Scattered planning
Research revealed how often people jump between services to plan a single trip.
UX/UI BOOTCAMP CASE STUDY
Travel planning,
Travel planning,
in one place.
I researched how travelers compare and manage trips, then designed and tested a simpler booking experience.
PROJECTNova Travel
MY ROLEEnd-to-end UX/UI
PLATFORMMobile app concept
DURATION12 weeks
01 / THE CHALLENGE
One trip. Too many places to plan it.
Travelers piece together flights, hotels, reviews, itineraries and bookings across different platforms. Every switch adds friction and makes decisions harder.
I wanted to make the key steps easier to understand: search, compare, book, and find the details later.
Unclear total costs
Comparing offers becomes difficult when taxes, fees, and included services are hard to find.
Fragmented management
Travelers want their upcoming trips, booking details, and important information together.
The original research also highlighted offline access and easier trip sharing. These remained design opportunities, not verified live features of the concept.
PROJECT GOAL
Bring search, price comparison and trip management together in one clear mobile experience.
02 / THE APPROACH
From research to a tested prototype.
Using the Double Diamond process, I researched the problem, designed solutions, and tested the prototype.
Discover
Competitor analysis, 3 interviews and 50+ survey responses.
Define
Affinity mapping, personas, card sorting and a sitemap.
Develop
Wireframes, user flows, first-click and preference tests.
Deliver
Final interface design and moderated usability testing.
Competitive reviewExpedia, KAYAK and Google Travel · Research evidence
RESEARCH / COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
What existing platforms did well, and what was still difficult.
I looked at three different approaches to travel planning during the bootcamp. The goal wasn't to copy their interfaces. It was to understand where travelers gained convenience and where they might still need clearer guidance.
Expedia
Online travel agency
WHAT WORKED
Broad booking options and bundled offers in one service.
WHAT FELT DIFFICULT
Many choices and competing elements can make decisions feel crowded.
KAYAK
Travel comparison engine
WHAT WORKED
Fast price comparisons and an efficient search experience.
WHAT FELT DIFFICULT
Continuing to third-party booking sites can fragment the journey.
Google Travel
Connected trip discovery
WHAT WORKED
Search, maps and travel information connect naturally across services.
WHAT FELT DIFFICULT
Support and personal trip requirements aren't always addressed within one flow.
INTERFACE REFERENCES
How search begins on each platform
These supporting visual references were sourced separately from the bootcamp study. Interfaces change over time.
FROM THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Three snapshots from the analysis
Select any image to view it at its original size.
The matrix and heuristic charts are from my original bootcamp research. Their scores are descriptive course-work findings, not evidence that one product is objectively better.
WHAT I TOOK INTO NOVA
Keep the convenience of broad travel discovery, but give people a simpler starting point, clearer information about what a package includes, and an easy place to return to their trips.
Explore supporting UX artifactsCustomer journey, final sitemap, and IA testing
Information architecture validation: A tree test with 10 participants recorded 87.5% overall success and 66.25% direct success. “Trip Ideas” was a point of confusion. Because the tree test required a Book-navigation step that would not normally appear on launch, I treated the findings as directional rather than a definitive validation of the final navigation.
03 / RESEARCH & SYNTHESIS
What travelers needed most.
Research pointed to three practical needs: compare costs, find reliable information, and manage everything in one place.
I used those needs to decide what belonged on the home screen, result cards, and My Trips.
70.6%struggled most with comparing travel prices
66.7%preferred booking everything in one place
Selected responses from the bootcamp survey (50+ participants). These percentages describe those respondents, not all travelers.
FROM INSIGHT TO DECISION
The research changed what I prioritized.
66.7% of survey respondents preferred booking in one place.
DESIGN RESPONSEI grouped flight, hotel, car and package discovery in the Book hub.
70.6% of survey respondents struggled most with price comparisons.
DESIGN RESPONSEI made package inclusions, ratings and price context visible together.
Trip details were often scattered across services.
DESIGN RESPONSEMy Trips groups upcoming, saved and past plans in one place.
Three traveler personasPlanning behaviors and design needs from the research
THE VALUE SEEKER
Daniel Costa
Compares options carefully and wants clear, complete prices before booking.
DESIGN NEEDTransparent total costs and easy comparisons.
THE QUICK PLANNER
Liam Chen
Organizes short trips with friends and wants to move from idea to plan quickly.
DESIGN NEEDFast discovery and less unnecessary detail.
THE FAMILY ORGANIZER
Fatimah Al-Harbi
Plans around family needs and values trustworthy, culturally suitable options.
DESIGN NEEDConfidence, clarity, and relevant travel options.
Personas represent research-based planning needs. Portraits are illustrative, not test participants.
04 / THE DESIGN
A clearer path from search to booking.
I translated the research into a Book hub, more informative result cards, and a place to revisit trip details.
FEATURE 01
Start every search in one place.
The Book screen groups essential travel categories, so people can start their search without switching services.
BOOK / HOME SCREEN
FEATURE 02 / TRANSPARENCY
Show what a trip actually includes.
Result cards place included services, ratings and price information together, making options easier to compare.
FEATURE 03
Trip details, easy to find again.
My Trips organizes upcoming, saved and past bookings without making travelers start a new search.
BOOKING JOURNEY
From choosing a trip to confirming it.
- Choose an option
- Enter details
- Compare results
- Review the price
- Confirm booking
From wireframe to final UIExplore 3 original screen comparisons
I started by setting the structure and flow. Choose a screen to compare its early structure with the final interface. Select an image to open it at full size.
Start a search in one place
The initial structure grouped travel options and recent searches. The final design keeps that hierarchy while making the categories easier to scan.
Find plans without searching again
Both versions put upcoming, saved and past trips together. The visual design adds clearer statuses and grouping.
Get into the app with less friction
The early layout set out the essential fields and alternative sign-in options. The final screen improves hierarchy and visual consistency.
Nova was created as a UX/UI bootcamp concept project, not a live booking service.
05 / VALIDATIONEvery task completed.
Every task completed.
Not every step felt easy.
I tested the interactive prototype with five people using realistic booking and trip-management tasks. Four sessions took place remotely and one was in person.
Task success, completion time, and a 1–7 Single Ease Question (SEQ) rating helped separate task completion from the effort it took.
5moderated participants
3task scenarios
5/5completed each of 3 tasks
| TEST SCENARIO | TASK SUCCESS | AVG. TIME | AVG. EASE / 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find a hotel with breakfastBarcelona, family trip | 100% | 2m 26s | 5.4 |
| Choose a travel packageFlight + hotel, halal-food need | 100% | 3m 35s | 5.0 |
| Check a booked trip's priceFind Barcelona in My Trips | 100% | 16s | 6.6 |
Results from the Nova moderated usability testing report, January 27–February 4, 2026. Small exploratory sample (n=5); these findings informed design iteration, not claims of broad product performance.
WHAT CHANGED / 01
Make the important detail impossible to miss.
Participants completed the hotel task, but several spent too long locating the breakfast-included option.
OBSERVATION
Key amenities were easy to overlook while scanning hotel results.
DESIGN CHANGE
The breakfast label received a more prominent pill treatment and stronger visual emphasis.
WHAT CHANGED / 02
A box didn't explain a travel package.
During the package-booking task, several participants hesitated because the original box icon didn't explain what was included.
OBSERVATION
It wasn't immediately clear what the Packages option offered.
DESIGN CHANGE
I replaced the generic box with a combined flight, hotel and car icon to help people recognize a bundled trip.
WHAT ALREADY WORKED
My Trips was easy to find.
Participants found the Barcelona booking and checked its price in an average of 16 seconds, with an average ease score of 6.6/7.
Additional validationFirst-click and visual preference tests
FIRST-CLICK VALIDATION
The hotel card was the expected entry point.
In a separate first-click test, most participants selected the hotel card to proceed. The recorded average was 47 seconds, with 4.2/5 average confidence. This supported keeping the card's primary action clear.
ALSO TESTED / PREFERENCE
More detail won, but only narrowly.
In the trip-summary preference test, participants chose the more detailed Version A over the shorter Version B. I kept Version A because it made key booking information clearer to this small test group.
06 / REFLECTION
Completion doesn't always mean clarity.
Nova started as a solo UX/UI bootcamp project and became an end-to-end research, design, and validation exercise. All five test participants could finish the tasks, yet some still struggled to spot essential information. Testing showed where hierarchy and recognition mattered more than adding another feature.
Nova connected user research, competitive analysis, synthesis, information architecture, interaction design, and usability findings. A next iteration would validate the “Trip Ideas” label more thoroughly and explore offline information and trip sharing before claiming those features are solved.