Case Study – Leeuwarden City Tours
Background
This project started as my graduation project, I was given the task of designing a product to improve water tourism in the Netherlands, specifically using the city of Leeuwarden as a starting point. I had a loosely defined problem statement which allowed for a wide variety of solutions to solve the problem. The initial problem statement, defined by the EU Initiative, is below:
Problem Statement
Develop a product service system to stimulate water tourism in the EDR region and bordering areas (using Leeuwarden for initial development). The focus will be on the product, which should create a link between land and water in order to share information with the user. The product service system should demonstrate a viable business model for the product. Further, the product service system must integrate sustainability.
Discovery & Uncover : Research Phase
At the beginning of the project, a number of resources were utilized to gain a better understanding of the user, water tourists, the context, water tourism in the Netherlands specifically based in Leeuwarden, and the problem itself. The following methods were all used to gain a deeper knowledge of the problem space:
• Literature Research
• Stakeholder Interviews & Expert Consultation
• Boater Interviews & Water Tourism Survey
• Demographic / Behavior Research
• Benchmarking Comparable Products
Defining the Problem : Research Synthesis
Some of the most important findings coming out of the research were the types of information water tourists seek out and the main problems that water tourists faced.
Most important information:
Sailing maps, bridge hours and fees, and the water almanac.
Secondary information:
Boat height clearance, city information, gas station locations, gps information, and the harbor master (for city information).
Main problem areas identified:
Mainly related to the bridges—operating hours, paying the tolls, height clearance, the inconsistencies in bridge fees and hours in all the different cities, missing information on all of these factors and missing city information.
Ideating & Concepting
Using this information four concepts were developed, each focusing on a different aspect of the defined problem and findings.
The concepts were evaluated based on their pros and cons, future market potential and costs of implementation. From this evaluation the concept of a Leeuwarden City Tour was selected to continue forward with. As smartphones were relatively new at this time, further research was conducted consisting of user interviews with iPhone owners.
Design, Test & Iterate
This is the initial design that was tested during the design phase. For user testing, a prototype was built with Xcode and users were asked to complete several tasks in the app and testing was also conducted with a user following a route through the city of Leeuwarden. Based on user feedback, the audio controls were modified, additional links were enabled, and subtle visual indicators were added.
