My Role
Product Designer
Type
Self-initiated UX audit
Period
2-4 weeks
Refining the interface of the Middle East's leading travel platform by applying core UX principles to eliminate decision fatigue.
Two high-stakes friction points in the booking funnel, both fixed inside the existing design system with no brand changes.
"Audited the Middle East's leading travel platform and found two high-stakes friction points in the booking funnel, both fixable without touching a single brand token."
The Philosophy: Evolution, Not Revolution
Almosafer has done the hard work of localising a complex global industry for the Middle East. But in travel tech, even small friction drops conversion.
This was a time-boxed UX audit, not a rebrand. Two constraints shaped every decision:
Brand integrity. No changes to the brand guidelines, colour palette, or type. I wanted to show what layout logic alone can do.
Rapid iteration. Focus on the high-impact, low-effort fixes: things a dev could ship quickly that still move the booking funnel.
Issue 1 — The Homepage: The Paradox of Choice
On the homepage, the primary services (Flights, Stays, Activities) show up three times in the top 40% of the screen: in the nav, the hero tabs, and the icon row below. Underneath, secondary services like "VIP Meet & Greet" and "Lounge Passes" sit at the same visual weight as the main actions.
Hick's Law says decision time goes up with the number and complexity of choices. When everything carries equal weight, people stall before they even start searching.
The Fix
Consolidate the funnels. I removed the redundant service icons that just duplicated the hero tabs.
Categorise the rest. Niche services moved under a "Travel Essentials" group, still discoverable, no longer fighting the primary search above the fold.
The user's first job is to search. Everything else can wait.
Issue 2 — Room Selection: Competing Calls to Action
In the room selection flow, two buttons used the exact same high-saturation red: the floating "Show rooms" button and the "Select" button on each room card.
When two different actions look equally important, the hierarchy breaks. People have to stop and read both to tell them apart instead of just reacting to the visual cue. That pause lands at the most critical moment in the funnel.
The Fix
I applied the idea of primary versus secondary signifiers:
- Primary action. "Select" stays solid red. This is the happy path, the tap that leads to revenue.
- Secondary action. "Show rooms" becomes a ghost button.
Now the eye goes straight to "Select." "Show rooms" still works as navigation without competing for attention at the wrong time.
What This Audit Taught Me
UX isn't always a full overhaul. A lot of the real business impact comes from refining what's already there, making the journey clearer without disturbing the brand people already trust.
Both fixes lived entirely inside Almosafer's existing design system. No new components, no brand risk. Just cleaner information architecture and a sharper hierarchy at two high-stakes moments in the flow.
Working inside an existing design system isn't a constraint. It's the brief. Layout logic alone can move conversion without touching a single brand token.