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
User Survey Takeaways
To understand the challenges faced by international students while traveling abroad, I conducted a user survey focused on travel planning and platform usability. The results showed that most users rely on multiple apps for booking buses, flights, trains, and hotels, leading to confusion and time loss. Many participants expressed a strong need for a centralized, all-in-one platform. These insights validated FlyHike's concept and guided a user-centered design focused on simplicity, clarity, reduced cognitive load, and a more confident travel experience for users navigating a new country.
Moving abroad as an international student made me realize how stressful travel planning can be when everything is unfamiliar. Managing buses, flights, trains, and accommodation across multiple platforms was confusing and time-consuming. FlyHike was created from this personal experience—to offer a single, easy-to-use platform that simplifies travel decisions. The project reflects my aim to design with empathy, reducing complexity and helping users feel confident, supported, and stress-free while navigating life in a new country.
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.
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.
Usability Testing
Task Completion: Users were asked to complete core actions such as searching for travel options, comparing prices, and completing a booking to evaluate ease of use.
Navigation & Clarity: Tested how easily users could understand labels, move between screens, and find key information without guidance.
Feedback & Iteration: Collected user feedback on pain points, errors, and confusion, then refined layouts, flows, and interactions to improve overall usability.
Usability Testing Results & Affinity Mapping
Usability testing revealed key pain points related to navigation clarity, comparison of travel options, and booking flow efficiency. By grouping user feedback through affinity mapping, common patterns such as confusion caused by too many steps, unclear pricing details, and the need for faster decision-making emerged.
These insights helped prioritize design improvements, simplify user flows, and enhance content clarity. As a result, the final design better aligns with user expectations, reduces cognitive load, and offers a smoother, more intuitive travel booking experience.
User Interface Design
The user interface of FlyHike was designed with a strong focus on real user needs, usability, and clarity. Based on research insights, I aimed to reduce confusion caused by complex booking platforms by keeping layouts clean and easy to understand.
A consistent design system was followed across all screens to maintain familiarity and reduce the learning curve.
Clear visual hierarchy was established using spacing, typography, and color to guide users toward primary actions such as searching, comparing options, and completing bookings.
Icons and labels were chosen carefully to feel familiar and intuitive, especially for international users. Accessibility was also considered through readable font sizes, sufficient contrast, and touch-friendly components. Overall, the UI design supports a smooth, confident, and stress-free travel experience.
FlyHike taught me
FlyHike taught me how to translate real-life problems into meaningful design solutions. It strengthened my ability to conduct user research, identify genuine pain points, and make design decisions based on user needs rather than assumptions.
The project also helped me improve my skills in structuring user flows, simplifying complex information, and iterating through feedback. Most importantly, FlyHike taught me the value of empathy in design—understanding users' struggles and creating experiences that feel supportive, clear, and human.