Brightline Trains

From Broken UX to Award Winning App

The Ask: Redesign and rebuild Brightline's native app, refining existing functionality and enriching the experience with new features for an MVP release.

The Solution: Leveraging research, our cross-functional team identified current state weaknesses and future state functionalities during MVP. We delivered a refreshed and scalable design system, several new feature sets, and prioritized post-MVP functionality after release.

My Role: Co-leading product designer

OUR GOAL
Transform Brightline's broken app into an immersive digital experience, just as premium as the train itself.
STRENGTHENING USER EXPERIENCE

Pain points addressed

An audit along with initial user research was done to product challenges, identify core business needs, and understand where users were meeting unnecessary friction within the app. We were able to address:
  • Broken user flows in the booking and retrieving process
  • Inconsistent UI leading to task failure and confusion
  • Limited feature functionality like trip management, adding luggage, and reviewing itineraries post-booking
  • Too many custom components causing app to slow down and users to abandon to app
my role & the team

Co-leading design overhaul

As co-lead on design implementation, I was responsible for visualizing a new experience while our engineering partners rebuilt the backend. My role was to bridge the gap between what was now technically possible and what would be most valuable to the user.

Net-new features

I drove features like station experience, trip management, and adding extras. While supporting the re-build of existing features like booking and seat selection.

Design System Build

In partnership with engineering, we established a native design system UI that aligned with Brightline's premium brand and allowed for scalability.

Research Partnership

Our designs were informed by and iterated through various research methods, especially in the most dynamic and input-heavy flows.

Strategic Prioritization

Negotiation across teams was key in prioritizing which broken features to fix versus which new features to build first to deliver maximum user impact.

Outcomes

70%

reduction in time to book

34%

increase in app downloads

618%

increase in organic traffic

2024 Honoree

General Apps:
Travel

2024 Honoree

Website & Mobile Sites:
Travel & Lifestyle