Introduction

Scope
Travel Guru is a iPhone application and website that allows users to discover, document and share their travel experiences with the rest of the world. It draws elements and features from existing tools such as the Foursquare app, GPS search capabilities, social networking sites such as Facebook, and review or scavenger sites similar to the Coolhunter.com, and Virtualtourist.com to name a few. In essence, it is a travel blog that visually maps out the locations that you choose to post about. People can share either through the website or directly through the app on their iPhone.

What sets Travel Guru aside from already available travel tools is that it’s not only a network of shared information, but it allows for a personal account of the world through each individual’s eyes. The web allows us to share our own opinions with others and people like to hear what people who are just like them, have to say. In one hand, it is a large forum of experiences, but on the other hand, it is a personal travel album for each user’s valuable experiences in life. Travel Guru doesn’t discriminate against the type of experience, it is meant to encourage people to experience more things around them, near or far, small or big and share with others what this wonderful world has to offer.

Goals & Objectives
If there is a tool that is made for those simple and big experiences, then I believe people we be more aware and take more initiative in appreciating the things around them. Through the tool, they may discover through others, things they never would have thought about before, bringing to light some things that have been taken for granted. When discovering our own journey, we can learn from each other and at the same time, teach others what we know.

To make it into a tool that people will actually want to use, I will design a simple, user-friendly interface that breaks away from the crowded profiles of modern-day social networks while not compromising the functionality. It will be colorful and inviting to reflect the positive feelings about the world that I want to instill in people. Using vector illustrations and perhaps incorporate them with warm but intriguing photography will give it a more personal, lighthearted look. It is not meant to be too serious, because the process I want people to go through when they use the tool should be fun and engaging. I will also be designing a marketing campaign to help send this message across – that it is not just a tool, but a process to engage with the world. Within this campaign, I will design an incentives program that will reward users with benefits from participating companies and places in the community, but will also help the sponsors get more exposure.

Production
As this is a prototype, it will not be a complete site or app. My main focus as a designer will be to design the brand and interface. I will develop and design a series of scenarios as a starting point for coding. The site will be coded in order to illustrate main concepts of the idea, which I will determine from the information architecture. There will be features such as GPS functions that will need to be simulated to work like Google Maps. Live feed will also need to be simulated and many of the search functions.

As for the app, I have no knowledge of how to develop one, but I have connections with people who do and may be willing to help. This is not for certain and I would not want to develop a plan dependent on it, so my plan for the app may just be screen layout designs to simulate the different scenarios. I will consult with an app developer during the break to get a better idea of how to design for an app, and the possibility of having it developed. around they world. Review sites like VirtualTourist.com and OurFaves.com rely on user testimonials and GPS devices allow for search by location. I will also look at the new wave of simplified photo-sharing apps such as DailyBooth, PicPiz, Instagram and Path to see if it is possible for further simplification of the Travel Guru concept. Travel Guru will use these existing tools as reference and put together the content in a new and meaningful way that is not just reinventing the wheel. During the process of research, new ideas may come up in terms of functionality, but my deliverable will remain the same.

I will also be reviewing tutorials on coding and plan to consult with an experienced app developer to better understand what is needed in the process in designing an app. The questions I will ask will include: What are the restrictions or dimensions I need to design in? If I was to outsource the coding, how will I need to organize the information? What is the time needed to develop an app? What are some of the things that an app needs?