RoamMate — UX Case Study

Overview

Solo travel is growing. The tools to support it are not.

Solo travel has been climbing in popularity for years, yet the platforms built around it, Airbnb, Expedia, and Booking.com, were never designed with the solo traveler in mind. Finding an affordable co-living space, knowing who you will share it with, and making genuine connections with fellow travelers remains fragmented, stressful, and largely left to chance.

RoamMate is a mobile application designed from the ground up to solve this: a platform where solo travelers can discover and book co-living stays, filter potential co-inhabitants by personality and preferences, and connect meaningfully with others on the same journey.

user interviews across varied travel backgrounds

competitors analyzed in depth via SWOT

rounds of wireframing, lo-fi, mid-fi, and iterated mid-fi

core task scenarios tested in usability sessions

Problem

Three gaps that keep solo travelers from connecting

Research and interviews revealed that the barriers to solo co-living are not just logistical but emotional. Users want to meet people and save money, yet the tools available leave them feeling blind, overwhelmed, and ultimately settling for a hotel.

No control over co-inhabitants

Users are often turned away from co-living spaces when they have no visibility into who they will share them with, leading them to default to hotels and miss the experience they wanted.

Booking is slow and stressful

Short-term lodging search becomes an investment of time that competes with the trip itself. Users described analysis paralysis when choosing between location, price, and roommate unknowns.

No platform champions solo travel

There is no mainstream product that centers the solo traveler. Existing options treat co-living as a secondary feature, not a primary motivation for the product.

How might we design a platform that makes co-living bookings fast, transparent, and personalized, so solo travelers feel in control and excited rather than uncertain and overwhelmed?

Process

Building from zero, research first, pixels last

As an end-to-end MVP, this project required building every layer of the product from scratch. The process moved deliberately through research, synthesis, architecture, and visual design before a single hi-fi screen was produced.

Competitive
Analysis

User
Interviews

IA & User
Flows

Wireframes
& Testing

Brand &
Hi-Fi

Competitive Analysis

Four platforms, one clear gap in the market

I conducted a SWOT analysis of the four most relevant competitors, Airbnb, Expedia, Coliving.com, and Booking.com, to understand what the market currently offers and where RoamMate could carve out a meaningful, differentiated position.

Airbnb

Vast global reach and brand recognition

Community-driven review system

No guest profile visibility for co-bookings

High service fees, inconsistent quality

Expedia

Comprehensive travel options, strong B2B

Strong tech for pricing optimization

No co-living focus, generic UX

Brand consistency and marketing issues

Coliving.com

Directly targets digital nomads, 24/7 support

Focus on curated community events

Minimum one-month stay, no short-term option

Users cut off from local culture

Booking.com

Free loyalty program, competitive pricing

Robust personalization technology

Generic UX, no solo travel focus

Dynamic pricing causes user frustration

Key opportunity: No competitor allows users to view guest profiles before booking a co-living stay. RoamMate's core differentiator — co-inhabitant transparency and traveler-to-traveler connection — is entirely unaddressed by the existing market.

Research

Five travelers, five honest perspectives on solo co-living

I conducted remote interviews with five participants — Brian, Dannel, Sean, Greg, and Adonys — each with different travel backgrounds and habits. Sessions were recorded via Zoom and transcribed with Otter.ai.

1
Lack of roommate visibility kills the bookingUsers are regularly turned away from co-living spaces because they cannot see who else will be staying there. Without that transparency, uncertainty sends them back to a private room on Airbnb.
2
Connections happen by accident, not by designMost users ended up traveling separately from co-inhabitants — not for lack of interest, but lack of structure. The potential for friendship exists. The platform to facilitate it does not.
3
Remote workers need a specific environmentUsers who travel while working remotely prioritize reliable internet, quiet working areas, and co-inhabitants in the same situation. Sharing with a party group while on a call is a genuine frustration.
4
Location is inseparable from the stayUsers don't just want a place to sleep — they want proximity to culture, local food, and landmarks. Location context is as important as the property details themselves.
5
There is no mainstream platform for thisUsers mentioned Airbnb and Couchsurfing as workarounds, not solutions. Coliving.com was dismissed due to its month-long minimum. The space is genuinely underserved.

Synthesis

Six themes from affinity mapping across five participants

Interview notes were organized into an affinity map, clustering observations across all five participants into six insight categories that shaped the product's feature priorities.

Motivations

Users travel for culture, new experiences, and independence. A common desire is meeting people who share their interests and energy.

Wants

An affordable service that is easy to book and allows roommate preferences, with spontaneous options and a purposeful environment for remote workers.

Pain Points

Roommate incompatibility, not trusting strangers, and overpaying are the top frustrations. Traveling with mismatched friends compounds the issue.

Traveling Preferences

Price is often the first filter. Reviews and nearby amenities matter before committing. Users prefer local-feeling properties over standard hotel options.

Tools

Airbnb dominates, with Expedia and Couchsurfing as secondary tools. Users default to what they know even when it doesn't fully meet their co-living needs.

Experience

Users range from frequent solo travelers to first-timers. Positive experiences center on genuine connections; negative ones on incompatible co-inhabitants.

Affinity map across five participants and six themes

Affinity map — organizing key insights from 5 participants across 6 themes

Persona

Designing for Rachel Rey

Research converged on a single primary persona, a creative, extroverted solo traveler who wants genuine connection, affordable co-living, and immersive cultural experiences, but is let down by the tools currently available to her.

Full persona card — Rachel Rey

Information Architecture

Five navigation pillars, two primary user flows

The sitemap established five core sections, Discover, Favorites, Plannings, Messages, and Profile, each with clear sub-pages mapped to the feature set. The structure was kept deliberately flat to minimize navigation depth and reduce time-to-booking.

Sitemap — five primary sections with feature-level sub-pages

Two user flows were mapped to the primary task scenarios: booking a stay and connecting with a fellow traveler. The booking flow handles both hosting and joining scenarios, with system validation and guest list visibility before payment.

User flows — Booking a Stay (left) and Connecting with Traveler(s) (right)

Lo-Fi Wireframes

Sketching the experience before committing to pixels

Lo-fi wireframes were hand-drawn to establish the layout of the three most critical screen types: the home screen, the user profile, and the filter system. Three layout options were explored per screen to pressure-test different approaches to hierarchy and navigation.

Lo-fi wireframes — Home Screen (top), User Profile (middle), Filter UI (bottom)

Testing focus: Lo-fi usability testing had users connect with a traveler profile and filter for affordable bookings. Both tasks completed successfully across all participants, with familiarity to existing booking apps providing a strong baseline.

✓
User profiles were immediately engagingUsers enjoyed the interactive feel of traveler profiles and said they satisfied natural curiosity about who they would be sharing a space with — directly addressing the core research finding.
~
The Connect button needed more visual prominenceUsers eventually found it but paused first to scan the screen, signaling that when more content is present the CTA could be easily overlooked. A hierarchy fix was carried into mid-fi.
~
Second profile layout felt too social-media-adjacentUsers were split on whether it felt appropriate for a booking app. The simpler layout was favored and carried forward.
✓
Filter UI felt immediately familiarThe price range slider and filter options felt intuitive across all users due to their familiarity with other booking apps. No guidance was needed to use them.

Mid-Fi Wireframes

From sketches to a structured digital layout

Mid-fidelity wireframes brought the lo-fi layouts into Figma with real structure and content hierarchy, while keeping color and imagery neutral. This stage produced all primary screens, Home, Property Details, Sign Up, Joining Details, Guest List, Messages, Favorites, Plannings, Filters, User Profile, and Chats.

Mid-fi wireframes — Home, Sign Up, User Profile, and Filters

A second round followed usability testing on the first version, refining navigation, adding content depth, and introducing the full booking and co-inhabitant visibility flows.

Mid-fi iteration — expanded screen set including Joining Details, Guest List, and Plannings

Brand & Visual Design

A calm, community-driven visual identity

RoamMate's brand was built around a clear philosophy: friendly, inclusive, and trustworthy. Every visual decision, color, type, and iconography, was made in service of that feeling. The blue palette promotes calm and approachability. Quicksand was chosen for its rounded, warm, modern character, ideal for a community-focused product. Nunito Sans provides balanced body text that is professional without feeling cold.

#2C74B3 Primary

#144272 Dark

#0A2647 Deepest

#769FCD Medium

#B9D7EA Light

#D6E6F2 Pale

Quicksand, Headings Nunito Sans, Body Rounded Button System Community-Driven Imagery Accessible Contrast Ratios

Usability Testing

Two scenarios, five participants, clear validation

Hi-fi usability testing was conducted remotely with five participants in moderated sessions under 30 minutes each. Two task scenarios were drawn directly from the primary user flows and grounded in Rachel's persona needs.

Scenario 1 — Book a Stay

Find and book the highest-rated, lowest-priced property in Germany that meets your preferences, completing the flow through to the Booked confirmation screen.

Scenario 2 — Connect with Traveler

Locate a previous co-inhabitant named Kimberly through your messages or booking history and connect with her for a potential future trip.

5/5

participants completed the booking task

5/5

participants connected with Kimberly successfully

Low

difficulty ratings across both tasks from all participants

entry points used for Scenario 2, both worked

✓
Guest list visibility resonated immediatelyUsers responded positively to seeing who else had booked before committing. This was the feature that most directly solved the core research pain point — and users felt it.
✓
Both navigation paths for connecting felt naturalSome users went through Messages, others through booking history. Both worked, confirming the multi-path design decision was correct rather than forcing a single route.
~
Filters were appreciated but users wanted more controlUsers valued the filter system but suggested expanding trait-based co-inhabitant filtering. They wanted more specificity, not just broad personality categories.
~
Plannings tab needed clearer onboardingA few users paused when first encountering the Plannings tab, unsure how it differed from Favorites. Clearer empty-state copy was flagged as a next-step priority.

Feature Set

Built in priority order, grounded in research

Features were categorized into four priority tiers based directly on research evidence. Every must-have feature maps to a specific user need identified in interviews or competitive analysis.

Must-Have — Core Functionality

Account creation, property bookings, property details, user profiles viewable before booking, in-app messaging, host a property, booking preferences for co-inhabitants, and booking filters.

Nice to Have — Trust & Discovery

User verification for reviews, personalized recommendations, user reviews with ratings, and the ability to follow other travelers to stay updated on their plans.

Surprising and Delightful

A Planning tab to save destinations with notes and track price or availability changes. A Favorites system for saving both visited and wish-listed properties.

Can Come Later

A loyalty program offering benefits for continued use — valuable for retention but requiring an established user base before it delivers meaningful value.

Reflection

What building from scratch actually teaches you

Designing an end-to-end product is less about the screens and more about the decisions that precede them. Every feature in RoamMate exists because a real person expressed a real need, and that discipline made the design better at every stage.

— Luis, Designer

Starting from a blank canvas is both liberating and demanding. Without a brand identity to inherit or an existing interface to match, every decision, color, type, IA, and feature priority, has to be reasoned and justified. This project reinforced how much time good UX work happens before any wireframe is opened.

The most rewarding discovery was how well the guest visibility feature landed with users. It was the most direct response to research, and also the feature users responded to most during testing. That alignment between research insight and design solution is what the whole process is designed to produce.

🗺️

IA shapes everything downstream

Getting the sitemap and user flows right before wireframing prevented structural rework at every subsequent stage. Foundation work pays for itself.

👥

Transparency is the feature

Guest profile visibility was the single most impactful design decision. It solved the core research pain point and was universally validated in testing.

🎨

Brand builds trust

A calm, rounded, community-first visual identity was directly tied to the product's goal of making solo travel feel safe and inviting, not just decorative.

📋

Prioritize ruthlessly

Tiering features by research evidence kept scope manageable and ensured the MVP delivered real value rather than spreading attention too thin.

Next Steps

Where RoamMate goes from here

This MVP established the core booking and connection experience. Several enhancements emerged from testing that represent the natural next phase of development.

Expand co-inhabitant filtering

Users want finer-grained trait filters — travel style, work habits, sleep schedule, and language preferences were all suggested during testing.

Plannings tab onboarding

Improve empty-state copy and introduce a brief tooltip on first use to distinguish Plannings from Favorites and reduce the brief confusion observed in testing.

Loyalty program (P4)

Once a user base is established, introduce the loyalty program to drive retention and increase the community's flywheel effect through repeat bookings.

RoamMate
A Solo Traveler Co-Living App