Empathize

With over 1 million downloads, TripCase had an average rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. My researcher and I read reviews to uncover pain points, then downloaded the app for ourselves to explore and understand the experience.

In a limited 90-day engagement, my researcher and I partnered with an inexperienced product owner and a team of developers to redesign and redevelop the app.

Define

This app cared for two personas – a business traveler and a leisure traveler.

At the mercy of a project team who was unfamiliar with UX processes, we moved forward without a needs statement, project scope or requirements. Instead, I outlined existing functionalities, helped the product owner determine which features were necessary, and noted opportunities to improve the experience.

Additionally, I inherited design assets from a prior designer. While those assets weren’t cohesive, they were helpful in generating ideas.

After assessing the existing app and inherited designs, I brought consistency to the experience and streamlined user flows. My researcher was a key ally who supported my questions and solutions with meaningful data.

Originally, the product team requested four sets of designs: MPV0 mobile, MVP0 desktop, MVP1+ mobile and MVP1+ desktop. Unable to deliver all in 90 days, we agreed to focus on the MVP1+ mobile screens, understanding that non-essential functions could be removed for MVP0.

Ideate

Drawing inspiration from app reviews, the inherited designs and my own experience, I began ideating. Some previously created solutions were good, but there was plenty of room for “Yes, and” thinking.

How Might We
Equip users with tools so they think that entering travel details is easy and a valuable use of time?

Prototype

Our goal was to understand the current experience of a new TripCase user from sign-up to building a manual trip and whether the prototype improved usability issues.

Outcomes

After completing three usability studies, we:

• Learned TripCase should care for five personas, not one
• Identified critical features for users and validated that they are easy to use to help dictate areas of focus for the product and dev teams
• Recommended that a reduced-feature MVP0 (which may require manual data entry) be smart to lessen the load for users
• Uncovered opportunities for branding and partnership
• Heard participants use positive terms like “easy”, “simple” and “expected”

After years of darkness, this is a miracle.

– Agency Admin, upon seeing new app designs

The Team

I was the lead designer for the application from April 2022 through August 2022.

During this time, I collaborated with one researcher, one junior designer, one product owner and a team of developers.

My personal responsibilities included:

• Leading stakeholder meetings to define and document:
  • what the product is
  • who will use it
  • why they will use it
  • technical constraints
  • project timelines
• Creating all mobile design deliverables
• Overseeing alignment between mobile and desktop screens
• Preparing prototypes
• Presenting solutions to the product team
• Managing timelines