FlyHike

Project Background & Personal Journey

FlyHike is a travel-based digital platform designed to simplify trip planning by bringing destination discovery, comparison, and planning into one seamless experience. The idea was to solve common user problems like scattered information, difficulty in comparing options, and lack of personalized guidance across existing travel platforms. The goal was to create a clean, intuitive, and engaging interface that helps users plan their journeys efficiently in one place.

This project marked a key step in my transition into UI/UX design, where I applied my technical background to solving real user problems. I conducted user research to understand traveler pain points, built user personas and journey flows, and designed wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes using Figma. Throughout the process, I focused on improving usability, clarity, and creating a structured visual hierarchy.

One of the main learnings from this project was balancing aesthetics with functionality. Initially, I leaned more toward visual design, but through iterations, I learned to prioritize user needs and usability. FlyHike helped me strengthen my design thinking process, gain confidence in end-to-end product design, and truly shift my mindset toward becoming a user-centered UI/UX designer.

Research

The research phase focused on understanding the real challenges faced by international students and frequent travelers when planning trips in a new country. I began with secondary research to study existing travel platforms and identify common usability issues such as fragmented services, unclear pricing, and complex booking flows.

This was followed by primary research through user surveys and informal interviews to gather firsthand insights into user behavior, needs, and pain points. The findings revealed that users often rely on multiple apps for buses, flights, trains, and hotels, which leads to confusion, time loss, and inconsistent experiences. Many participants expressed a strong need for a centralized platform that offers clear information, easy comparison, and simple navigation.

These insights were further organized using affinity mapping to identify recurring themes and priorities. The research outcomes directly shaped the product direction, feature selection, information architecture, and design decisions, ensuring FlyHike was built as a user-centered and practical travel solution.

User Surveys & Interviews

To understand how users plan their trips and interact with existing travel platforms, I conducted a mix of surveys and one-on-one interviews with frequent travelers, students, and working professionals.

Survey Overview

Key Survey Findings

User Interviews

I conducted 5 in-depth interviews to understand deeper motivations and real user experiences during travel planning.

Key Takeaways

Card Sorts & Affinity Mapping

To better understand user expectations and mental models, I conducted card sorting and affinity mapping exercises. These activities helped identify common patterns in how users grouped features related to travel booking and navigation. By organizing insights into clear themes, I was able to simplify information architecture and prioritize essential features.

The findings ensured intuitive navigation, logical categorization, and a seamless user flow, reducing confusion and aligning the app structure with real user behavior and needs.

Meet the Users: Personas, Task Flows, Journeys

In preparation for wireframing, I explored the spaces where travelers actively search, plan, and share their experiences—such as travel forums, social media groups, and booking platforms. This helped me understand how users interact with existing solutions and where they face friction during their journey.

By engaging with real user behaviors and patterns, I was able to build a strong understanding of their expectations, frustrations, and decision-making processes. This empathetic approach allowed me to uncover not just what users do, but why they do it, which played a key role in shaping the overall design direction.

These insights helped me craft meaningful personas that represent different types of travelers, along with their goals and challenges. Based on these personas, I developed task flows and user journeys to ensure a smooth and intuitive experience across the platform.

In this way, I gained valuable insights that helped me create, or rather uncover, my personas for FlyHike.

The insights I gathered during my research helped me develop 3 personas:

Exploration & Ideation

During the exploration and ideation phase, I followed a structured UX process to transform research insights into meaningful design solutions. I organized ideas, references, and feature concepts using a tab-based approach, which helped me explore multiple design directions in parallel.

This method allowed me to compare user flows, evaluate usability trade-offs, and refine concepts iteratively. By continuously reviewing and narrowing down options, I ensured that design decisions were aligned with user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility, leading to a more focused and user-centered product experience.