Design Tools Used

Designer: Anani Konuwa

Intergalactic Hotel in Space

UX Case Study

The Interstellar

Sleep among the stars!

Brief

This assignment presented a significant challenge as I had to develop an interactive hotel app within a one-week timeframe. Unlike my usual approach of having sufficient time for planning, creating mockups, and taking a day for reflection, I had to adopt a strategy focused on efficiency and speed. Below are the instructions for creating this hotel app:

Target Audience

As the app took form, I identified my primary target audience: families and individuals with disposable income. This influenced the food selection, attractions, and entertainment I created to be offered at the Interstellar Hotel.

Duration

3 Weeks:
One week of rapid design and prototyping
Two additional weeks of revisions based on critiques

Role

UX/UI Design

Responsibilties

UX/UI Designer Researcher

Design Process

Initial Wireframe Flow

Before I dove into Figma to create the app, I quickly created a mockup of the app’s initial wireframe flow.

Initial Hi-Fi Mockup

This wireframe flow gives the user an immediate personalized experience upon opening the app. During the booking process, they have the ability to save rooms to their favorites for later viewing.

Critique

Below is critique received from my professor and peers alike briefly after my presentation of the Interstellar Hotel app:

Get to the features sooner and then show the log in user journey
Give more background on where the hotel is and where users take off from
Add detail on the location of the hotel (in space xxxx miles from the ISS)
This could be similar to how cruise ships pick up people from a destination
Design a “Check Availability” for the Celestial Suite (show blackout dates as Christmas week)
Make the booking select screen more interactive (edit the selected dates to be before Christmas week)
Change prices to reflect more realistic prices ($3000 per night compared to $300)

This was supposed to be the conclusion of the assignment; present the hotel app and receive critique. Yet I saw this as an opportunity to create an updated mockup (below), applying the feedback I felt would further improve and streamline The Interstellar app.

Hi-Fi Mockup V2

In this Version 2.0 of the app, here are some of the changes made:

Updated the prices to reflect a more realistic cost for staying on an orbiting, space hotel
Rearranged the layout of the user journey for users to see the key features sooner
Gave users the option of logging in/creating a profile or skipping it completely and continuing as a guest
Updated the calendar to show blackout dates for Christmas and New Year’s stays, while at the same time creating a more interactive booking experience for the user

User Personas

In response to the feedback I received, I made slight adjustments to my target audience. The updated focus now includes two personas: individuals with disposable income and those who appreciate spending on luxury items and accommodations.

Moodboard

Here are visual inspirations that fueled the creation of this app: captivating images of the James Webb Space Telescope, visions of a potential future life on the moon, and a snapshot from my favorite space-themed video game series, Mass Effect.

Reflection

Completing this assignment enhanced my design process significantly. I acquired skills in working faster and more efficiently, adopting a mindset of putting ideas on the page and swiftly iterating to the next steps. The time required to finalize designs, which would typically span weeks to a month, has now been significantly reduced through this streamlined approach.