User requirements and visualizations for a multi-facet search task in the domain of travel

A search task in the domain of travel can be complex and is characterized by its wide variety of properties and many facets. Providing full insight in the available search products and their facets creates challenges for creating suitable interfaces and search applications. We did an explorative study into a travel search task and conducted the study in three phases: a first phase in which we gained insight in the domain of travel and its possibilities and challenges in interfaces; a second phase where we did a user study for identifying the user requirements for the search task; and a last phase where we translated these user requirements into several mock-ups and evaluated them by a think aloud walk through method. In the first phase we set the scene for searching in travel by proposing an information search model in a travel perspective. In the second phase of the study yielded in the following list of requirements: users want to set prior properties, self compose their trip, start in multiple points, get insight in the facets and are interested in opinions of peers and background information. In the final phase of the study we confirmed these requirements and further explored the requirement of creating insight in the facets by creating several visualizations. We discovered that advanced visualizations can be difficult to understand, but can help the user in gaining insights and help finding the final items