Ditch the guidebooks, unlock the secrets of travel
Overview
Client
Case Study
My Role
User research
UI design
Prototyping
User testing
Team
Solo
Duration
Brief
As the lead UX designer for Uncoverd, I spearheaded the product's development from concept to launch. I crafted user flows, designed an intuitive interface, oversaw the creation of the brand's visual identity, and conducted user testing to validate design decisions and ensure a seamless user experience.
Problem
Travelers often feel overwhelmed by the endless sight-seeing options available, wasting time and facing frustration. They struggle to find destinations and activities that truly match their desire for authentic experiences, or feel lost when trying to organize their trip and discover those hidden gems.
Goal
Empower authentic travel to help users discover hidden gems, local favorites, and unique experiences that create a truly memorable and personalized travel journey.
Foster a Community of Explorers: Build a space where travelers can connect, share recommendations, gain inspiration from one another,
Streamline Trip Planning: Provide intuitive tools and AI assistance to make the process of creating and customizing a trip itinerary easier and less time-consuming.
Solution
Uncoverd is a travel app that empowers travelers to streamline their trip planning and uncover the hidden gems that lie beyond the usual tourist traps. It combines a social community platform, where users can share their travel experiences, with a convenient in-app trip planner. This allows users to build itineraries themselves or get inspiration and assistance from our AI travel assistant.
Design Process
Research / Discovery
During the research and discovery phase, I sought to understand the core challenges faced by travelers via user interviews. After identifying the problem, I analyzed existing processes by mapping out user flows. These flows revealed pain points and opportunities for improvement. This analysis then guided the conceptualization of a new app solution, where I created user flows that streamlined the discovery process and seamlessly integrated trip planning features for a more holistic travel experience.
Design
Guided by the insights from user flows, I began desinging wireframes. I iterated through low and high fidelity designs to ensure the design had a user-friendly interface and intuitive flows to finding hidden gems, and for trip building.
User Testing
I conducted user testing with 3 participants via usertesting.com. These tests focused on key tasks like finding hidden gems, building itineraries, and using the AI travel assistant. User feedback guided design iterations, ensuring the final product delivered an intuitive and enjoyable experience.
Research / Discovery
To create a solution that truly resonates with travelers seeking authentic hidden gems, I conducted interviews with 5 users to understand their experiences, frustrations, and desires.
User Interview Insights
A clear picture emerged of the current landscape of hidden gem discovery, highlighting both the allure and obstacles:
The Allure:
Craving Authenticity & Connection
4/5 users yearn for unique experiences, beyond tourist hotspots.
Personalization & Trust as Guiding Lights
5/5 users stated they value personalized recommendations from fellow travellers.
The Obstacles:
Overwhelmed by Information & Authenticity Concerns
4/5 users stated they spend countless hours compiling information to plan out their trip using multiple sources (i.e.: websites/platforms) to research
3/5 users were concerned over whether places they were going to visit were authentic hidden gems, or curated experiences for tourists.
Lack of Efficiency & Time-Consuming
5/5 users stated that researching and verifying the authenticity of travel destinations is time consuming and inefficient, which leads to frustration.
Mapping the Status Quo: Current User Journey
Paving a New Path: Proposed Solution
A proposed solution aims to transform the frustrating journey into a seamless and rewarding one. By addressing the pain points identified in my research, I envision a solution that:
Curates and Personalizes
Leverages users' preferences and machine learning to curate a tailored selection, beginning from onboarding surveys, eliminating the need for endless searching.
Verifies & Guarantees Authenticicity
Prioritizes showcasing hidden gems run by locals or verified by trusted experts, ensuring users can explore with conidence.
Provides Comprehensive Information
Users can find photos, reviews, and interactive maps for each hidden gem, empowering users to plan their visits effectively.
Fosters Community & Sharing
Creates a platform for users to share their discoveries, contribute reviews, and connect with fellow explorers in a community of authentic travel enthusiasts.
Storyboard
To bring the proposed user flow to life, I created a storyboard that visually narrates a user's journey.
Wireframes
Guided by research insights, a proposed user flow, and storyboard, I created wireframes to translate concepts into concrete screens and interactions.
After creating the initial rapid lo-fi designs in Balsamiq, I conducted user testing with 3 users. I derived the following insights from the user testing.
Onboarding & Login Flow
Simplify the login experience by minimizing the information users must provide upfront.
This will reduce friction during onboarding, encouraging more users to successfully complete the signup process and begin exploring hidden gems in the app.
Card standardization
Create a unified card design to chunk comments and images together (improve readability and visual hierarchy)
Based on the feedback noted above, I revised my wireframes for the hi-fidelity versions.
Hifi Wireframes & Prototype
Splash Screen
02
Home & Gem Discovery
A successful sign in will immediately
take the user to the home discovery
page.
03
Trip
Users can view, create and manage their trips.
04
User Profile & Map
Users can view their own hidden gem posts on their profile. Additionally, users can use the map feature for a geo-location view.
User Testing
To ensure Uncoverd met user needs, I conducted user testing with 3 participants via usertesting.com.
Key areas of focus included:
Hidden Gem Discovery: How easily could users find unique experiences?
Itinerary Building: Was the process intuitive and flexible?
AI Travel Assistant: Did users find the recommendations and planning tools helpful?
View the full usability here: Uncovered Usability Testing Report.
User Testing Highlight Reel
Insight 1: 1/3 (33%) of users expected the entire image to be tappable, indicating a mismatch with the current design.
Context: The onboarding survey asked users to select travel interests. However, the tappable area was limited to the circular checkbox in the corner of the screen
Recommendation: Expand the tap target area to encompass the full image for easier interaction.
Insight 2: 2/3 (67%) of users expected the "plus sign" to initiate trip planning, revealing a need for clearer UI cues.
Recommendation: Enhance user discovery with tooltips.
Context: During a task-based user test, most users instinctively gravitated towards the "plus sign" icon when asked to create a trip plan.
Before
After
Insight 3: 0/3 (0%) of users did not interact with the AI travel assistant chatbot. This indicates a discoverability issue with the chatbot's placement, or its visual prominence.
Context: When tasked with auto-generating a trip plan, none of the users considered the travel assistant bot, highlighting a visibility issue.
Recommendation: Enhance user discovery with tooltips and UI redesign.
Before
After
AI travel assistant variations
Going Forward: Refining, Engaging, and Expanding
Validate AI Assistant Improvements: Conduct further user testing to ensure the discoverability issues with the AI travel assistant have been successfully addressed. Collect feedback on the feature's overall utility and value.
Implement Gamification: Design a tiered badge system (e.g., Explorer, Discoverer, Globetrotter) to reward user engagement. Structure point accumulation around actions like discovering hidden gems, sharing recommendations, and contributing to the community. This will incentivize user activity and foster a sense of accomplishment.
Explore Monetization Strategies: Investigate potential models for limiting AI travel assistant features to drive paid subscriptions. Options include:
AI trip planning assistance limited for free users
Tiered access: Advanced AI features reserved for premium subscribers. This can generate revenue while maintaining a compelling free version.
Prioritization:
High Priority: AI assistant testing and monetization exploration (balancing user experience with revenue potential)
Medium priority: Gamification (Increased user engagement benefits app growth)
Internationalization
Uncovered isn't just for uncovering hidden gems - it's about uncovering a world of users. To ensure a seamless experience for everyone, internalization (i18n) is a key consideration during the design process.
Layout Flexibility
Text length varies across languages (German, for instance, can be longer than English). Designs must anticipate potential truncation or spacing needs to accommodate these variations.
Right-to-Left Support
Languages like Arabic are written and read from right to left. The UI will be adaptable to ensure the app displays information correctly for these users.
By prioritizing internationalization, we're building Uncovered to be a truly global platform, welcoming users from all corners of the world.
What went well?
All users praised the interest-based onboarding process for tailoring their experience effectively.
Users unanimously enjoyed collaborative trip planning, completing the task within an average of 35 seconds.
Most users (67%) found the user interface familiar and easy to navigate.
The map feature for viewing hidden gems was a hit with 67% of users.
Innovation Callouts
Democratized Travel Discovery
Shift away from influencer-driven or paid-promotion travel content, empowering everyday users to share their authentic discoveries and recommendations.
Users get trustworthy, unbiased recommendations from a community of like-minded travelers, not just those with brand partnerships.
Social Meets Practical
Blends the inspiration of a social feed with actionable trip planning tools. It eliminates the disconnect between saving an amazing spot and actually making it part of your travel plans.
Users benefit from a seamless experience, from finding hidden gems to effortlessly integrating them into their itinerary.
Trip Planning, Together
Collaborative trip planning, designed for both spontaneous adventures with friends or detailed multi-destination journeys.
Travel planning becomes more social, fun, and efficient, addressing the pain points of coordinating with multiple people.
Branding
Logo & Icon App
Uncoverd = Uncover hidden gems + discover the unexpected journeys
Uncoverd