NOVANOMADER
Reducing cognitive load in a complex decision journey
product design
UX research
user test
November 2025
WHAT IT IS
A mobile application that helps users build a trip itinerary through swipe-based interactions and AI recommendations.
This part of the project focused on improving the core user journey, making travel planning clearer, more structured, and easier to navigate.
OBJECTIVES
NovaNomader already provided an intuitive concept, but key steps in the journey lacked clarity and structure, leading to hesitation and cognitive overload.
Improving this core experience was essential to reduce friction throughout the process.
MY ROLE
UX/UI Designer
Conducted UX research and audit of the existing journey. Identified key friction points in decision-making and planning logic. Redesigned core flows to improve clarity, structure, and user guidance.
NOTE:
The screens shown throughout this case study are intentionally low-fidelity wireframes. The focus of my work was on understanding user needs, identifying friction points, and improving the overall experience through UX research and interaction design rather than visual design.
USER TESTING
Primary users
Individuals planning a trip and looking for inspiration or guidance
Travelers overwhelmed by too many options and sources of information
Users with limited time who want to plan efficiently without sacrificing experience
Testing set up
When I joined NovaNomader, user testing was already underway.
Method :
Orange incubator workshops + independent testing
Task-based scenarios (discovering, planning, editing, budgeting)
Qualitative feedback collection
Insight clustering & prioritization
5 / 5 — WHAT WORKED
A strong and engaging concept
Users immediately understood and appreciated the idea
An intuitive and fluid experience
Navigation and onboarding felt natural
An enjoyable exploration phase
The swipe interaction created engagement and curiosity
“Great interface, fun concept, with a warm and human tone”
User test participant
Users liked discovering destinations. The entry point worked.
4 / 5 — WHAT NEEDED IMPROVEMENT
1. RETHINKING BUDGET AS A FLEXIBLE DECISION
Budget perceived as unclear, unrealistic, or too high
Difficulty estimating costs for an unknown destination
Fear of “setting it too low” and missing out
Too many variables to calculate (transport, housing, activities…)
“The estimated budget feels too high”
User test participant
Core issue : Asking users for a precise budget early in the journey created friction and uncertainty.
LACK OF EFFECTIVE ONBOARDING
Too long & basic and not informative enough
It didn’t provide meaningful guidance on how the product works
Perceived as intrusive
Instead of helping, it felt imposed at the wrong moment
No flexibility
Users couldn’t skip or control the tutorial
“Useful, but too basic, it almost felt like an instruction”
Core issue : The tutorial didn’t support the experience, it interrupted it without adding real value.
3. IDENTIFYING KEY USER FRICTION POINTS
Some core features were not understood or were misinterpreted :
Credit system perceived as confusing and frustrating
Filters missed structure before exploration
Checklist (suitcase) unclear (quantities, meaning of actions)
Core issue : Users didn’t understand the rules of the system.
4. ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
Beyond the major redesigns, user testing also revealed several smaller friction points that impacted the overall experience. I addressed a few of these through targeted improvements focused on control, feedback, and visibility.
1
Improve itinerary editing
Users struggled to discover how to edit their itinerary and wanted more flexibility once the trip was generated.
Improvements :
Made the Edit itinerary action more visible with a clearer CTA
Introduced drag & drop to reorganize activities and days
2
Transform waiting into engagement
Users often perceived itinerary generation as slow and sometimes assumed the app had frozen.
Changes :
Added dedicated loading screens
Introduced travel-themed content during waiting times
Displayed fun facts, “Did you know?” insights, and NovaNomader tips while the itinerary was being generated
3
Organize trip management
Users didn’t always know where they were in the travel creation process and had limited control over existing trips.
Changes :
Added status indicators to display the current stage of each trip
Made unfinished journeys easier to identify and resume
Added quick actions to view or delete existing trips
RETROSPECTIVE
A recurring pattern emerged throughout the project: users were rarely blocked by a lack of features, but by a lack of clarity.
Most improvements focused on making the product easier to understand, navigate, and trust, whether through better onboarding, clearer budgeting, improved feedback, or more explicit interactions.
The experience reinforced a principle I now apply consistently: the most valuable product improvements are often the ones that reduce friction rather than add functionality.
