Jin Oh
Professor Petranka
Day 7 Post-Assignment
May 31, 2016
Every spring and fall, I have to travel from South Korea to Durham, and every summer and winter, I have to travel back to Korea. Since I am a student in the States, I need to travel many times. Every traveler could conceive this experience differently, these students who travel back and forth every time they go to educational institutions could also be considered as frequent travelers. Therefore, this analysis can be applicable to many people. In my analysis, I want to especially focus on the process starting from my home to the first destination, Detroit airport where I have to wait for the transfer flight since the whole process is very long. Thus, my according to the travelers’ type.
[Psychographic Dimension]
1) Introvert vs Extrovert
Travelers’ characteristics clearly appear while they are waiting for their plane at the airport.
2) Detail-oriented vs Spontaneous
Some travelers can plan every detail of the trip, such as budget and tour plan, yet others will think about what to do and what to spend when they get to the place.
3) Independent (do not know all the information, yet they believe in themselves on where to go) vs Dependent (know all the information)
Some travelers are independent of all the travel guides, while other travelers are dependent of the travel guides, information centers, and friends or family resources.
4) Open to Explore vs Stay-Focused
Some travelers are open to explore new places, yet some travelers like to stay on what they have to do and wait for the task to approach the person.
5) Asking for help vs Do not ask for help
Some travelers ask for help when they are confused or when they have trouble pulling out their luggage from the conveyor belt, but others do not ask and talk to others.
6) Solo traveling vs Group traveling
Some people prefer solo traveling because they want to have their own time during the travel, while others prefer group traveling because they are likely to get lonely during the trip.
7) So many checked bags vs No checked bags
Some people have so many checked bags because they have to get prepared every morning in order to get good profile pictures on Facebook, while others do not check any bags because they do not mind about getting dirty and want to feel the destination in so many different ways
[Relevancy]
I would like to choose planning the detail-oriented vs spontaneous dimension and independent vs dependent dimension. If a person is detail-oriented, he or she wants to know more about the destination. He or she would likely to be dependent. On the other hand, if a person is spontaneous, he or she wants to be free from the travel guides and enjoys whatever he or she can. Thus, he or she would likely to be independent. Therefore, I believe that these two dimensions will be relevant.
[2 x 2 matrix]
Independent / DependentDetail-oriented / The Creator / The Planner
Spontaneous / The Adventurer / The Ignorant King
[Each persona description]
The Creator:
This type of people is independent and detail-oriented. They will definitely have their budget for the whole trip, but not every day budget. They have read through the guide book, so they have several places that they want to go from the book. However, they will also change the plan according to what the natives suggest. They might get stuck in some places because they do not have definite plan for everyday, yet they will check what they have done today every night and prepare for tomorrow.
The Planner:
This type of people is detail-oriented and dependent. They heavily rely on travel guides, blogs, Travelocity, and budget. They need to make sure that there is no leftover time because they might consider as the time that has been wasted. They will go to all the locations that have been mentioned in the travel guides and do not mind about other interesting places that the natives usually go to. They get frustrated when the day does not go along with the schedule that they made.
The Adventurer:
This type of people is independent and spontaneous. They skim through the destination that they are going, but they do not know much information about it. They will go straight into the field and talk to the natives to figure out navigation, restaurants, and important places. They do not plan, rather they just put everything into action. The trip might be slightly tiring, yet they made their lives to be always going through struggle since they do not know the shortcut. However, they might find such a great restaurant that only natives knew or such a great spot that no travel guides knew about.
The Ignorant King:
They wander around different places simply according to what they think about the place, very similar to a king who has so much power and uses it whenever the king wants. However, when they arrive at the place that they want to go to, they read the travel guides or statements and look around carefully. They might ask friends or Google about the place, similar to how King asks about the place to their courtiers. Sooner or later, they lose interest about the place and go to different place.
Among these archetypes, I strongly relate to the creator type.
[Contemplation]
I figured that I have so many stages that I can fix to make everyone’s life slightly better. There are many waiting times in between the steps. In my case, I sometimes wander around the airport to find interesting places, so for me, waiting time is the time to be spontaneous. However, I could think of different ways to give entertainment for people who need everything to be on-time and does not like waiting. Moreover, there should be a different way to check our body and luggage rather than getting checked once again by going through the security in person. Again since the planner could be frustrated by encountering entirely new event, there could be an airport only application that can tell people beforehand on what will happen after they arrive or when they depart.