Xue Xia

In an era where digital nomad is becoming increasingly mainstream, we have observed that for the majority of fast-traveling digital nomads - spending no more than a month in each city - balancing work and travel leaves them with limited opportunities to fully explore and immerse themselves in local culture.

Roaming Beans is committed to addressing this challenge. Through our cafe-centered community-sharing platform, Roaming Beans aims to empower digital nomads to experience and explore the culture of their destination cities in a more profound way.

By collaborating with local independent cafes and communities, we create small local communities to foster digital nomads’ sense of cultural immersion and create unforgettable memories.

Hi, this is Xue❄️

Xue Xia is a product, service, and user experience designer. She has design experience in health care, automobile, smart appliances, city planning, and more.

Design is more a way for her to get in touch with the world. And she is interested in user research and human-centered design methodologies to make impactful social innovation and also exploring the role of service design to shape systemic design to make a great contribution to our life.

After the pandemic, remote-working policy was largely adopted, which fundamentally changed employees' expectations of geographical flexibility. Meanwhile, in recent years, more and more people are recognising the importance of self-care, and prioritising their well-being to create a healthy work-life balance. Therefore, now in this post-pandemic world, There are currently over 35 million digital nomads worldwide. and It’s been predicted that the number will reach 1 billion by the year 2035.

We took 3 days surveying 35 digital nomads who travel to London, and also conducting interviews with 3 of them. From our survey, there are over 60% digital nomads are fast - travelling ones. And almost 80% of them are young professionals - aged between 24-36. They shared similar motivation of inner pursuit of freedom and desire to experience different cultures. They prefer to work in cafes and care about the facilities, and social connections. And they shared the desire to enjoy exploring the cultural offer

Opportunity

How might we use independent local cafe as a medium to build a new way of traveling that digital nomads could maintain work efficiency while maximise the taste of local culture by interacting with local communities?

Cafes are the touchpoint where digital nomads spend the most time throughout their journey.

Most of the digital nomads prefer to work in local independent cafes cuz it means a more unique and cozy atmosphere that helps them focus and be productive. Meanwhile, many local and foreign remote workers also gather in cafes to work, giving them a sense of community and more chances to network. and for them, it’s also a way of supporting local businesses.

For the traveling part, Coffee shops go beyond coffee. As feeling the local’s vibe is a vital part of their journey, visiting local cafes and the surrounding local districts is part of this experience. cafes foster ties to people and places, offer solace and socializing, and by engaging with business-initiated or communities, they can develop ties stronger than "weak ties".

Solution

Cafe hop your way around the world.

Roaming Beans is a vibrant community-driven platform that caters to the needs of digital nomads and supports local independent cafes. We go the extra mile to ensure digital nomads always find the perfect work environment, expand their networks, and contribute to the local cafe scene.

Through collaborations with local cafes and community members, we curate personalized work and travel routes that align with the preferences of digital nomads. Whether it's discovering hidden gems in London or maximizing their time in each destination, we strive to provide an authentic local experience.

Cultural immersion is at the heart of our mission. By partnering with local independent cafes and communities, we offer a range of offline activities that foster connections and create lasting memories. Additionally, our platform provides valuable travel tips and advice from knowledgeable locals, enhancing the overall digital nomad experience

One important part of Roaming Beans is about the cafe partnership. We provide a seamless 3 steps guidance for independent cafes to join in the community and sustain the network.

Xue Xia

Opportunity

How might we use independent local cafe as a medium to build a new way of traveling that digital nomads could maintain work efficiency while maximise the taste of local culture by interacting with local communities?

Solution

Cafe hop your way around the world.

Social

About

Royal College of Art