I designed a 0-to-1 booking experience that relies on a robust hub for short- and long-term stay management.
ROLE
UI/UX Designer
TEAM
2 UX Designers, 1 Product Manager, 2 Developers
TIMELINE
June - Aug 2025
TOOLS
Figma · Figjam
PROBLEM
How might we eliminate booking anxiety on a new platform?
Designed for short- and long-term co-living, Host Guest suffered massive drop-off in beta testing due to a foundational lack of trust.
SOLUTION
I designed a post-booking hub with real-time financial and logistical transparency.
To get users to complete a high-vulnerability transaction with a stranger, I created a centralized command center where they feel completely in control of the relationship, the timeline, and the money.
RESEARCH
I evaluated competitors to grasp what makes a booking platform reliable.
Three pillars were the driving point of a lasting booking system.
📊
Financial tracking
✅
Post-Booking Clarity
Centralized hub unifying payment states, logistics, and next steps
👥
Secure Human Interaction
Combines institutional verification with open peer messaging and networking
DESIGN PROCESS
Early asynch work led to inconsistencies, but also sparked an important opportunity.
In the early stages of designing, Jordan (host-side UX Designer) and I (guest side UX Designer) worked asynchronously without a clear design system, causing inconsistencies in similar components. The most important component on my end was the booking status module.
My Design — Guest Booking Status
Omitted key host and booking information needed for guests to confidently proceed with payment.
Analyzing Jordan's Design — Host's pending reservations
He used icons and modular blocks/pills for amenities, which easily communicated important info.
My Final Design — Guest Booking Status
Paired a digestible modular layout with essential host and booking details to build payment confidence.
Resolving Edge Cases in Dev Handoff
I missed the edge cases for the booking status module while trying to design the entire platform. When the developers took a look at the final design for the booking status module, they questions what they should code for the cases in which reservations are not immediately accepted.
Pending
Overdue initial payment
Expired
Denied
After the asynch problem, we created a thorough design system.
The finances dashboard keeps guests on track with clear payment schedules and budget monitoring.
Important Payment Reminders
Important Payment Reminders
The Connections page fosters human reliability.
Guests can reach out to other guests who booked the same place or have had simiar experiences with housing.
REFLECTION
What I learned building from ground-up.
A scalable design system must account for all user groups
Aligning host and guest experiences required more than shared UI components. I learned that effective design systems rely heavily on consistent structural layouts and repeatable modules. Continuously collaborating with Jordan ensured our patterns delivered a coherent experience for both user groups.
Understanding the Developers' and PM's POV
Collaborating closely with the Product Manager and developers gave me valuable insight into the backend of building a platform. We regularly discussed financial, technical, and scope constraints in weekly meetings, and I consistently iterated on my designs to align with those realities.