go-to
Helping nomads & remote workers find great coffee spots to work across South-East Asia.

timeline
June - Sept 2023
platform
ios mobile
my role
Product Design
INTRODUCTION
go-to is a mobile app that helps digital nomads and remote workers find laptop-friendly cafes (with excellent coffee).
While not as widely accepted in european culture and alike, coffee shops in cities across South-East Asia are often bustling with both local students studying, and those working remotely. And because of this there are many incredible places to bring your laptop. The challenge is finding them.
With a curated list of go-to spots, recommended by those in this niche community, users feel confident in their search, which just got a whole lot easier!
CHALLENGE
Like many nomads, I love to work from & explore new coffee shops. But it can be a minefield choosing suitable spots.
DEFINE
The first step in exploring this problem was to figure out, is this just a frustration faced by myself and my boyfriend, or am I finding a solution for the wider nomad community? And, what precisely is the problem/s to be solved here?
I got to work researching, both conducting user interviews and finding a wealth of useful insights on community forums.
From the information gathered, key trends emerged. From this, a user persona and current user journey was created.
The research revealed patterns, the common pain points users face during their current journey. Let's summarise…
Search time and decision fatigue
Nomads enjoy the freedom to work from anywhere, but this freedom can cause decision fatigue with so much choice in a city. Plus, the search process users describe takes time out of their day.
Expectations and avoiding disappointment
The research describes their frustrations of spending the time and energy to find a great spot to work, only to be met with disappointment when the location isn't as laptop-friendly as expected.
Feeling conscious of respecting local business
The elephant in the room with this project is the controversial opinion of people being on their laptops in coffee shops. And in certain cultures and spaces this is very valid. In cities across South East Asia however, students and remote workers are an important customer base for many cafes.
The nomad community is conscious of their impact in small businesses and, from the research, many find confusion on how long it's appropriate to stay in one location and how much they should spend etc.
Finding the right environment for the work
There's no one-size-fits-all environment for remote workers. When it comes to coffee shops, some enjoy a peaceful outdoor cafe in the rice fields to work on a creative project, whereas others are looking for a focused small with AC. Searching for the right 'vibe' isn't easy.
How might we…
…build a product that aids nomads in finding good coffee shops to work from in SEA nomad spots?
…integrate ways to encourage respectful and sustainable practices while working in coffee shops?
SOLUTION & PROCESS
A mobile app was chosen as the most appropriate solution for this problem for 2 key reasons:
This target market is tach savvy but the nature of their jobs and lifestyle.
The target user is already using their smartphone to search search on google maps etc for places to go. And making this a web app would be a point of friction for users looking for a coffee shop whilst already out and about.
After conducting benchmarking for direct competitors, I found the nature of this app allowed me to look mobile and web apps, such as airbnb and nomad list, to take inspiration from interfaces and user flows many nomads are familiar with.
Next, it was time to start wireframing…
Hours of font and colour finding, prototyping and auto layout refining later…
NEXT STEPS
The design process for this app is by no means complete. The next stage (in progress), is to conduct further user testing with the prototype. From here, further iterations can be made to improve the user experience. I'll be updating this case study soon.
The aim is to develop this app (with my very wonderful boyfriend who, lucky for me, is an ios developer).
And while this is far out, I feel it's important to begin considering what metrics will be important when this app has a user base: Performance and engagement metrics such as:
Feature usage
Task completion rates
Retention rate
User satisfaction