To create an online resource for digital nomads, remote workers, and those looking to travel around the world.
Create A familiar and Unfamiliar UI
Create information architechture that flows with the remote workers needs.
Explore what you need to live within another country with ease and corresponding blogs.
End-Users spend a great deal of time researching their next country of visitation. This usually includes: local transportation, if a country is safe to live in, cost of living on Airbnb, overall food costs, and places to visit.
Loneliness is come with being a solo remote traveler community. Another focus to also bring these communities together through our site and social media. As we grow we have a plan to create programs and events for our end user.
New or interested remote workers and digital nomads find it hard to get started and this is because a lot of the information out there is hard to find, an opinionated blog, lacks living direction, and doesn’t lead or accurately provide the information they are looking for
Country Guides that target and overview what it means to be a digital nomad within a country.
Information that is useful and helpful to those just getting started as a digital nomad
Community Digital Nomad Focused UI
A digital nomad of 6 years. She began to travel studying abroad in a college French class that she took in college. After working in marketing for 6 years, she started her own blog and traveled around the world. Has trouble finding resources she needs going from country to country.
After finishing college, he found it difficult to get a job that he enjoyed. He now in college debt and 'stuck' at a job he doesn’t like. He saw his friend Caleb on Instagram by the beach with his laptop weeks ago and can’t stop thinking about how he could too. “how do I get there” He thinks.
These paper wire frames focused on a web app concept that allowed the user to access our information provided and to help them navigate the world as a traveling digital nomad. Users could join forums, find deals and plan for their own trip. Although the thought behind this idea was great, this design wasn't a right fit for the beginning project. A web app is something that could be reviewed down the road. Here's why: New project. A very small team. Zero content. We went with a much simpler site to grow into. It takes some features from these drawings below.
The idea behind creating the wireframes after our sketches was to create a solid, simple UI that was easy to navigate, and which allowed our end-user (digital nomads & expats) to get to their destination quickly.
The problem when I created the wireframe is that I attempted to shove too much information within the Navigation bar. I also thought about the future too much, I created a scrappy complex web app site which taught me a valuable lesson: Simplify. With key words that group the subject matter. I also learned another powerful lesson: The project may only start out with a few people available to provide content. Know where the business stands first, and as it grows, learn, evaluate, adjust, piece by piece. This project didn't start with any content, so this concept was too fresh to become a web app.
When I began to test the beginning stages of the Remote Llama Project, I chose the 'Guerrilla style' of usability study research technique. I went to a local café, asked and interviewed those who worked from their laptop to share their experience with the prototype. I discovered the side navigation did not work considering the startup’s position and content production. It provided helpful information, but since it wasn’t a web-app, and it didn't currently include enough content, they felt no need to sign up. This was a pivotal point in the change within the wireframe, UX concept, and how we provide information. A design should grow as a company grows and what they have to offer.
Country guide is useful, and contains useful information.
Country guide has too many pages to destination
CTA to the Country guide doesn’t flow
More content provided on the homepage.
User unsure what is offered to them if they sign-up.
Navigation does not provide content we currently claim.
What the end-user needed was something clean and intuitive in terms of the resources that we provided. We condensed our user-journey & information map to create a smaller more accessible navigation menu. One major update was the Country guide. Before, it took too many pages to get to the destination of choice. The redesign opens the menu to the country guide on the navigation, displays the destination content we have available, divides the content by continent, and then the country. Once this prototype came into play, the country guide became the foundation of this project. Here is an example of how it changed below:
Utilizing the bold blue felt fresh, inviting and fun and the water on Earth. This became the brand color. The names of the typefaces used are Paytone, Roboto, Fraunces & Source Serif Pro. Paytone sets the pace for a clean, inviting expression which pairs well with Roboto when you move more into smaller type. Considering that the project has desires to grow a community on this platform, picking a font too formal would seem to corporate. We also chose Fraunces was chosen for its unique curved lettering, sophisticated and unique serif style which fit and flowed well into the blogs and Articles that brought a sense of trust. Source Serif pro paired well for the paragraph copy in terms of readability and style.
Your first ideas of design are not going to be how your project is going to finish or end up being. Web design, Ideas, and businesses are living and breathing. I learned you have to be adaptable and have a clear vision of the objective. My strong suits are color, style and the artistry side of things. I got carried away with vision instead of staying grounded in the objective of this project. Where focusing on the bones, or the flow of the site becomes number one, and design follows it.
I learned a great deal working on this project, and am still learning how to improve this site. There is still a part of me that wants to make this a web app. As I continue to grow and work on Remote Llama it may as well turn into one. My biggest takeaway was: How do I condense all the ideas to cover on a site minimalistically? Making a website is like organizing Christmas tree lights and decorating the tree.
Understand where the company is at without jumping ahead with the design
How to organize a project from start to finish and continue to grow with it.
1. Keep it simple
2. Easy to Navigate
