Introducing a new tool to increase family engagement on the NYC Tourism website
Introducing a new tool to increase family engagement on the NYC Tourism website
Introducing a new tool to increase family engagement on the NYC Tourism website
Duration
Duration
3 months
3 months
Role
Role
UX Research, UX Design, Usability Testing
UX Research, UX Design, Usability Testing
Team
Team
3 UX Designers, 1 Design Mentor
3 UX Designers, 1 Design Mentor
Summary
We redesigned the NYC Tourism website with a focus on families. Families prefer curated packages when planning trips, which became the MVP and core scope of this project.
We identified user pain points through interviews and analysed the insights via conducting research tests like Card Sorting, Tree Testing, Usability Testing. These tests informed our design decisions.
What is NYC Tourism?
NYC Tourism is a website that provides a wide array of content for planning a trip to NYC: guides for “things to do,” attractions, events, cultural institutions, restaurants, hotels and lodging, neighborhood & borough guides, dining and entertainment suggestions, and more.
NYC Tourism is a website that provides a wide array of content for planning a trip to NYC: guides for “things to do,” attractions, events, cultural institutions, restaurants, hotels and lodging, neighborhood & borough guides, dining and entertainment suggestions, and more.
NYCT is a great hub for first-time visitors & international tourists, though there's room to better support family trip-planners.
NYCT is a great hub for first-time visitors & international tourists, though there's room to better support family trip-planners.
The Challenge
Family planners feel NYCT is not curated and can get overwhelming to plan a trip.
Family planners feel NYCT is not curated and can get overwhelming to plan a trip.
Families aren’t using nyctourism.com enough because the current experience is not curated or family-centric . It can get overwhelming and lacks the planning tools and trust signals that families uniquely rely on. These are the two key challenges that are preventing family planners from exploring more:
Families aren’t using nyctourism.com enough because the current experience is not curated or family-centric . It can get overwhelming and lacks the planning tools and trust signals that families uniquely rely on. These are the two key challenges that are preventing family planners from exploring more:
NYCT has a LOT of resources, but they're all over the place
NYCT has a LOT of resources, but they're all over the place
NYCT has a LOT of resources, but they're all over the place
Family planners have a lot of constraints such as budget, accessible transportation etc. NYCT does offer ways to filter through these constraints but it's all scattered and disconnected.
Family planners have a lot of constraints such as budget, accessible transportation etc. NYCT does offer ways to filter through these constraints but it's all scattered and disconnected.
NYCT feels like an archive of facts, not a tool for planning
NYCT feels like an archive of facts, not a tool for planning
NYCT feels like an archive of facts, not a tool for planning
NYCT’s initial impression can mislead family planners, its content feels like news and history rather than trip-planning support.
NYCT’s initial impression can mislead family planners, its content feels like news and history rather than trip-planning support.
The Solution
Introduce a Curated Packages tool that helps families book an entire trip through one package.
Introduce a Curated Packages tool that helps families book an entire trip through one package.
How did we get to this solution? 👇
Project Kickoff
We interviewed 6 family planners to understand their pain points, behaviors and needs while planning trips.
By speaking with parents of young children, families with teens, and young adults traveling with parents, we captured a broad spectrum of family travel needs.
Swipe to see some insightful quotes
Later, we conducted Affinity Mapping to uncover patterns that were consistent amongst most of the users.
5/6
Participants felt the site’s information overload made it hard to discover what they need.
5/6
Participants preferred curated tours and guides that deliver results tailored to their constraints.
4/6
Participants consider budget as a key factor.
4/6
Participants highly value reviews and ratings.
How might we
Let families book end-to-end trips to NYC without switching platforms, using information tailored to their constraints?
Scoping these insights down into four primary problems…
On brainstorming, we tapped into the users' voices and planning patterns and realized that introducing a build-your-own-package tool that bundles hotels, flights, and activities makes finding the right information much easier. Let's see how we made it happen!
Conducting Tests
With discoverability of relevant features being a major challenge on NYCT, we needed a stronger information architecture to help families find what they need with ease.
Click on the various tests to view key insights
Competitive Analysis
Card Sorting
Tree Testing
We selected 5 relevant websites that guided our following tests and designs
Key Insights
Sites like I Love NY and NYC Insider Guide guided our IA decisions, they both surface “Plan” prominently, reinforcing its importance.
Websites like Expedia & Viator helped us shape the MVP of this project which is the curated packages tool.
Competitive Analysis
Card Sorting
Tree Testing
We selected 5 relevant websites that guided our following tests and designs
Key Insights
Sites like I Love NY and NYC Insider Guide guided our IA decisions, they both surface “Plan” prominently, reinforcing its importance.
Websites like Expedia & Viator helped us shape the MVP of this project which is the curated packages tool.
Proposed IA
Proposed IA
Insights from card sorting and tree testing led us to reorganize the categories and refine the IA.
Insights from card sorting and tree testing led us to reorganize the categories and refine the IA.
Limit to five categories for simpler navigation and less choice paralysis.
Emphasizing “Plan your trip” makes the site more inclusive for families.
Since locals know transit options, placing transport info under “Plan your trip” better supports family planners, along with having 'On a budget'.
Visualizing Ideas
Creating the user journey and the mid-fi prototype to understand if the new tool is discoverable and intuitive.
Our users mentioned that flights, stay and things-to-do were the highest priorities while planning a trip to NYC, so we started with drawing out the user journey through a mid-fi prototype.
Testing & Iterating
We conducted a usability test with 6 participants to test out the prototype.
Let's take a look at the key problems that we encountered, and how we decided to solve them.
Problem 1
Problem 1
4/6 Users are initially unsure how Curated Packages work and how to get there.
4/6 Users are initially unsure how Curated Packages work and how to get there.
Users couldn't easily locate how to initiate building a package, the copy was confusing and there was too much going on.
In the navigation bar dropdown, some users didn't know if the category is clickable.
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 1
Highlight and clarify the package-building contents
Highlight and clarify the package-building contents
Reducing the clutter and improving the copy of the content makes this page easier to read and find.
Problem 2
Problem 2
3/6 users had trouble navigating steps and knowing where they were in the flow.
3/6 users had trouble navigating steps and knowing where they were in the flow.
Users weren't entirely informed where they were in the flow and how to navigate within it.
Some users preferred booking flights before stay as inexpensive flights that align with the preferred dates are of higher priority.
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 2
Making the navigation more intuitive by adding clear headers, labels and navigation arrows.
Making the navigation more intuitive by adding clear headers, labels and navigation arrows.
Since users prefer to book flights first we are rearranging the order of the flow to:
Problem 3
Problem 3
4/6 users didn’t explore tour details on the Activities screen and couldn't add more activities.
4/6 users didn’t explore tour details on the Activities screen and couldn't add more activities.
Users didn't scroll beyond 'Other Top Tours' to find more details.
An option for adding more activities doesn't exist, users were trying to go back to add more.
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 3
Using progressive disclosure to highlight critical information and prompting users to add more activities.
Using progressive disclosure to highlight critical information and prompting users to add more activities.
Rearranging the information on the Activity Details screen, and adding a confirmation popup to add more activities enables users to explore more.
Wrapping up!
Next Steps
How do we measure success?
Click Reduction: Decrease the average number of clicks required to book hotels, flights, and activities from ~50 to a significantly lower count.
Time on Task: Reduce average booking time from ~30 minutes to a shorter duration.
User satisfaction (CSAT): Quick feedback after completing the builder.
We wanted to do a lot more!
Simplify the design by reducing visual clutter and removing unnecessary content from the landing page.
Test this design out! We'd want to ideally run another usability test to validate this flow.
Ideate more on providing budget filters and accessible transportation, providing curated packages was the MVP of this project, we'd love to iterate more on other pain points.
Meet the team!
Tony, Sriya & Zach
Huge thanks to my wonderful team for making this project so enjoyable, and to Prof. Johna Shi for his invaluable guidance throughout the process 🥰
Hop on to a bigger screen to unlock the complete case study and for the best experience! 🗝️ 🤩
© 2025 Sriya Benjaram. Last updated on 8th Feb 2026.
© 2025 Sriya Benjaram. Last updated on 8th Feb 2026.
© 2025 Sriya Benjaram. Last updated on 8th Feb 2026.