Reimagining the Visitor Experience for a
World-Class City.
Services
Client
Year
Timeline
OPPORTUNITY
Toronto welcomes millions of visitors each year, yet the digital tools available to help them navigate the city fall short.
Most transit apps are designed for residents with local knowledge and transit passes, while tourism apps focus on attractions without addressing the real friction visitors face getting there.
This gap creates a fragmented, frustrating experience for tourists, one that directly impacts how easily and affordably they can explore the city. Travel Bandit was conceived to address this underserved audience by unifying tourism and transit into a single, intuitive experience designed specifically for visitors.
DISCOVERY & INSIGHTS
To ground the product in real user needs, I led contextual inquiries with first-time visitors navigating Toronto, complemented by online surveys.
This research surfaced several critical insights:
- Visitors expect navigation tools that work immediately, regardless of language or familiarity with the city
- Discovering, booking, and paying for tourist attractions is often fragmented and time-consuming
- Transit payment is a major point of friction for visitors without local transit cards or access to payment kiosks
These findings highlighted a clear opportunity: simplify end-to-end city exploration by removing cognitive, logistical, and payment barriers for tourists.
PRODUCT & EXPERIENCE STRATEGY
Using these insights, I defined a core tourist archetype to guide product decisions and align the team around a shared understanding of the user.
From there, I mapped key journeys, discovering attractions, navigating to destinations, and paying for transit and experiences, identifying moments where integration and clarity could drive the greatest value.
I translated this strategy into user flows and wireframes for critical touchpoints, ensuring the experience prioritized ease of use, accessibility, and confidence for first-time visitors. Each design decision was validated through early user testing to reduce risk and ensure alignment with real-world behaviors.
Crafting intricate brand narratives for lasting and meaningful impact.
Crafting intricate brand narratives for lasting and meaningful impact.
OUTCOME & IMPACT
Travel Bandit demonstrates how a focused, user-informed product strategy can unlock new value by serving an overlooked audience.
By integrating tourism discovery with navigation and transit support, the concept repositions city exploration as seamless rather than stressful, setting a foundation for improved visitor satisfaction, increased attraction engagement, and a more accessible tourism ecosystem.
This project reflects my approach to product design: identifying underserved opportunities, grounding decisions in user insight, and shaping cohesive experiences that deliver both user and business value.
