UTrip.com re-design
I led a complete re-design of the UTrip.com experience. I was the lead designer for this re-design.
I partnered with another designer to develop interview scripts, interview users, analyze findings, run user testing, set up analytics tracking, develop personas and user flows, and more.
I left UTrip in 2017, and the company went out of business in 2019.
The Brief
Revise the Utrip.com experience, with focus on the Utrip homepage, global navigation, and user interface style.
The existing Utrip interface was in need of an updated look. I was tasked with revising the entire Utrip style guide, including new fonts and layouts. The goal was to give the site a cleaner, more modern, and more accessible look and feel.
In addition to improving the interface, I also addressed several areas of concern regarding the old/existing site that were unearthed through user research and interviews:
Users were unaware where "Favorited" items were being stored and managed.
The processes for signing up (creating an account) and logging into an existing account were confusing some of the users.
The homepage looks the same to both new users and return users. Utrip provides a customizable service, but the site and its' content remained the same whether the user had interacted with the site before or not.
Home page design
After conducting interviews and studying the research, we chose to re-design the Utrip homepage. Below you will see images of the old design compared with the new.
There are many differences between the two versions, but there were a few main focuses:
Clearer and more consistent typography.
Revised global navigation menu to give users easy access to the information they seek. For example, our research showed that users wanted more direct access to 'Favorites,' so we made that part of the global navigation.
An interface that communicates, through text, imagery, and design, better with the user.
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Old version of homepage
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Re-designed homepage
Replaced the distracting background video with a cinemagraph image that also allowed higher contrast with text. Recently viewed trips populate just below the header, allowing a user to resume an in-progress trip plan. CTA copy is more informative. Re-designed navigation gives users easy access to the things they want: My Favorites, Help, and My Account.
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Old navigation dropdown
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Re-designed navigation dropdown
The country/region icons allow the user to identify areas more easily. The type hierarchy is improved, and so is the usability.
Log in / Sign up
I re-designed the log in / sign up experience to fit the new brand style of Utrip. The modals I designed were smaller in scale than the old modal, and sought to make the log in / sign up experience as simple and transparent as possible.
I used color to signify focus state, acceptable or unacceptable credentials, and allowed the user to connect with Facebook.
