on to keep them informed and assist them
however, if they were alone, they did not believe they would have the same positive experiences and would have felt lost
asking locals about testing locations and info was an issue due to language barriers
personas
“they verify your information a lot, wish there was a way to streamline the process.”
joel
age: 32
status: single
career: product manager. at a tech startup
joel is a product manager working for a tech startup remotely in Kansas City. He enjoys his work, but he logs in long hours and does not have a ton of downtime. he likes to keep active and be in the know about happenings around town in his spare time. He had been planning his European vacation before the pandemic started and had a packed itinerary. he loves adventure and seeing new places like a local, but he is worried COVID restrictions could slow him down even though he is fully vaccinated and follows all testing guidelines. he plans to travel to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Frankfurt by airplane and the Eurail.
goals and expectations:
to travel safely between countries, knowing what documentation/test is needed for each country.
staying up to date on changing COVID restrictions while traveling.
checking off his list of places to see and food to eat.
schedule COVID tests at reliable testing sites before arrival.
pain points:
each country requires a different document and/or test to get in.
not every place he is staying has a front desk or lobby attendant to answer questions about restrictions and testing sites.
knows a little bit of Spanish and French, but language barriers could become an issue if something is unclear.
“i don’t want to get anyone sick, but the airport is far from where i’m staying and i don’t know where else to test.”
marissa
age: 27
status: married, no children
career: marketing director at a nonprofit
marissa is a marketing director at a nonprofit organization in DC. she is married but does not have children yet. She has been commuting to work every day, gets tested frequently, and is super cautious. in her downtime, she loves FaceTiming with family back home in Argentina, especially her abuelita (grandmother). she is looking forward to finally seeing her friends and family after almost two and a half years but is nervous she will not be able to test as frequently and safely as possible.
goals and expectations:
testing before she leaves to go to the airport.
scheduling multiple COVID tests beforehand and having a quick turnaround time.
being able to see friends and family in different cities.
testing again before she gets to the airport to
go home.
pain points:
having to test again at the airport before going through customs.
not knowing which testing sites are open in Argentina before leaving.
unable to schedule COVID tests beforehand and unsure of the types of tests they offer.
designing
wireflow I – adding documentation
As an international traveler, I want to manage my travel paperwork and documentation digitally so I have a backup copy on me, have it handy, and keep it organized.
wireflow II – crowdsourced platform
As an international traveler visiting multiple countries, I want to be sure I’m on top of COVID regulations and have accurate tests for each country.
wireflow III – book appointment
As an international traveler, I want to be able to find a testing site internationally that administers the test I need and book an appointment all in one place so that I can feel confident in preparing for my flight back home.
wireframes
scenario I – adding documentation
imagine you are about to leave for a trip to Jamaica and need to upload your vaccine card and other documents for the trip.
task I: upload vaccine card to the documents
task II: go to documents to edit vaccine card
task III: add vaccine card to wallet
scenario II – crowdsourced platform
while traveling internationally, you receive a notification that you need to take a COVID- test before traveling to your next destination.
task I: go to chat boards and search for information about your next trip location
task II: find information about testing
task III: leave a comment on the thread
scenario III – book appointment
you are visiting several different countries on your trip and need to know if the next destination requires a negative COVID test upon arrival.
task I: conduct a search for a nearby testing site and select the closest one
task II: confirm information and book an appointment
task III: assume test was taken and go to notifications to retrieve results
task IV: add results to wallet
usability research
after mocking up the wireframes, we created a high-fidelity prototype and started user testing.
interviews:
5 interviews
users testing out prototype and giving feedback along the way
insights:
all participants found the app overall to be straightforward and useful in traveling internationally. participants found the add to wallet feature helpful and would save them time when traveling to have everything in one place
the app needs more clickable options for users to be able to navigate quickly
next steps:
update flows to increase rate at which tasks are completed based on the findings of the user testing
update map search to make it easier to zoom in and out