To start off my research into travel and travel apps, Jack and I took to a whiteboard to mind map everything that sprung to mind when we thought of travel. Initially, I had started this on a page in my notebook but I realised that I had to many ideas and the page became far too over crowded. This task was a great starting point for me as it allowed me to think of some things I probably wouldn't have thought of without the help of someone else but also seeing it visually like this allowed me to expand on a few points. I think this will be a good thing to look back on if I ever come to a halt or am not really sure where to look next in my research.
When beginning to look at travel apps, I brainstormed a few that I know of or had even heard about before. I then wanted to look at apps that I was familiar with or have successfully used before or even just generally browsed before so I made a list of a few things that I thought 3 different apps have done well based off my own experiences. Looking specifically into some apps allows me to look for any potential gaps in the market, what has already been done before and what hasn’t.
As I use EasyJet a lot for booking flights and holidays, I took straight to the app myself to see the layout rather than researching photos of it. As you can see from my screenshots, the layout of the app presents itself well with effective use of icons in each category. It has easy steps to book flights, including a selection of airports to fly to and from and it also allows me to add my boarding pass into my Apple wallet so as it is easily accessible, I'm less likely to lose it and allows me to check in up to 30 days before I fly.
Next, I looked into Citymapper as I had just recently been to London for the first time and this played a huge roll into our daily travelling via public transport such as the underground tube. It was very reliable and up to date while also being really easy to use on-the-go. One thing I found very useful was the small icons of the underground on the visual map which allows you to see how nearby you are to one even if you have not much clue where you are.
