Compass Tours

About the Project
In September 2020, I collaborated with Compass Tours, a new startup aiming to capitalize on the anticipated post-pandemic travel boom. At the center of their business would be a new website that sold excursions around the world to vacationers traveling by cruise ship.

The Approach
The standard UX research process was not within the scope for this project, as V1 of the site placed emphasis on technical architecture and custom .Net development. However, I collaborated with the founders to obtain user insights, leveraging their over 30 years of combined experience in the industry. Additionally, I conducted competitor research within the cruise excursions space to establish a baseline for information architecture, user experience, and quality standards. Beyond data gathering, I created a sitemap, wireframes, and VRs to establish the flow and vision for the site.

Sitemap completed for Compass Tours

Wireframe preview of homepage

Guerrilla User Testing
Despite user testing not being part of our project scope, I still advocated for it. While I didn't have access to real-life end-users, I did have coworkers I could leverage to conduct some baseline user testing.

I scheduled an optional 'Lunch N' Learn' for those who were not on our project team but were interested in helping us gather insights. I asked our volunteers to complete a series of high-level tasks, such as booking an excursion for a specific date and location. One coworker screen-shared their experience, while others completed tasks independently and filled out a survey at the end of each task. The survey gauged the difficulty of completing the task and allowed them to add any notes or screenshots to accompany their answers.

This was an entirely new approach for us at Ascedia, but the testing proved to be worthwhile. Through this process, we were able to uncover the need for various microinteractions and address user flow issues.

See User Testing Outline

Shareable Travel Boards
Travel Boards allow users to collect excursions that pique their interest and organize them according to their cruise itinerary.

Trip board landing page showing multiple boards including visuals for incomplete boards.

Integrated Cruise Itineraries
Travelers can search for excursions by entering their cruise line information from the homepage. They are then directed to a custom itinerary landing page where they can explore excursions by day. Using the on-page 'trip navigator,' users can easily explore locations that fit their itinerary without having to revisit this landing page. It also reminds them of the day they are currently exploring.

Custom itinerary landing page based on traveler's cruise information.

The blue pill at the bottom of this page is a floating nav system that allows travelers to quickly explore locations along their cruise path, see what day they are on, and open their full itinerary.  

The full itinerary is always accessible as users explore their excursion offerings.

Checkout Process
Excursions can be booked directly through MyCompassTours.com