Wheelsy
Wheelsy is a car rental app designed to modernize and streamline the process of booking rental cars. The goal was to replace the outdated, cluttered experience of traditional rental sites with an intuitive, engaging, and transparent interface.
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Project Overview
Project length: 4-5 days
Tools used: Figma, Google Forms, Balsamiq, Maze
​​My Role
This my first project as a UX/UI design student and I managed the full redesign process—from research to usability testing—ensuring design consistency and business alignment.
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User research and analysis
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Information architecture and flow redesign
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Creating the design system and UI kit
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Prototyping and usability testing​​
Discover
The Problem
​The Problem at hand is that the current rental car websites needs to be revamped to increase conversion rate and booking. The goal is to make the website more engaging and at the same time also design an app for easy to navigation.
As it may be evident that the information on ABC landing page is very redundant and not very well organized. The font and the color theme is not readable and is not consistent through out the page. CTA (Call to Action) buttons are not very intuitive. It is hard to figure out the next steps.
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Research
The research phase focused on understanding why users abandon car rental bookings and what helps them feel confident when making high-intent, transactional decisions.
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User Research
​Research was conducted in the form of informal interviews to begin with and then an online short survey with frequent and occasional car renters to learn about their past experiences.
Users consistently mentioned frustration with hidden fees, long booking forms, and unclear rental policies. Many shared that they often compared multiple sites but abandoned bookings due to lack of trust or information overload.
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Method
​An online survey was shared with participants who had previously used car rental websites or apps. This lightweight approach allowed me to collect qualitative feedback efficiently while identifying common patterns and frustrations.
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Survey Details
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Participants: 18 respondents
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Method: Online Google Forms survey
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Audience: Users who had booked a rental car online within the past 2 years
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Platforms Used: Desktop and mobile rental websites
Here's an example of the survey questions and results
​Key Findings
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72% of respondents said unclear or hidden fees were their biggest frustration
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61% abandoned a booking at least once due to long or confusing checkout flows
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67% felt that most rental websites were visually overwhelming
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58% preferred booking on mobile but felt the experience was harder than desktop
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Insights Applied to Design
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Pricing breakdowns were surfaced earlier in the flow
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Booking steps were reduced and grouped logically
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Visual clutter was minimized to improve focus and confidence
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Mobile-first layouts were prioritized to support on-the-go users
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​​​​Competitive Analysis
​I reviewed existing car rental platforms to identify common usability patterns and pain points. While most platforms offered similar features, many struggled with:
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Overwhelming layouts
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Poor mobile optimization
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Inconsistent pricing presentation
This analysis helped highlight opportunities for simplification and differentiation.
While competitors excel in scale or personalization, Wheelsy focuses on reducing friction through clarity, transparency, and a simplified booking experience.
Define
User Persona
The user persona was developed from survey insights to represent common behaviors, motivations, and pain points of people booking rental cars online. It served as a reference point for evaluating design decisions and prioritizing user needs.
Rita, 65 - Not very comfortable with technology, loves to take trips with her grandchildren.
This information further helps us determine the user base for Wheelsy.
Affinity Map
Survey responses were clustered using affinity mapping to identify recurring pain points and prioritize high-impact design improvements for Wheelsy.
Clustering survey responses revealed that user frustration does not come from a single issue, but from the combined effect of pricing uncertainty, cognitive overload, and booking friction—especially in the moments leading up to checkout.
While users initially approach rental platforms with confidence, that confidence quickly declines as they encounter:
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Changing prices and hidden fees
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Long, repetitive booking flows
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Too many similar vehicle options with little guidance
These pain points reinforce one another, causing hesitation and ultimately abandonment right before payment.The affinity map highlighted that trust is the critical breaking point in the rental experience. When pricing lacks transparency or the interface feels overwhelming, users lose confidence in both the cost and the platform itself.
Key takeaway from analyzing the affinity map is that users are willing to rent a car—but only when they feel informed, in control, and confident. When clarity is lost, so is conversion.Insights from the affinity map highlighted trust as the key driver of booking abandonment. Wheelsy’s value proposition was built to directly address this by prioritizing transparent pricing, reduced friction, and guided decision-making throughout the rental experience.
Wheelsy enables users to book rental cars faster and with confidence by eliminating hidden fees, reducing friction, and simplifying decision-making.
​The Value Proposition Canvas translated user pain points into clear product strategies, ensuring Wheelsy’s design decisions directly addressed user needs.
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​With a clear understanding of user behaviors, pain points, and Wheelsy’s value proposition, the next step was to visualize how these insights play out across the end-to-end rental experience. The user journey map brings together the persona, affinity map findings, and value proposition to highlight key moments where trust is gained or lost. By mapping user actions, emotions, and friction points across each stage, this exercise helped identify critical opportunities to simplify the flow, reinforce pricing transparency, and design interactions that support confident decision-making throughout the booking process.
​Journey Mapping
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I mapped the end-to-end booking journey to identify moments of friction — particularly during car selection, price comparison, and checkout. These steps were where users felt most uncertain or overwhelmed.
Problem Statement
People who rent cars online often abandon bookings because current rental platforms make it difficult to trust pricing and complete reservations confidently. Through survey insights, affinity mapping, and journey analysis, it became clear that unclear fees, long and fragmented booking flows, and overwhelming choices create friction at critical decision points—especially right before checkout.
As a result, users feel uncertain and disengaged, leading to dropped conversions and a frustrating overall experience. Wheelsy addresses this problem by reimagining the rental journey with transparency, simplicity, and guided decision-making at its core.
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Goals
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Simplify the rental car booking experience
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Reduce friction and unnecessary steps in the booking flow
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Improve pricing transparency to build user trust
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Help users compare options and make confident decisions
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Increase completed bookings across web and mobile
Develop
Building on the research insights, design explorations, and usability findings, the next phase of Wheelsy focuses on translating the concept into a scalable and testable product. The following steps outline how the experience would evolve from design to implementation.
​Ideation & Strategy
The next step would involve collaborative ideation sessions to refine Wheelsy’s core features and prioritize high-impact improvements. Using insights from the affinity map and journey map, design efforts would focus on moments where users feel the most friction—particularly during vehicle selection and checkout.
Key activities would include:
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Defining success metrics aligned with business goals (conversion, drop-off rate, time to book)
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Exploring alternative interaction patterns for pricing transparency and decision guidance
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Prioritizing features based on user value, effort, and technical feasibility
This phase ensures design decisions remain user-centered while supporting long-term product strategy.
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Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
​The MVP would focus on delivering Wheelsy’s core value: a fast, transparent, and confidence-building booking experience. Rather than launching with a full feature set, the MVP would prioritize essential functionality that directly addresses user pain points.
MVP features would include:
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Simplified search and vehicle selection
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Upfront pricing with a clear cost breakdown
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Streamlined checkout with fewer steps
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Booking confirmation with clear next steps
This approach allows the product to launch quickly while gathering real-world user feedback for iteration. Here's a comparison between MVP vs Non-MVP with reasoning behind it.
User Flows & Information Architecture
With the MVP defined, detailed user flows is created to ensure a smooth and logical progression through the booking journey. These flows focus on reducing cognitive load and minimizing decision fatigue.
Key considerations:
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Designing linear, distraction-free booking paths
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Reducing form inputs and grouping related steps
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Supporting easy edits without restarting the flow
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Ensuring consistency across web and mobile platforms
Clear information architecture at this stage helps prevent usability issues during development.
Step-by-Step Breakdown of the User Flow
1. Search Location & Dates
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User enters pickup location and rental dates
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Sets context for availability and pricing
Design Focus: Speed and simplicity
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2. View Available Cars
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List of vehicles with key details (price, type, seats)
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Clear, consistent layout across listings
Design Focus: Reduce cognitive load
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3. Compare & Select Vehicle
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User reviews options and selects a car
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“Best Value” or “Recommended” indicators guide decisions
Design Focus: Reduce decision fatigue
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4. Review Pricing Breakdown
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Full price visible (base + taxes + fees)
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Optional add-ons clearly labeled
Design Focus: Build trust before commitment
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5. Enter Details
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Minimal form fields
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Autofill where possible
Design Focus: Reduce friction
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6. Confirm Booking
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Final review of rental details
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Clear primary CTA
Design Focus: Confidence and clarity
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7. Booking Confirmation
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Summary of booking
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Pickup details and next steps
Design Focus: Reassurance and closure
Deliver
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype was created to quickly explore layout, structure, and user flow without getting distracted by visual details. Using simple wireframes, I focused on validating the booking journey, ensuring that pricing transparency appeared early, and reducing unnecessary steps in the checkout process.
At this stage, the goal was to answer key questions:
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Can users easily find and compare rental options?
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Does the booking flow feel fast and intuitive?
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Is pricing clear before users commit to checkout?
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
The mid-fidelity prototype bridges the gap between early wireframes and the final visual design. At this stage, the focus was on refining layout, hierarchy, and interaction patterns while keeping visual styling minimal. Using grayscale wireframes with real content, I validated the structure of the booking flow and ensured key moments of trust — such as pricing transparency and checkout — were clear and easy to understand.
This prototype helped answer important questions:
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Is the booking flow logical and easy to follow?
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Can users quickly compare vehicles without feeling overwhelmed?
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Does pricing feel transparent before checkout?
Wireframe created for website homepage
Wireframe created for the App
Prototyping enabled rapid iteration and ensured Wheelsy’s design decisions were validated before moving into development.
High-Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype translated research insights and wireframes into a fully branded, interactive experience that reflects Wheelsy’s design system. This version focused on visual clarity, accessibility, and trust-building details, ensuring users feel confident at every step of the booking process.
Key areas of focus included:
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A clean, modern interface with strong visual hierarchy
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Transparent pricing modules with clear breakdowns
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Streamlined checkout with minimal form inputs
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Reassuring confirmation and feedback states
This prototype was used for usability testing and stakeholder review, allowing design decisions to be validated and refined before development.
These are some main points to focus on as the user interacts with the prototype
Search & Results:
Final branded design with strong visual hierarchy and clear calls to action.
Vehicle Details:
Transparent pricing and consistent card layout guide confident decisions.
Checkout:
Minimal, distraction-free experience with early pricing clarity.
Confirmation:
Reassuring confirmation screen that reinforces trust and clarity.
​Usability Testing
​To validate the high-fidelity prototype, I conducted usability testing with users who regularly book rental cars online. The goal was to evaluate whether the redesigned experience improved clarity, reduced friction, and increased user confidence.
Testing Overview
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Participants: 8 users
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Method: Remote moderated usability testing
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Device: Mobile & desktop
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Tasks Tested:
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Find a rental car for a weekend trip
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Compare options and select a vehicle
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Complete a booking
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Key Results
Insights & Improvements
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Users immediately noticed pricing transparency and said it reduced anxiety before checkout.
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Reduced steps improved confidence — users described the flow as “fast” and “stress-free.”
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Minor refinements were made to microcopy and button labels to improve clarity after testing.
Key Takeaway
The high-fidelity prototype successfully validated Wheelsy’s value proposition: a faster, clearer, and more trustworthy booking experience.
​Design System
To ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility across the website and mobile app, I created a flexible design system that supports Wheelsy’s core principles: clarity, trust, and simplicity.
Color
The color palette balances warmth and clarity to guide attention without overwhelming the user.
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Primary Accent (Orange): Drives action and highlights key CTAs
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Dark Gray: Primary text and structure for readability
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Light Gray: Backgrounds and dividers to reduce visual noise
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White: Clean canvas for content focus
High contrast improves accessibility and ensures important actions are easy to find, especially on mobile.
Typography​
A clear typographic hierarchy supports scannability and confidence.
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Headings: Bold, modern Inter for strong visual hierarchy
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Body Text: Highly readable, mobile-friendly font
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Microcopy: Friendly, reassuring language to build trust
Users can quickly scan key information and understand pricing and policies without cognitive overload.
Components
Reusable components ensure speed, clarity, and consistency.
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Buttons (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary)
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Car listing cards
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Pricing breakdown modules
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Input fields and form elements
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Confirmation and status banners
Components reduce development friction and ensure the experience scales across features.
Layout & Spacing
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Grid-based layouts for predictable scanning
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Generous spacing to reduce cognitive load
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Mobile-first breakpoints
Why it matters:
Clear layout reinforces trust and makes complex information feel manageable.
Interaction Design
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Subtle microinteractions for feedback (hover, loading, success states)
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Motion used sparingly to guide attention
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Error states designed with helpful guidance
Why it matters:
Feedback reassures users and prevents mistakes during high-stakes actions like payment.
Key Screens & Features
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Search & Results: Fast, filterable, and easy to compare
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Vehicle Details: Clear specs and pricing summary
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Checkout: Minimal steps with early pricing transparency
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Confirmation: Reassuring summary and next steps
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Before and After Impact
Before
After
Development Handoff & Iteration
​To ensure a smooth transition from design to development, a comprehensive handoff package needs to be prepared that aligns design intent with engineering requirements. The goal is to reduce ambiguity, accelerate implementation, and preserve the user experience validated during usability testing.
Design Handoff
The handoff includes a complete set of production-ready assets and documentation:
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Design System Library
A shared component library with buttons, forms, cards, and pricing modules, including usage guidelines, spacing rules, and interaction states. -
Annotated Screens & Specs
High-fidelity screens with spacing, typography, and color specifications, along with interaction notes for hover, focus, error, and loading states. -
Responsive Guidelines
Breakpoints and layout behavior for mobile, tablet, and desktop to ensure consistency across devices. -
User Flow & Edge Cases
Documented flows for booking, editing selections, and confirmation, including error states and empty states. -
Accessibility Notes
Contrast ratios, text sizes, and keyboard navigation considerations to support WCAG compliance.
Collaboration with Engineering
Working closely with developers to walk through the booking flow and clarify design intent:
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Design reviews to align on interaction patterns
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Technical feasibility discussions for pricing logic and form behavior
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Iterative feedback to refine components for performance and scalability
This collaboration ensured that the experience remained simple and transparent through implementation.
Iteration & Continuous Improvement
Post-handoff, iteration is driven by real user behavior and performance data rather than assumptions.
Iteration Strategy
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Usability Feedback Loop
Continued testing on implemented screens to validate that clarity and trust remained intact. -
Conversion Optimization
A/B testing pricing presentation and CTA placement to reduce drop-off. -
Performance Improvements
Refining load states and skeleton screens to reduce perceived wait times. -
Design System Evolution
Expanding the component library as new features were introduced, keeping consistency across the product.​
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The handoff and iteration process ensures that Wheelsy’s redesign didn’t stop at design—it became a scalable, user-centered product ready for real-world use. By aligning research, design, and development, the experience continues to evolve while staying grounded in user needs and business goals.