1. TURNING ICEBERGS INTO
ICE CUBES
Stephanie Slobodian
Mobile UX Director Marriott Int.
Over 17 years designing experiences for Google, IBM, NPR,
Critical Mass and Marriott.

2. Kaytee NesmithMichael Mooney
Design Partners in Crime

3. Today
1. Solve the right problem
2. Hypothesis creation
3. Recommendations and managing work
4. Illustrate vision & inspire
5. Celebrate unconventional success

4. 11/30/2011 “The New Marriott Mobile
Speaks Your Language – Wildly Popular
App for iPhone, iPod touch, and
Android™ Devices Now Available in Five
Languages”
Web Wrapper.
Millions of downloads.
Billions in revenue.
“Kony” Make a Reservation

5. iOS & Android Native Apps
12/14/2014 A personalized home screen
when signed into your Rewards account
that allows you to manage all of your
upcoming stays
Mobile check-in and checkout* & mobile
alerts letting you know when your room is
ready
Don’t break the machine.

6. Launch.
Cross fingers.
Wait for data.

7. We seem to have a problem…

8. Somewhere in here…

9. Data is not telling us where.
It must be a UX problem.

10. Overwhelming :(
?

11. Winnipeg, Canada -30 F

12. Overwhelming :(

13. What would a Winnipeg’er do?

14. Fine dining for 3 weeks in February
on 3 feet of frozen river water.

18. Winnipeg Warming Huts
Art + Architecture
Competition on Ice

19. What would a Winnipeg’er do?

20. OVERWHELMING = OPPORTUNITIES :)

21. Fix the purchase funnel
AND redesign the app!

22. Shushhhh. Don’t tell anyone ;)

23. #1 SOLVE THE RIGHT PROBLEM(S)

24. Where do YOU think the
problem is?

25. Is this for the hotel
above or below the rate?
Search Results

26. How did I get here?
What am I suppose to
do here?
Hotel Details

27. How do I get information
about this hotel?
Should I stay here?
Is this a rate?
Rate List

28. This seems to be taking
a long time…
Preferences

29. Something went wrong,
It’s a 10$ ride to the
bottom of this screen.
I give up.
Review Reservation

30. #2 HYPOTHESIS CREATION

31. HYPOTHOSIS CREATION
#1 Hypothesis:
Problem
The weak placement and style of the
“View Rates” button on Hotel Details screen
does not present a clear and strong call to
action for users to continue down the
purchase path.

32. HYPOTHOSIS CREATION
#2 Hypothesis:
Problem
Yellow background color and red text for alert
messages takes visual prominence on the
screen & appear as errors not informational
content and users may abandon.

33. HYPOTHOSIS CREATION
#3 Hypothesis:
Problem
The weak visual representation of next step in
book process, strands users in the middle of
the process. (long scrolling pages with the
CTA at the bottom)

34. HYPOTHOSIS CREATION
#4 Hypothesis:
Problem
Pushing users through a long and unruly
preferences screen slows down the booking
process and may cause abandonment.

35. Now go test your hypothesis…
User Testing Rounds 1, 2 & 3

36. Prototype 1
A. Locked Blue Buttons
B. Book Now on buttons
C. Rate Cards with “CTA
Buttons”
D. Compact Preferences
E. Simple Review with Hotel
Image

37. Prototype 2
A. Locked Blue Buttons
B. Small Search Results Cards
C. View Rate on buttons
D. Rate Cards Rate Rule Icon
E. Compact Preferences,
Reordered.
F. Simple Review with Hotel
Image

38. Prototype 3
A. Locked Blue Buttons
B. Larger Search Results Cards
C. Rate on Search Results Image
D. Combination Hotel Details &
Rates on one screen.
E. Visual Preferences Screen
F. Reordered Confirmation
Screen.

39. Trello
Recording Feedback

40. #3 RECOMMENDATIONS &
MANAGING WORK

41. 1. Shorten the purchase path. Combine Hotel Details & Rate screen.
2. Put CTA buttons onto the search results cards.
3. Rates should be individual cards.
4. Preferences are optional (set them and forget them).
5. Lock CTA’s at the bottom so users have a quick path forward.
6. Remove alerts that look like errors.
7. Move important content to the top of the screen.
8. Design for important content to be screen captured (offline usage).
RECOMMENDATIONS

42. Phase 1 MVP

43. Phase 2 Combining Hotel Details & Rates

44. Phase 3 Changing the Flow

45. Work closely with your team to
evaluate your process often.
Negotiate.

46. #4 ILLUSTRATE VISION & INSPIRE

47. Before & After.

48. Home Screen

49. Search Results

50. X
Hotel Details

51. X
Room Rates

52. New! Combo Room Details & Room Rates

53. Room Preferences

54. Review Reservation

55. Confirmation

56. #5 CELEBRATE UNCONVENTIONAL
SUCCESS

57. Native IOS App
By the end of Oct we
will have redesigned
80% of the app. In 6
months time.
Without over saying
the word redesign.

58. This scary place is starting to be not so scary?

59. The “latest” version is so much better than the
app Marriott had a few years back. It’s not even
worth comparing them. The design and
functionality in this app are great.
Thanks myLegsRSore!

60. Room nights & Revenue are up.
Downloads are up.
Ratings are up.
& that UX Problem turned out not
to be a UX problem.

61. Recap
1. Analyze where you think the problems are.
2. Create a hypothesis before testing.
3. You’re the expert. Make recommendations.
4. Visually illustrate the story to everyone.
5. Baby steps to a 5 star app.

62. OVERWHELMING = OPPORTUNITIES :)