Travelbox
Relocating for short-term work is common, settling into a rental smoothly isn’t.
Subscription app concept for professionals who temporarily relocate for short term work.
Professionals who temporarily relocate for work often receive housing support, but still face unexpected costs, unclear rental amenities, and the hassle of figuring out what to pack or buy after arrival. Travelbox is an app concept designed to make short-term stays feel easier through curated and customizable subscription boxes with everyday essentials, helping users settle in quickly and comfortably.
Role
UX/Product Designer
Project Type
Solo concept project
Responsibilities
User research, information architecture, interaction design, branding, visual design, prototyping, usability testing
Platform
iOS app concept
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Ballpark, Optimal Workshop, Adobe Illustrator, Google Meet
Timeline
4 weeks
For professionals who temporarily relocate for work, research revealed a consistent gap in the short-term relocation experience: while housing stipends often cover the rental itself, everyday essentials, shipping costs for personal items and purchases for missing property amenities create stress, unexpected expenses and uncertainty upon arrival.
Participants described needing confidence in what to pack, what the rental would actually include and how to settle in comfortably without overspending.
What participants experienced
I interviewed six participants with temporary relocation experience to better understand how professionals prepare for short-term stays and what makes settling in more difficult. Across interviews, participants described incomplete rental information, budget strain and the lingering stress of getting comfortable in an unfamiliar space.
Key research themes
These patterns revealed three recurring themes around rental uncertainty, budget strain and the challenge of settling in comfortably.
Rental Unknowns
Unclear amenity details make it difficult for users to plan ahead and know what to pack, ship or purchase later.
Budget Strain
Unexpected expenses from missing essentials and shipping needs make temporary relocation harder to manage affordably.
Settling-in Stress
A lack of comfort, predictability and everyday basics slows the transition into temporary housing.
Concept Development
Framing the relocation journey.
This storyboard helped translate research into a real-world scenario, showing how missing essentials and limited preparation can make settling into a temporary rental more stressful.
The User
The user arrives at their short-term rental in a new city and starts work the next day.
The Problem
They begin unpacking and realize the rental is missing basic amenities and everyday essentials.
Solution Intro
They take a break, scroll social media and see an ad for a box designed for short-term renters.
Discovery
They tap to learn more because they do not have time to shop for everything before work starts.
Decision
They realize it’s a convenient, affordable way to get essentials delivered monthly and sign up.
Happy Outcome
A few days later, the shipment arrives with the items needed to settle in more comfortably.
Solution Overview
Mapping the end-to-end product flow.
Relocation stress starts before move-in, so I designed Travelbox as more than a storefront. To reduce uncertainty and support better decision-making before arrival, I mapped the full product flow. This connected onboarding, browsing and subscription selection into one experience.
Home / Start screen
It has a simpler entry point and prioritizes sign-up over explaining the service upfront. This guides users into onboarding for a personalized experience.
Subscription Plan screen
A single-column layout made plan selection feel simpler and less compact. Creating a clear hierarchy around pricing and details, helps users compare plans without feeling overwhelmed.
Extending the concept to web
Although Travelbox was designed as a mobile-first app, I also explored how key flows could translate to web through mid-fidelity page concepts and supporting information architecture. This helped define how users might browse plans, explore products and access the service across devices.
Store Landing
Explored how browsing and starter box discovery could extend to web.
Subscription Plans
Translated mobile plan selection into a broader desktop comparison flow.
High-Fidelity Features
Bringing the Travelbox concept to life.
Branding the experience
Travelbox was designed to feel approachable, practical and comforting during a stressful transition. Soft gradients, rounded components and simple iconography helped create a visual system that feels functional and calm.
High-fidelity mock-ups
Test & Iterate
Refining the product through user feedback
Testing revealed where the product needed more clarity, stronger hierarchy and better guidance. I used feedback to refine key moments in the flow, making the interface easier to scan, more informative and more supportive as users moved from browsing to subscription selection.
Store Landing
What changed
The store landing screen evolved from a basic structural layout into a more guided entry point, with stronger hierarchy and clearer visual separation across featured content and categories.
Wireframe
Mid-fidelity
High-fidelity
Why it changed
Stronger imagery, clearer hierarchy and more visual separation helped users scan the page more easily, understand the service faster and identify where to start.
Subscription Selection
What changed
The subscription flow gained clearer structure through the addition of a progress bar, more spacing, reduced navigation clutter and expanded plan details.
Wireframe
Mid-fidelity
High-fidelity
Why it changed
The ability to expand each plan to show details and how it works gives users important information and confidence during selection.
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