WonderWise — UX Research-Driven Travel Planning App

WonderWise — UX Research-Driven Travel Planning App

UX Research • Usability Testing • Information Architecture • Survey Design*

Overview

WonderWise is a travel planning application designed to help users effortlessly organize trips, receive personalized recommendations, and create itineraries. Despite early interest, user engagement dropped sharply during onboarding and itinerary creation — signaling unmet user needs and usability friction.

As a UX Research Consultant, I led a full research-driven redesign of the app experience, applying strategic UX methods to uncover pain points, prioritize solutions, and redesign the information architecture for improved usability.

Challenges

* **High abandonment during onboarding and trip creation**
* **Confusing navigation and unclear feature hierarchy**
* **Lack of personalization and guidance for new users**

Users were interested in the concept of WonderWise, but struggled to navigate, understand how to get started, and complete meaningful actions — especially first-time users.

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## 🛠️ Process & Methods

### 1. UX Research Mapping

I identified and mapped appropriate UX research methods based on project goals and phases (Discovery, Design, Post-Launch). This ensured the right tools were used at the right time, balancing qualitative and quantitative insights.

**Methods selected included:**

* Surveys
* Interviews
* Affinity Mapping
* Card Sorting
* Tree Testing

*Deliverables:* UX method matrix, research plan.

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### 2. Survey Design & Deployment

I designed and launched a user survey to surface core frustrations and motivations. By crafting clear, concise questions and sharing the survey across channels, I collected targeted feedback from real users.

Key feedback themes included:

* Difficulty starting a plan
* Navigation confusion between suggestions & filters
* Hard-to-find tools like budget planners
* Lack of personalization

*Deliverables:* Google Form survey, response dataset.

Affinity Mapping

Survey responses were clustered into meaningful user pain points through affinity mapping. This process helped translate raw feedback into actionable insights.

**Top psychological & usability themes:**

* Unclear onboarding
* Navigation difficulty
* Lack of personalization

Dot voting highlighted prioritization for redesign focus.

*Deliverables:* Affinity map clusters, prioritized insights.

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### 4. Card Sorting

I conducted card sorting exercises to validate users’ mental models and preferred categorization of features. Participants organized core tasks into categories that made intuitive sense to them, revealing patterns in how users expect the app to be structured.

This directly informed navigation labels and feature groupings.

*Deliverables:* Card sort taxonomy, category justification.

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### 5. Revised Sitemap & Navigation Redesign

Using insights from card sorting and affinity mapping, I restructured the app’s sitemap. Key changes included:

* Renaming **Explore Ideas → Trip Ideas** for clarity
* Creating a dedicated “**Trip Tools**” section for utilities like Budget Planner and Weather
* Moving Budget Planner under utilities rather than planning

This improved information architecture aligned with user expectations and reduced cognitive load.

*Deliverables:* Revised sitemap, annotated IA documentation.

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## 🎯 Outcomes

* **User-centered navigation** based on real mental models
* **Improved clarity & structure** of core tasks
* **Research-backed decisions** across every phase
* A scalable foundation for future usability testing and iterative design

Reflection

This project demonstrates a full UX research lifecycle — from exploratory research through to actionable IA recommendations. It showcases my ability to not only synthesize qualitative and quantitative data but to transform it into thoughtful, user-centered design decisions.

📂 Artifacts Included

✔ UX Research Plan
✔ Survey Questions & Summary
✔ Affinity Mapping Outputs
✔ Card Sorting Results
✔ Revised Sitemap
✔ Methodology Documentation