Cocchi story Vol.10
This is our documentation of creating the service. We are going to cover here “Interview (partner)”, “Interview (solo traveler)” and “Interview (photography enthusiast)”. (30/Oct/2020–28/Nov/2020)
You can read about our decision on focusing map selling on Vol.9.
Interview (partner)
We interviewed 11 people to understand the problems of people who have partners and decided to focus on solo travelers because we found opportunities for solo travelers to use our map through interviews.
User test
We showed a user interface and a list of maps (each map is $5) to understand people’s preferences and needs.
- Haunted places
- Beautiful places
- Fireworks spots
- Early modern pottery tour
- Matsutake mushroom spots
- Sea turtle spots
- Celebrity
- Station with many cute girls (or handsome guys)
- Anime pilgrimage
- Suicide spots
- Sake tour
- Places related to great historical figures
- Date spots
- Yucky places
- Izakaya (Japanese pub) with many foreigners
- Unmanned stations
- Dangerous spots
- Temples and shrines
- Stores with individualistic owner
- Shooting spots
- Old houses
- Beetle (insect) spots
- Fields and vegetables
- A trip to eat all kinds of seafood
- Beautiful (handsome) shopkeepers
- No signal places
- Places where you can shout
- Job change map
- Places recommended by an amateur model
- Sauna tour
- Sale/Bargain
- Fishing spots
- Graffiti
- Candy shops
- Rundown but delicious restaurants in downtown
- Izakaya (Japanese style pub) which open until morning
- Vacant lots where you can play baseball or soccer
- UFO spots
Results of hypotheses
- People are interested in maps which are not usually on guidebooks.
- Couples are interested in going to tourist places rather than places known only to locals.
Insights
- People don’t plan in detail when traveling alone or with close friends because unexpected happenings are also part of the trip.
- It is difficult to get local information in advance, so travelers often ask local people for help.
- It is a heavy psychological burden to go out or travel with a partner because it requires careful planning.
- There is no quick solution when you want to find something nearby in the destination to kill your time.
- Lazy people or people who buy time would be potential users.
- There are opportunities to provide serendipity to solo travelers.
- Long-lasting couples are struggling with finding new travel destinations.
- There is a gap between what you are looking for and what Instagram shows. (Instagram worthy≠tasty food)
- People want to subscribe to maps rather than paying $5 per map.
- Distance is an important factor when going out, so at least Doraemon pilgrimage (main text) + place name (subtext) should be displayed on the app.
- It’s not user-friendly because you can’t see people’s reviews.
Interview (solo traveler)
We interviewed 6 people to understand the problems of solo travelers and decided to focus on photographers because our idea is map selling and they might have more problems regarding places.
Persona
A shy person who likes to wander off alone and looking for serendipity on the road.
Problem
- Hard to meet local people while traveling alone.
- Can’t find places where local people go often because the internet shows only tourist places.
Hypothesis
- People want to have the opportunity to meet locals in real-time when they travel.
- There is no information tool to find popular places for locals.
User test
We showed two types of user interface to understand whether people want to meet locals in real-time or want to know popular places for locals.
Results of hypotheses
- People don’t want to make friends when they travel because the purpose is not to make friends.
- The main purpose of the trip is to get information about the destination.
- People are afraid that strangers can see their real-time information.
- People tend to use social media such as Instagram to find out popular shops for locals.
- If people know where they want to go, they do a random search on Google.
- There is no specific website, so the top search results tend to be chosen.
- People don’t consciously select websites, but they often end up using “RETRIP”.
- People often use guidebooks to find comprehensive information about a destination.
Insights
- People go out and have fun by themselves rather than going with someone else if it’s their own hobby.
- People go to their favorite places or go to the neighborhood for eating and shopping without spending too much time if they are not particular about it.
- If people have been in the community for a long time or with the same people for a long time, they want to communicate with other people.
- People feel that the information on the Internet and social media is often exaggerated and glorified.
- If people know someone at the destination, they always ask them because locals definitely know better.
- Solo travelers want a community where even travelers can join easily.
- Solo travelers want to go on vacations but live like how the people there live like.
- Want easy-to-read and organized information like a guidebook.
- Want to see someone’s travel plan and customize based on it.
- If it’s a short trip, people want to go to classic touristic places.
- Feel sympathy by understanding the background of the travel destination.
- Want to experience something that can’t be taken by picture.
Interview (photography enthusiast)
We interviewed 7 photographers to understand their problems and we realized that art is actually a very interesting area through interviewing artistic photographers, therefore we decided to interview artists to understand them.
Persona
Photography enthusiasts who always carry a camera with them when they go out and take pictures, not for someone else but themselves, and who are interested in photography to find the stories of things in the city.
Problem
Whenever photographers see good photo spots on Instagram, they take a note of it, but it’s hard to find detailed location information.
Hypothesis
- Photographers would like to easily see a list of spots where “people who find meaning in places and take pictures of them”.
- Photographers want to know where they can take the photos that they have in mind.
User test
We showed two types of the user interface to understand what kinds of information photographers want to know.
Results of hypotheses
- The hobbyist is more concerned with composition than with the meaning or purpose of the photograph.
- Artistic photographers express their unique view of the world and the concept behind it through their photographs.
- “People who find meaning in places and take pictures of them”, not because the scenery is beautiful or not, but because it’s part of the environment.
- Photographers want to take pictures of good objects with the composition and light they want rather than getting “likes” on Instagram.
- Photographers rarely search by destination or subject.
- Photographers find places to take pictures passively through social media, so they are not always looking for places to take pictures.
- Photographers need photos for contests and themed exhibitions, and they have a hard time finding models for them.
Insights
- It’s hard to go to a photo spot with a lot of equipment.
- It’s fun to take a picture of someone and see how happy they are.
- Photographers decide what they want to take photos of after they’ve decided where they’re going.
- There is no service to find specific shooting spots.
- People who love photography are very particular about composition and light.
- If photographers have never been to a place before, they’ll bring their camera.
- Need storage to keep a backup of photography data. (Using flicker, Google Drive, and SD cards)
- Want to share photos they like very much with someone else.
- There is a machine to develop the film at home, but it is difficult to use and the quality is low, so people develop the film at a camera shop, but it is expensive.
- Want to keep negatives, but they are too bulky to store.
- Don’t want to pay for a service where anyone can post because the quality would below.
- Photographers are so busy every day with shooting that they don’t have time to create a portfolio.
Next Step
Interview with artists and art lovers
