A Platform
ZALA is a local content service for travel and leisure businesses. The company builds customized mobile, web and TV applications that connect people to a city's best restaurants, shopping, and entertainment.
A Platform
ZALA is a local content service for travel and leisure businesses. The company builds customized mobile, web and TV applications that connect people to a city's best restaurants, shopping, and entertainment.
As founder and creative director of ZALA, my role was to develop a user experience emphasizing the power of personal choice. When people make their own decisions about how to spend their free time and money, they're far more likely to take action.
For 3+ years, I explored this concept from diverse directions with the goal to develop interaction tools that engage and educate people about what cities have to offer.
Research
The study of choice theory the evolution of travel recommendation engines helped formulate the core concepts for ZALA.
Research
The study of choice theory the evolution of travel recommendation engines helped formulate the core concepts for ZALA.
Team ZALA began to develop the platform by learning the mechanics of how people make decisions—we studied Professor Richard Thaler's work on choice theory, statistics on multi-media engagement, and ran our own qualitative experiments on consumer behavior.
Next, we looked at the evolution of travel advice beginning with word-of-mouth recommendations -> to travel agencies -> to guide books -> to digital platforms. We wanted to identify the working elements of previous systems as well as uncover the flaws that each version shared. Most recommendation engines seemed to focus on justifying the credibility and value of its own recommendations, however, each platform ignored the unique needs of the individual.
The research process was lengthy, but we knew that if we understood the foundations and challenges of the current recommendation engines, we could successfully build our own.
Synthesize
We organized our thoughts into the following insights—personal taste governs all decisions, limited options make it easier to choose, and rich content makes viewers comfortable about going somewhere they've never been.
Synthesize
We organized our thoughts into the following insights—personal taste governs all decisions, limited options make it easier to choose, and rich content makes viewers comfortable about going somewhere they've never been.
Once it became clear that the strongest influence on decision-making was personal taste, our next challenge was working with the marketing team to articulate ZALA's values in simple language—to create messaging that supported each element of ZALA design. We landed on five insights to help direct our process:
Insight #1: Our opinions and tastes help define who we are. ZALA helps people choose activities specific to their personal situations rather than from large directories or impersonal experts.
Insight #2: We all fear that our plans won't turn out as good as we hope. ZALA allows people to make plans based on what they like, not what recommendations, ratings, or comments tell them to do.
Insight #3: The bigger the occasion, the bigger expectation. A first-person glimpse of a specific destination makes people feel confident about their decision to go there.
Insight #4: Happiness is when our experience fulfills our expectations. ZALA give people the ability to collect their valuable experiences and share discoveries.
Insight #5: We seek tools that encourage us to embrace our personal taste. ZALA, designed with the understanding that taste is personal.
Brainstorm
"Taste is Personal" became the core idea for the design of the ZALA platform. This simple declaration was the lens we used for creating all elements ZALA.
Brainstorm
"Taste is Personal" became the core idea for the design of the ZALA platform. This simple declaration was the lens we used for creating all elements ZALA.
The core purpose of ZALA was to engage and help people make quick decisions tailor-made to their specific situations. Motivated by these intentions, we created a robust library of location-specific content—short videos, photos, and researched venue details. Additionally, we developed a platform allowing that allowed people to interact with the ZALA content library—to organize and share their plans, and most importantly see those plans through.
We wanted to build mobile and desktop versions of the platform, content for 800-900 San Francisco venues, a promotional microsite, an investor presentation, and a few software demonstration videos. All of this seemed like a big undertaking, but we knew we had the structure and thought governance to help us achieve our desired results.
Prototype
After nearly a year of mental gymnastics, we got to work producing videos and photos; creating wireframes for the desktop and mobile experiences; and building the foundation for the database and 3rd party integrations.
Prototype
After nearly a year of mental gymnastics, we got to work producing videos and photos; creating wireframes for the desktop and mobile experiences; and building the foundation for the database and 3rd party integrations.
Iteration is an exciting time when all of the design research, inspiration and analysis yield tangible prototypes. We went through dozens of desktop and mobile iterations before we settled on a version that collectively represented our core values. Once we had a working UI, we developed iOS and Android versions, created an investor presentation, sales materials, a microsite, and software demonstration videos.
The content library took over a year to build. We successfully shot and edited nearly 250 short films and took 4000+ photographs of nearly 900 venues in San Francisco.
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
Implement
With our shiny new beta in hand, we launched a closed network version of ZALA, began to compile user feedback and immediately started to refine the platform.
Implement
With our shiny new beta in hand, we launched a closed network version of ZALA, began to compile user feedback and immediately started to refine the platform.
