"Hub2Speak" is an app that helps frequent business travelers to network with other traverlers during idle times at the airport.

As a business networker I want to be able to easily create a meaningful profile so that I get the attention of other business networkers. 

As a business networker I want other users to be verified so that I do not have to deal with fake profiles. 

As a business networker I want to be able to influence the preferences of my search so that I get into contact with people I actually want to meet. 

As a business networker I want to find other likeminded business people that are nearby so that I can meet the right away. Corresponding Job Story: When I have a stopover at an airport, I want to know which other business people are also at the airport now, so I can meet them during my stopover. 

As a business networker I want to directly contact other business networkers so that I can schedule a meeting. 

As a business networker I want to find a suitable and nearby location to meet fast so that I can meet the other person on short-notice. 

As a business networker I want to organize my contacts so that I can easily find and get back to certain contacts later. 

As a business networker I want to see as many other profiles as possible so that I can improve my chances of meeting a potential business partner.

Target Audience: The target audience is business travelers of Generation X or Y, 25-40 years old. They travel a lot on long-haul flights and therefore spend a lot of waiting time on stopovers at international airports. They are open to meet new business relevant contacts while traveling, but often do not have the time or the resources to find likeminded or surprising people to meet. The situation is a lot like dating, but with a professional focus. People older than 40 are less likely to use an app for this. 

Competition: A competitive analysis came up with two direct competitors for location based networking, Shapr and BumbleBizz. Both are still not widely known but have a growing user base and media attention. Another competitor directly aressing business travelers that is still in its startupphase with a webapp is Waitlist which is testing at Munich airport at the moment. Analogous competition comes from LinkedIn and Xing which have a very large user base, but do not focus on live location. 

Risks and Opportunities: One of the greater risks is that LinkedIn enters the market with its own feature for location based networking, since they have a large user base already. Another risk is that networking on a short notice like the one needed for a meeting during a stopover is technically not feasible. Opportunities lie in the market that is still low on competitors, so a good solution has the chance to earn a large market share. Another opportunity is the cooperation with airports and airlines, that also compete amongst each other regarding the travel experience especially for stopover traffic. 

Conclusions: With little direct competition and a specific focus on short-notice meetings of people nearby at an airport, the app should find a market for itself. As with every networking app, it is key to get to a sufficient user base soon to be able to leverage the network effect. For this, a cooperation with airports or airlines should be negotiated.

Based on an interview with frequent business travelers as the target user group, the following user personas were created. They help to better understand the users goals, needs, motivations and frustrations. Sarah and Dirk are chosen as the primary personas whereas Gerd does not seem to be that interested in the app. His persona is still kept to mark off the user profiles of the app.

User Journeys better help to understand the users goals and expectations as well as painpoints during the desired tasks.

User Flows were generated to transform the findings from the user journeys into a solution for the user.

Design started with low-fidelity prototypes and a rapid prototyping was conducted. The best screens were made into mid-fidelity-wireframes.

The mobile prototype was tested with 5 participants in a moderated in-person test. All 5 participants managed to complete the tasks though some needed support by the test moderator. 4 out 5 of the participants said they would consider using the application in real life and saw the value and utility in it. Nonetheless several errors and issues were found during the test. 

​​​​​​​Issue 1: The icons for messaging and scheduling are not self-explanatory (severity high) 

Suggested Change: Add labels to the icons and revise user flow. 

Evidence: 2 participants could not understand the meaning of the icons and got stuck in the user flow. They managed to go on with support from the moderator and with trial and error. 

Issue 2: Participants were stuck in the navigation of the contact search (severity high) Suggested Change: Add a clear next step by reducing the options and revise user flow. Display a demo use case for first time users. Label the swiping arrows. 

Evidence: 2 participants got stuck in the navigation of the contact search. They also reported not knowing the swiping navigation from other apps. One other knows the swiping navigation but did not recognize it in this app. They managed to go on with support from the moderator and with trial and error. 

Issue 3: Participants had trouble composing a new message to a match (severity high) Suggested Change: Revise user flow. Go to a new message with a match directly after the match. 

Evidence: 2 participants had trouble finding the newly matched contact and writing a message to her. They managed to go on with support from the moderator and with trial and error. 

Issue 4: Participants could not distinguish between a live search and a search for later (severity medium) 

Suggested Change: Add a clear distinction between the two search modes. Make the live search based on the live location of participants. 

Evidence: 2 participants could not distinguish between live search and search for later and expected the live search to use their live location instead of having to enter the flight information. 

Issue 5: It took participants a long time to notice coach-marks (severity low) 

Suggested Change: Change the color of the coach-marks to let them stand out more. Evidence: It took a long time for 3 participants to notice the coach-marks. The color of the coachmarks is blue like the rest of the design. That’s why they don’t stand out from the rest of the design. 

The test revealed that a revision of the user flow and the labeling of the icons could improve the user experience. User need help to navigate through the app. Especially the swiping functionality is not as widely known as assumed.

The issues were dealt with by changing the user flow and the screen design, resulting in the following final high-fidelity screen design for the clickable prototype.

A clickable prototype can be found here: https://invis.io/BZL46MWWKFQ