top of page
THE PASSPORT PROGRAM
Project Type: app Design
Role: UX Researcher | Interaction Designer
Tools Used: Figma, Google Forms (user research), Zoom (interviews)
Timeline: 3 weeks | march 2025
Team: Group project
THE CLIENT
THE PROBLEM
THE GOAL
Research & Competitive Analysis
"I want to feel excited to try new places, not stressed about picking the wrong one."
jOURNEY MAP
The Passport Program was a mobile concept designed to help people discover local dining, drinks, and events—something like a mix between Yelp, Groupon, and Rakuten. It was aimed at users who want curated recommendations with a built-in rewards program for local exploration. Inspired by the Denver Passport Program, a seasonal initiative designed to encourage exploration of Denver's vibrant food and beverage scene. The program offers 2-for-1 deals at a curated selection of local establishments.
Users felt bombarded by irrelevant or impersonal suggestions from existing discovery platforms. They wanted curated, trustworthy recommendations — not spammy reviews or endless sponsored posts — and incentives that made exploring new places feel intentional and fun.
The goal of this project was to design a mobile-first experience that allowed users to discover hidden gems in their city through curated, community-backed recommendations. We aimed to reduce decision fatigue, build trust through visual credibility and social validation, and integrate a fun, gamified rewards system to encourage repeat engagement and exploration.
We began our research by analyzing existing discovery platforms like Yelp, Rakuten, and FourSquare. Common frustrations among users included ad overload, lack of curation, and impersonal suggestions. To better understand our target audience, we distributed surveys and conducted interviews with 15 users—primarily urban millennials—who frequently explore local food and drink scenes. Key insights revealed that peer influence, visual trust, and personalized recommendations were major motivators when deciding where to go.
To help focus our design efforts on addressing key user behaviors and pain points, I created three personas to represent the typical users of the Passport Program app. Of these three, Jasmine became our primary persona.
To better understand how users like Jasmine currently discover new places to eat or drink, I created a journey map outlining her typical experience. From the moment she decides to go out, Jasmine bounces between multiple apps—Yelp for reviews, Instagram for visuals, and Google Maps for directions. This disjointed process creates decision fatigue, especially when she doesn't know what she's in the mood for. Our journey mapping highlighted key pain points like option overload, outdated info, and lack of trust in reviews—guiding us toward a more curated, streamlined solution.
Early Sketches
I began with rough paper sketches to map out artist dashboard essentials, prioritizing intuitive navigation for campaign status, feedback, and radio engagement. These quick iterations helped define which features artists would rely on most.
HI-FI PROTOTYPE
For the final stage, a high-fidelity prototype was created in Figma, following Material 3 design principles. The goal was to deliver an intuitive and visually engaging experience that encouraged users to explore local spots while providing a sense of personalization and excitement.
The design focused on making the app’s interface dynamic and immersive, ensuring that every screen reflected the app's personality and purpose. The layout was crafted to be both functional and visually appealing, with vibrant colors, smooth transitions, and intuitive interactions that allowed users to easily navigate between discovering new places and tracking their rewards. Playful elements, like interactive visual cues, were incorporated to encourage users to stay engaged with the app and reward them for their explorations.
CONCLUSION
This project pushed the boundaries of how a digital product can replicate and even enhance real-world experiences. Transforming the Denver Passport Program from a physical booklet into a mobile-first app demanded more than just functional UX—it required emotional connection, trust-building, and a deep understanding of how users make decisions in moments of exploration. From branding to usability testing, this case study gave me a holistic view of building a product from scratch, centered around joy, community, and discovery. The process taught me how thoughtful design can motivate people to step outside of their routines and into something new. The result? A product that doesn’t just tell you where to go—it inspires you to go.
WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY
Looking back, I’d lean even harder into community-building features. Social proof is powerful, and incorporating user-generated content—like reviews, photo uploads, or short-form videos highlighting new hotspots—could increase trust and user engagement. I’d also explore a restaurant-facing dashboard that allows local businesses to update offers in real time, providing flexibility and keeping the app experience fresh. Finally, I’d run more in-person discovery interviews earlier in the design process to ensure we’re not just solving problems—we’re solving the right ones.
WHAT'S NEXT
Moving forward, I’d love to create a fully clickable beta that includes geolocation-based check-ins and integrated reward redemptions through Apple Wallet and Google Pay. The next step would be piloting the app with 10–15 local businesses in the Denver area to test the reward system, gather real-time feedback, and build case studies around adoption and retention. This would help refine the value proposition not just for users, but also for local partners, proving that the app drives meaningful foot traffic and engagement.
TAKEAWAYS
-
Curated experiences lead to better engagement—users don’t want all the options, just the right ones.
-
Gamification works when tied to real-world rewards—people love earning something tangible from their digital actions.
-
Discovery is emotional—trust, visual warmth, and storytelling matter more than star ratings.
-
Simplicity is powerful—an intuitive, focused user journey beats overwhelming filters and noisy features every time.
mvp
For our MVP, the goal was to build a simple but powerful app that allowed users to explore curated venues with confidence. Key features included: geo-based discovery, a stamp-style reward system for check-ins, a favorites list, and curated lists by theme or vibe. Rather than trying to replicate large review platforms, our MVP focused on intention—fewer options, but better ones. The priority was to make discovery feel personal, frictionless, and rewarding.
The design process
To ensure users could easily navigate the Passport Program app and access what they needed without friction, we developed a detailed information architecture (IA) map. This framework helped define the overall structure of the app, showing how content and functionality would be organized across different screens.
The IA process involved outlining the hierarchy of features such as onboarding, discovery filters (like cuisine or vibe), passport reward tracking, user profiles, and check-in history. This organization allowed us to visualize how users would move between sections of the app and identify where to prioritize clarity, reduce cognitive load, and eliminate redundancy.
USER FLOW
We created user flows to map out the exact steps users would take to accomplish key tasks within the app, such as discovering a new restaurant, checking in to unlock a reward, or saving a spot for later. These flows helped me explore how users would move through the product and identify opportunities to reduce friction and enhance usability.
SKETCHES
We created user flows to map out the exact steps users would take to accomplish key tasks within the app, such as discovering a new restaurant, checking in to unlock a reward, or saving a spot for later. These flows helped me explore how users would move through the product and identify opportunities to reduce friction and enhance usability.
USABILITY TEST
We created user flows to map out the exact steps users would take to accomplish key tasks within the app, such as discovering a new restaurant, checking in to unlock a reward, or saving a spot for later. These flows helped me explore how users would move through the product and identify opportunities to reduce friction and enhance usability.
WIREFRAMES
Once the user flows and information architecture were clearly defined, I began developing low-fidelity wireframes to bring structure and function to life. These grayscale layouts served as the skeletal framework of the app, allowing me to focus on hierarchy, usability, and spatial relationships without getting distracted by color or visual styling.
Each screen was carefully designed to support the user’s primary goals—whether that was browsing a list of curated local spots, viewing a venue’s details, checking in to earn rewards, or managing their favorites. I paid close attention to consistent placement of navigation elements, intuitive filtering options, and call-to-actions that would drive engagement without overwhelming the user.
bottom of page