Building a curated culinary experience platform that helps travelers find authentic local food experiences while avoiding tourist traps.
Solo Product Designer
(UX Research, Brand Idenity, UI Design)
12 Weeks
Figma, Zoom, Adobe Creative Suite
Travelers struggle to find authentic local food experiences and often settle on generic, tourist-focused options due to:
- Overwhelming search results that prioritize volume over curation
- Hidden costs and unclear pricing creating booking anxiety
- Difficulty distinguishing authentic experiences from tourist traps
- Lack of verified reviews and cultural context
How might I create a platform that feels curated and trustworthy without feeling exclusive or overwhelming?
Design a mobile-first food discovery platform that delivers personalized recommendations and streamlines key user flows so travelers can quickly discover meaningful local food experiences tailored to their interests.
Success Metrics:
Reduce time to discovery to less than 2 minutes
Increase booking confidence from 5/10 to 8/10
I conducted a user survey with 12 travelers who actively book food experiences. The goal was to identify primary motivators, booking habits, and the friction points that prevent a "seamless" culinary journey.
12-participant survey data on food experience discovery during travel.
Travelers are willing to pay for quality, but they are "risk-averse" due to uncertain details and language barriers. The solution must prioritize verified authenticity and clarity communication to convert interest into bookings.
I identified four primary personas, each representing a specific set of needs and pain points within the food tourism market:
Bella - Budget Traveler
Find hidden gems without breaking the bank.
Brooklyn - Cultural Explorer
Deep immersion through local delicacies.
Ethan - Family Foodie
Kid-friendly, authentic cultural dining.
Leo - Luxury Seeker
Exclusive, chef-led gourmet experiences.
Mapping user journeys, identified critical touchpoints where the experience can be enhanced.
I analyzed four competitors (Private Chef Services, Airbnb Experiences, Local Food Tours, EatWith) to identify gaps and opportunities for TasteVoyage.
Competitor Analysis focusing on function
Competitor Analysis focusing on Brand/Visual
Create a curated, authentic platform with consistent brand identity, transparent pricing, and visual storytelling that showcases local culture without feeling exclusive or touristy.
Positioning Statement: Authenticity of local tours + curation of private services + accessibility of Airbnb + Community of EatWith = Boutique platform for cultural food explorers.
The discovery phase revealed three core design principles:
Users feel overwhelmed by options and can't distinguish authentic experiences from tourist traps.
Design Response:
Curated selections featuring verification badges, local favorites, and cultural context.
Hidden costs, language barriers, and unclear expectations create anxiety.
Design Response:
Upfront pricing, instant messaging with hosts, language support, and detailed experience descriptions.
Users seek unique experiences but are budget-conscious or value-driven, not only luxury focused.
Design Response:
Offer a range of price points, clear categorization, and visual storytelling that feels premium yet approachable.
These principles directly informed both the brand strategy and product design decisions in subsequent phases.
Before diving into wireframes, I established the brand foundation that would guide all visual design decisions.
Mood Board: I wanted the platform to feel like an extension of a dinner party; warm, inviting, and centered on people. By pulling colors directly from photography of shared meals, the interface feels naturally connected the the real world experience. I opted for a quiet UI with generous white space to ensure the app never competes with the community's content, but rather frames it.
Color Palette
Typography
Button & Links
Icons
Grid
Components
Establishing the brand identity first ensured that every UX decision reinforced the brand promise. The visual language became an integral part of the strategy, guiding layouts, interactions, and storytelling across the platform.
Focusing on the core features identified during user research, I sketched the first wireframes.
Homepage sketches exploring entry points into the search experience, with star markers highlighting user-centered design decisions.
Developed low-fidelity digital wireframes in Figma to visualize key features, then prepared an interactive prototype for the first round of user feedback.
I conducted a moderated usability study with 6 individuals to assess the booking and discovery journey, identifying pain points and areas for improvement.
User testing evaluated the search and discovery flow focusing on the path from intent to selection.
1. Users found sorting by price or rating too slow because these options were buried deep within the filter menu.
2. The lack of a quick "Sort" button increased cognitive load.
3. Text-based locations lacked context leading users to request a map view to better understanding proximity and travel time.
1. Users quickly surfaced the best options using one-tap sorting for price and ratings.
2. Automatic sorting reduced manual comparison and decision fatigue.
3. The map view made it easy to understand where experiences were located, increasing book confidence.
Quick sort feature, allows user to instantly view experiences by best rating or lowest price, while advanced filters remain available for deeper refinement.
Map view displays experiences by location with pinned pricing, allowing users to explore spatially while previewing key details without leaving the map.
TasteVoyage provides a streamlined mobile interface that delivers personalized recommendations and optimizes the path from discovery to booking.
High-fidelity mockup showcase for the TasteVoyage mobile application, featuring four key screens that demonstrate the user journey for discovering authentic culinary experiences.
View the high-fidelity Figma prototype:
Check it out here
Includes travelers owner landing pages, email flows, and social assets.
After establishing the mobile-first experience, I explore how TasteVoyage would translate to desktop, where 40% of food experience bookings occur (industry data).
The desktop homepage users the extra space for better visual storytelling while keeping the familiar mobile navigation. By expanding the grid to show 4 experiences per row, users can browse much faster than on the mobile layout. Additionally, prominent filter and category controls make it easier for power users to refine their search without extra navigation steps.
While TasteVoyage is a conceptual project ,the design was validated through usability testing and benchmarked against industry standards.
Task Completion
Before: 4:32 average time
After: 1:47 average time
Improvement: +33% success, 62% faster
User Confidence
Before: 5.2/10 average confidence in selection
After: 8.1/10 average confidence in selection
Improvement: +56% confidence increase
"I'd definitely use this on vacation."
Usability Participant, after testing the new map and sort features.
High-fidelity design and interactive flow of the TasteVoyage mobile application, a platform dedicated to discovering authentic local food experiences.
Building this project taught me that the best design decisions aren't just aesthetic, they are rooted in deep research, like the qualitative interviews that revealed how much travelers truly crave "authentic" experiences. By narrowing my focus and testing early, I caught major usability issues like buried sorting options, which ultimately helped participants complete tasks 62% faster. This process pushed me to think beyond just making screens and instead build a cohesive system that balances speed with a sense of trust. It's been a huge growth point for me, shifting my mindset from just "designing an app" to solving a real product challenge from start to finish.
If continuing this project, I would:
JP
Get in touch - jocelynescob@gmail.com