Designing for the Journey
In the heart of Lonely Planet’s mission, Nomad was born—a digital haven for nomads seeking both workspaces and meaningful connections. The path was shaped by deep user insights and relentless iteration, resulting in an app that not only addresses practical needs but also unites the space between isolation and community.
BACKSTORY
Empowering the Modern Explorer
Digital nomads are redefining work and travel—but often face isolation and logistical friction. Enter Nomad.
The challenge: design a Lonely Planet-inspired app to help nomads find community, reliable workspaces, and vibrant local events—wherever they are.
I led visual design, crafting a cohesive style guide and refining every detail from sketch to final iteration. The result? A seamless blend of adventure and design precision that captures Lonely Planet’s spirit of discovery.
Nomad turns a shared vision into a dependable companion for life on the move.
TIMELINE
3 week sprint
TEAM
Tiana Olivo
Noelle Mendelson
Kate Blodgett
Nema Boye
TOOLS
Figma
Procreate
Google Suite
Adobe Express
Trello
RESPONSIBILITIES
UI & Visual Design
UX Design
Project Management
App Development
Presentation Visuals
Lonely Planet's Core Values
Travel fosters
connection
Empower everyone on their journey
Equip travelers with knowledge
How can we help Lonely Planet better understand and address the unique travel needs of digital nomads, while staying true to its 3 core values?
LISTEN + LEARN
Digital Nomad Defined
To understand how to design an app specifically for digital nomads, it was crucial to determine exactly what digital nomads are.
[ dij-i-tl noh-mad ]
Digital nomads are people from all over the world who work entirely remote from locations of their choosing, frequently traveling to new places. I'll refer to them simply as nomads throughout this case study.
Taking all this information into consideration, it was time to embark on a discovery journey.
Voices on the Road
It began with conversations through user interviews. We reached out to four nomads through social media and personal networks, eager to understand their world. From how they plan their trips to what inspires their travels, these insights became the foundation for crafting a solution tailored to their unique needs.
4 participants
Research Objective: To understand the needs and habits of nomads
Insights:
Often experience loneliness and isolation
Search for events to meet like-minded nomads
Finding coworking spaces
Difficulty finding wifi in cafes, hotels, etc
Validating Insights Across Platforms
To validate our interview insights, our team analyzed 100+ Reddit posts and YouTube videos from nomads in the wild. The same themes echoed back: loneliness, the craving for connection, and the struggle for reliable Wi-Fi. The alignment across sources made it clear—these were genuine pain points, calling for thoughtful solutions.
Introducing Izzy
To nail down the problem, it was time to bring our target audience to life through a single user persona. Now, we know exactly who we're designing for—and how to make it work for them.
Understanding Izzy
Values other nomads' experiences
Needs quick access to coworking facilities, food & events in the area
Is frustrated when it's not always easy to meet people and stay connected
THE PROBLEM?
Solving for Connection and Productivity
With Izzy as a guide, we uncovered key needs that every nomad faces:
Digital nomads need quick access to detailed information on work-friendly destinations and opportunities to connect with other nomads to combat loneliness while traveling.
With these needs now in focus, the next step was to explore creative ways to address these challenges and provide meaningful solutions.
So How Might We…
...provide a way for nomads in the same area to connect & build community?
...allow nomads to share their experiences and tips?
...integrate reviews & ratings for coworking spaces and accommodations?
...provide nomads with up-to-date resources of local coworking spaces & internet connectivity?
...remove the loneliness out of traveling?
Turning Insights Into Wire Flows
Loneliness and unreliable workspaces topped our research findings. So I asked: how can we solve both?
Guided by our core values—Connect, Empower, Equip—we set out to design a platform that blends community with practical tools for nomads.
I sketched early ideas and mapped wireflows, imagining features like coworking filters, interactive maps, and direct messaging to keep nomads connected and equipped on the go.
Wire flow #1
Wire flow #2
Inspiration from the Digital World
With our key screens in mind, I turned to other websites and apps for a spark of inspiration. I explored how platforms like Yelp, Facebook, Airbnb, Partiful, and Lonely Planet handled posts, events, home pages, and listings.
Yelp influenced the design of user-generated posts for easy sharing and reviews
Facebook informed the layout of the connection pages, enhancing user interaction
Airbnb’s review cards shaped the visual design, highlighting user feedback effectively
Partiful gave valuable insights for the event page
Lonely Planet’s homepage inspired the layout and navigation for quick access to information
From Review to Invitation
Starting with sketches and inspired designs, we built a lo-fi prototype where users browse coworking spaces, message active nomads in reviews, and join events. This flow became our first step toward building real connections within the app.
Nomad's First Challenge
Next, we tested the prototype with nomads from our personal networks, exploring whether they could easily browse coworking spaces and connect with others nearby. It was time to see if our solution worked in the wild.
4 participants
Research Objective: To determine if users can successfully browse for a coworking space and connect with people in the same city
Goals:
Find a coworking space in under 5 minutes
Connect and chat with another user with less than 2 errors
Sign up for an event from the new connection
Results & Insights:
4/4 users
immediately used the filter option to refine results
failed to connect with other nomads through the profile page
3/4 users
easily searched & found a coworking space
made no errors accepting event invite & signing up
All 4 users found the profile and review features unclear when trying to connect with other nomads. This insight revealed a critical issue in the original user flow, highlighting the need for a more intuitive path to connection.
VISUALIZING THE SOLUTION
Splash On the Tang Blue
The design showed promise but only passed a few usability tasks. It wasn’t until we added color and key refinements that it came to life. Visual design is my strength, and this phase let me lead the team toward a polished, cohesive look.
Lonely Planet provided clear, accessible branding that helped guide the way for me to truly bring this prototype to life. My job was to turn that into a visual style guide we could use in our final design.
All that was left was to find a typeface similar to LP's website and logo then use sizing consistent with industry standards.
New App, New Logo
A new app needs a fresh logo—one that stays true to Lonely Planet’s brand. I proposed the name “Nomad,” using their font and color with “by Lonely Planet” beneath for instant recognition and seamless alignment.
Bold Choices, Clear Views
Visual accessibility was front and center in every design decision. Black on white? Gold standard. Tang blue on white? Maybe not top marks, but it passed all tests, so it earned a place for bold, bigger text. And after a color blindness test, we were all set—the app works for every kind of color vision.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Refining the Vision, One Pixel at a Time
With typeface, color, and accessibility locked in, it was time to dive into the finer details. I tackled several key aspects of the final design (listed below) and stepped into the role of chief polisher, refining each screen my team crafted to ensure everything was aligned, consistent, and gorgeously cohesive.
Landing Page
included new logo
large photo of travelers
simple welcome paragraph with mission
large, colorful sign in button
Home Page
reflects Lonely Planet's website for consistency
colorful, hi-def photos
provides suggestions to give a sense of direction
Amenities
added list of available amenities to cowork listing page
included clear, descriptive icons for familiarity
click on "See more amenities" to open an overlay of all available offerings from each coworking location
Set Location
pops up after signing in or re-opening app
reminds user to set location for accurate recommendations
keeps profile updated with current location
can be disabled in settings
Story Card
matches style from LP's website
offers the nomad stories and articles written for or by fellow nomads
allows user to bookmark page to read later
Rewriting the Nomad Narrative
Usability testing made one thing clear: human connection had to be front and center.
We redesigned the user flow to include a dedicated space for meeting fellow nomads. Now, users can find workspaces, food, stays, and events and connect with like-minded people, solving two major nomad pain points in one platform.
Nomad's Second Challenge
It was finally time to take our hi-fi prototype to the test, this time with 3 participants gathered from our team's social networks. It was crucial to keep the same tasks to see if our improvements made a difference.
3 participants
Research Objective: To determine if users can successfully browse for a coworking space and connect with people in the same city
Goals:
Find a coworking space in under 5 minutes
Connect and chat with another user with less than 2 errors
Sign up for an event from the new connection
Results & Insights:
3/3 users
Quickly found a coworking space with no errors
Tried to book, then chose to save instead
2/3 users
Easily found an event to attend
1/3 users
Struggled with menu icon navigation
All users completed tasks with ease and the most confusion came from prototype limitations which were resolved quickly.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Never Stop Trekking
Next Steps:
Personalization is key; next step is to tailor the home page features to users' locations for a more relevant experience
Imagine the impact of adding language translation options to enhance accessibility
Streamlining navigation can create a smoother, more intuitive journey for users
What I Learned:
This process taught me how our usability test script could shape the results, and why staying open to fresh ideas is non-negotiable. Each team member brought something unique, turning technical insights into a design that felt alive. The teamwork flowed, and the experience left me with a true sense of growth and accomplishment as well as a hunger for traveling to new places!