INTREPID TRAVEL CASE STUDY

THE CHALLENGE

Intrepid Travel wanted to expand their business to an older demographic and update their digital experience. They already offer 'comfort trips' (trips that boast nicer accommodations and events - at a price) but these trips aren't that popular. 

THE SOLUTION

Our design solution was to revamp the website to highlight what makes Intrepid different and why you should travel with them. We also developed an app to give travelers a 'peace of mind' while out on the road.

MY ROLE

As a small group of 3, we all took an active role in research, design development, and iterations. When the time came, I headed up the visual design for the website and app.

WHO IS INTREPID TRAVEL?

Intrepid Travel is a grassroots, intimate travel company that prides itself on unique, small group experiences. Currently, their trips are incredibly popular with 20-somethings and those taking a 'gap' year. In this ever changing travel market, they wanted to capitalize on the affluent baby boomers and focus their efforts on attracting this older generation.

OUR PROCESS

We were really excited for the opportunity to work with Intrepid Travel. All of us are avid travelers and were extremely interested in how we could better the travel industry - especially for an older demographic. We decided to focus on Baby Boomers (basically anyone 50+) because of their passion for travel and because they spend upwards of $120 billion dollars a year traversing the globe.

Surveys

We began our research by creating a survey asking people what their travel habits were. By doing this, we wanted to gauge what aspects of travel we could improve upon. Eventually we filtered our survey results so that they reflected the 50+ age range. 

user interviews

We also began conducting user interviews of the 50+ crowd. During our interviews we asked them about their best and worst travel experiences, as well as what was important to them when they planned a trip. We also asked them to take a look at the existing Intrepid site, to get their reactions on the company as a whole. Overwhelmingly, the feedback was that they weren't impressed with Intrepid and didn't trust it as a company - in terms of both value and experience. Its branding was incredibly problematic.

our MAIN PERSONA

Dave, 60 Financial Advisor

• Like many boomers, considers himself an 'adult teenager'
• Is skeptical of packaged travel deals - feels he could get a better deal by planning it on his own
• Is somewhat comfortable in foreign countries but would rather spend time in countries that speak the same language
• Likes a balance of events and down time
• Really only wants the flight and accommodations planned, doesn't like travel plans to be too structured

Based on our user interviews, competitive analysis, web research, and surveys we were able to discern the three most important aspects baby boomers consider when booking a trip and form a problem statement.

Intrepid Travel has a problem differentiating itself from the competition; we want to emphasize what sets them apart. The primary goal of our user solution is to help them [baby boomers] understand the value, safety, and experience they get from booking a trip with Intrepid Travel.

DECIDING ON A CONCEPT

At this point we felt there were three different directions we could go in:

Based on user feedback and critique, communication (concept #2) was deemed the most valuable to give travelers - especially baby boomers - a 'peace of mind' while out on the road. We felt that this epitomized the value, safety, and experience we had set out to offer this demographic.

VACATION LIFE CYCLE

After deciding which direction we needed to go in - emphasizing communication, connection, and transparency - we wanted to break down the life cycle of a vacation to see how we could apply this new feature(s) to each stage.

We decided to redesign main features on the website to help with the planning process and also develop an app to help travelers while they're away. The app and website would be able to be accessed after the trip as well, if a traveler wanted to get back in touch with people from the same trip or with their guide.

ITERATIONS

Keeping in mind the vacation life cycle and all of our research, we started creating wireframes to test. After user testing we were able to come up with a cohesive website and app.

WEBSITE REDESIGN

Making the planning process more enjoyable (and less mysterious).

Pocket Guide App

Your 'peace of mind' right in your back pocket, no matter which country you're exploring.