uIDP18 - Project 2

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This cover is an adaptation of M​ ax Bill​ artwork  Smart travel companion Travel often leads people to life changing experiences. While travel is adventurous and fun, the logistics of planning and booking an entire trip is often painful for many travelers.  Airbnb wants to become a traveler’s companion. This means helping travelers to book ​and enjoy​ an entire trip. As part of this vision, Airbnb recently added exclusive experiences, and restaurants to the platform, and plans to actively add more options. While adding options to book—a transit, a stay or an activity is essential, it is not enough to help travelers enjoy travel. Airbnb wants to focus on the traveler first. What do they want? What do they need? What can Airbnb offer? The challenge Airbnb is looking for a mobile app experience design proposal to build its smart travel companion. A great companion experience will aptly balance the business need of more bookings with the traveler desire of having a great trip. Design considerations The companion app is a utility tools first, and an inspiration tool second. It means that clarity of the functions is more critical than adding novel ways to finding things to book. A good design proposal is one that –  1. Is useful for pre-trip planning as well as for on-trip guidance  2. Is intuitive for travelers to follow and plan their existing itinerary  3. Has simple ways to get inspiration to further build their itinerary  4. Is as easy to use for occasional travelers as it is for frequent travelers To keep your team focused on the core problem, Airbnb is working hard to ensure:  - All Airbnb users have downloaded the app and know the basic functions really well  - Airbnb can tailor the search experiences to go along with the proposal, if necessary  - Airbnb can collect and display travel details for bookings done outside of Airbnb   Page 2   Airbnb design challenge | Indiana University | uIDP 2018 

    Illustration by Airbnb designer M​ eredith Schomburg Deliverables A panel of experts at Airbnb will review the design proposal. Your deliverable is a s​ ingle self-standing document​ that anyone can follow to understand—your design solution, your design decision rationale, and any assumptions you made during the process. Your proposal will be evaluated based on how well it aligns with the design considerations. While an engaging design solution is critical, it is also important to learn your process. Add an organized appendix​ at the end, showcasing artifacts from your design process. Questions? Airbnb designers will be available on Slack to help answer your questions. You will also have a 30 min​ video chat session to get more clarity. Please remember, the work you submit will represent your school before it reflects on your team. We recommend you to leverage and help each other do their best work together.   Page 3   Airbnb design challenge | Indiana University | uIDP 2018 

Have fun! About uIDP Undergraduate Interaction Design Practice is a course offered at Indiana University Bloomington that aims to teach students about how to think and behave like a designer. The course recognizes that design is not a solitary discipline; it is a collaborative act. To this end, we emphasize protocols for team decision-making and workflow.  The course is taught by professor Marty Siegel – Professor of Informatics and founding professor of the HCI Design Master’s Program. You can read about him at http://profmartysiegel.com/     Page 4   Airbnb design challenge | Indiana University | uIDP 2018