SUMMARY
Challenge
To reimagine a more resilient tourism industry while simultaneously expanding the economic growth of Costa Rica.
Opportunity
How Might We extend the hiking experience beyond the hike so that hikers have a greater emotional connection with the community and the country?
Intervention
Yazú is a service that aims to help international hikers access affordable, beautiful, safe, and convenient hikes near the city by providing an end-to-end hiking experience. The concept found inspiration in reimagining a more resilient and life-centered tourism industry and expanding Costa Rica's economic growth through ARGs (Alternate Reality Games). This interactive networked narrative uses the world as a storytelling platform.
Results
The intervention was shown to the clients as a concept video.
*More on the process below.
Concept image
how it works
Concept explanation in the video below.
Concept video
Service Blueprint
PROCESS
Context
The covid-19 pandemic heavily impacted the Global Tourism industry. In Costa Rica, tourism accounted for approximately 7% of the country's GDP and went to 0% for a significant part of 2020.
Design challenge
How might tourism become more resilient and life-centered while simultaneously expanding the economic growth of Costa Rica?
Initial research & reframing design challenge
After thorough research with tourism experts and businesses, we focused on strengthening the emotional relationship between tourists and their costarican experience.
The reframed design challenge changed to:
How Might We re-imagine a more resilient tourism industry by facilitating an end-to-end experience for the tourist to further long-term economic growth?
Focus & co-creation partners
We decided to focus on rural tourism, so they paired with El Brujo Tours (Witche's Tour), a local rural community eco-tour agency.
El Brujo Tours is a local eco-tour agency that provides rural community tours. The agency's motto is 'Conectando con la Naturaleza.' (Connecting with Nature). Their value proposition is offering affordable hikes near the city, in the beautiful mountains of Escazú. Their walks include urban local stories and sandwiches made with local produce.
El Brujo Tours logo
Escazú mountains
Escazú masks
Escazú landscape
in-depth research
We assisted a tour hike and posted on Reddit to understand a hiker's mental model, and then used a Service Design framework to synthesize the information
In-field hike
Reddit post
Hiker's mental model
When considering a hike, the hikers care most for a guide's experience, likeability, overall hike experience, and group dynamic.
What hikers look for in a hike
Persona
We focused on designing an intervention for International hikers looking for affordable, beautiful, safe, and convenient hikes near the city. These tourists are nature lovers and stay 1-3 months in Costa Rica but just a few days in the city.
Their major problem is that they avoid staying in 'gray cities' and are in search of locally produced experiences.
Ecosystem map
Then we mapped out the stakeholders and decided to make the experience better by bringing the guide and tourists closer together.
Ecosystem map
Team focus
Journey map
The first interaction began with city promotion or social media. Afterward, the hiker would contact them, make a deposit, and reserve a hiking spot. The hiker would then arrive at the location, hike, and then do the final goodbyes with an activity planned by the guides.
Although we thought of improving pain points such as purchasing tickets or arranging proper transportation, in the end, it wouldn't necessarily mean long-term economic growth so we reassessed the design challenge and reframed it for a second time:
How Might We extend the hiking experience beyond the hike so that hikers have a greater emotional connection with the community and the country?
Journey Map
co-creation session #1
We did a session alongside El Brujo Tours founder, and It included an ice-breaker activity, sketching, role-playing, and journey maps.
We learned that (1) the use of Escazú's legends for storytelling purposes and (2) each guide brings its approach to each hike. We used the information and moved into the second co-creation session.
Sketching activity
Role-playing activity
co-creation session #2
We did a session alongside an international hiker who is a regular in El Brujo Tours hikes. In this session, we focused on understanding the hiker's point of view.
We learned that (1) the hiker saw the hikes as a mission to be completed, (2) they appreciate the sticker given as it's a tangible reminder of the hike, and (3) the Escazú legend stories were not explicit. We analyzed these learnings and used them for the final concept.
Sketching activity
Role-playing activity
synthesis & decision making
The observations we made were, (1) there is a disconnection in the storytelling and what the hiker understands it, (2) the hiker is trying to accomplish something when hiking, and (3) the sticker is appreciated as it's a tangible way of representing the hiker's success in completing the walk.
With these learnings, we crafted some questions: (1) What if the stories contribute to the hike's overall experience? (2) What if the hike experience could be a game to be completed? (3) What if the sticker isn't just a sticker at the end?
By asking the questions and further research, we stumbled upon Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and took them to develop the final concept.
Concept
description
An end-to-end hike experience that allows hikers to experience the cultural richness of Escazú in both the digital and physical mediums. The name comes from a magical vine used to defeat 'Tulevieja,' a witch from the legends.
Tulevieja Witch
Concept video
Prototypes
QR Token
App demo video
value proposition
We help International hikers to access affordable, beautiful, safe, and convenient hikes near the city by providing an end-to-end hiking experience.
endgame
Yazú intends to re-imagine a more resilient tourism industry by strengthening a tourist's emotional connection with the community and country.
Special appreciation for all who contributed to making the project better.
Tools used: Service Design frameworks, Figma, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Sony Alpha6400 & Miro