Research & process

Tripping had never had a dedicated UX designer. I started with an audit of homepage, search, and listings. All of it needed a pass.

This was my first UX role. I was the only designer besides my manager.

Search is the product: people compare a pile of rentals and drown in amenities, prices, location, and availability. I had to make that scannable without hiding the details they need to book.

More people browsed on phones; bookings still happened on desktop. Both had to work.

Research surfaced a problem that wasn’t in the original brief: photos. These aren’t Airbnb shoots. Hosts upload whatever — dark, blurry, one good picture buried at the end. Even a great place looked bad.

I worked with engineering on a machine-learning ranker so the first photo wasn’t arbitrary. Better-lit, better-composed images moved to the front.

Research & process

Tripping had never had a dedicated UX designer. I started with an audit of homepage, search, and listings. All of it needed a pass.

This was my first UX role. I was the only designer besides my manager.

Search is the product: people compare a pile of rentals and drown in amenities, prices, location, and availability. I had to make that scannable without hiding the details they need to book.

More people browsed on phones; bookings still happened on desktop. Both had to work.

I worked with engineering on a machine-learning ranker so the first photo wasn’t arbitrary. Better-lit, better-composed images moved to the front.

What shipped

Homepage gets you into search.

Filters narrow without a wall of options. Price, place, and the one or two amenities that matter sit up front.

Mobile is for browsing and comparing quickly. Desktop shows more at once.

The photo ranking was the part people felt. Same listings, better first impression.

The rest was a cleaner layout so a page full of details didn’t feel like a spreadsheet. People are about to spend real money on a place they haven’t stood in.

Engagement and conversion both moved. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me anymore, so I’m not going to invent them. The photos did more of that work than the type.

The brief didn’t mention the photos. That’s usually how it goes.

Next project.

UX design

Next project.

UX design

View all

Tripping

First UX job, only designer besides my manager. I audited and redesigned homepage through listings for mobile and desktop, then worked with engineering on ML ranking for host photos — the brief hadn’t mentioned that, and it did more for engagement than a lot of the visual polish.

Role

UX design

Role

UX design

Client

Tripping

Client

Tripping

View all

Tripping

Role

UX design

Client

Tripping