The Friga project secured first place in the Design Matters competition at DMJX, serving as a proof-of-concept for autonomous technologies within the travel industry.
My bachelor project from DMJX investigates how autonomous technology can be leveraged to create a new form of travel experience. The goal was to design a seamless, safe, and enjoyable adventure for a new generation of camper tourists.
Through user research, I discovered that travelers value convenience, real-time information, and personalized experiences. They often struggle with the unpredictability of travel and desire solutions that reduce stress and enhance comfort.
Friga successfully demonstrates how self-driving campers can shape our holiday experience in the future. With Friga in the palm of your hand, you take control of your adventures and wake up in a new, selected destinations every day. The project secured me the highest grade and first place in the Design Matters student competition at DMJX.
I created a user journey prototype that demonstrates a strong focus on storytelling, world building, and interactive design while empowering tourists to take control of their adventures leveraging autonomous technology.
I tried to push the limits of storytelling in surface design, resulting in beautifully crafted brand moments and, at times, suboptimal experiments. This project provided valuable insights into balancing immersion and effective UX.
The interactive prototype emphasizes intuitive UX/UI design, real-time updates, and personalized recommendations. Video length is 1:35.
Excerpt screens of the onboarding flow. Onboarding is vital when presenting users with unfamiliar technologies like autonomous driving vehicles.
Interactive prototype showing the animation from the splash screen of the app to the onboarding flow.
The home screen allows users to search for destinations and see the travel duration in nights for various locations across the continent. However, the Explore section below the map shows how brand storytelling can impede usability. A simpler design could have provided more breathing room for core content and functionality, enhancing the user experience.
On the Search Result screen, you can seamlessly add destinations to your journey and view popular attractions in the area. Immersive copy and imagery motivate you to explore new natural experiences, inspiring your next adventure. This intuitive interface keeps you focused on discovering and planning your trip effortlessly.
An interactive prototype of the My Journey screen allows users to get a comprehensive overview of their planned trip. They can effortlessly reorder or remove destinations, ensuring a highly usable, scalable, and flexible travel planning experience.
The My Journey screen offers an enjoyable, efficient, and stress-free planning experience. Its intuitive design transforms the planning process into an engaging and delightful part of the journey.
The Map Overview screen displays the user's planned journey with departure and arrival times, highlighting night and day travel. Prioritizing storytelling through brand artefacts sometimes interfered with functionality and clear user-centered design, making this part of the project a valuable learning experience.
The Booking screen allows users to select the number of travel days and their preferred vehicle type. This demonstrates effective UX design, making the booking experience simple and enjoyable while seamlessly incorporating upselling opportunities.
The UI draws inspiration from familiar travel, booking, and map tools that we use every day. By leveraging the power of familiarity, the interface ensures users feel right at home, even when embarking on a new, technologically driven adventure.
Animated logos in both large and small versions for the dynamic visual identity. Their dynamic nature communicates a complex concept in a simple and enjoyable way.
The logotype for the Friga concept features curved lines in the "F" and "A," symbolizing travelers getting a good night’s sleep as Friga drives them toward tomorrow’s destination, where they open their eyes to new and exciting adventures.
Friga logotype with construction lines. A strong underlying structure ensures the solidity of the brand while creating a dynamic quality that highlights the explorative nature of the concept.
I created an explainer video for the project to excite users and clearly explain this new and unfamiliar mode of travel. Inspired by VW's ID. Buzz van, which promises autonomous driving, the project leverages VW's innovation while the brand story takes users on a creative adventure.
Illustration for the explainer video: Depicting the new form of autonomous vacation in a safe and enjoyable manner.
Illustrations for the app interface and explainer video: They explore how a travel experience based on autonomous transport can be conveyed through naive-style illustrations, creating a safe environment for users to familiarize themselves with this new mode of transportation.
Additional illustrations for the app interface and explainer video.
Initial sketches for the logotype concept, dynamic logo, and app illustrations. These sketches showcase the creative process in developing user-empowering designs, resulting in a cohesive and engaging visual identity that enhances the overall user experience.
Experiments with various typographic combinations within the Friga universe to determine the project's typographic branding. These explorations underscore the importance of typography in usability and identity design, ensuring clear communication and a strong, cohesive brand presence.
Understanding the entire user journey and its touchpoints with a digital product is crucial. The Friga experience encompasses every phase of user interaction—before, during, and after the traveler's journey. Friga is designed to offer an 'escapist' and 'aesthetic' experience, making it essential to seamlessly integrate and delight users at every stage, from planning and traveling to reminiscing.
A low-fidelity, cost-effective UX wireframe prototype was employed in the early development phase to test the product with end users, ensuring valuable feedback was gathered before committing additional design resources to the final solution.
A visualization of what your holiday in a self-driving camper would feel like with Friga by your side.
VW's ID Buzz, set to be the world’s first self-driving camper, serves as the primary inspiration for the Friga project.
The Friga project won the Design Matters student competition at DMJX. I was invited to present the project to designers from Netflix, Dropbox, FIFA, and more at the international Design Matters conference in Copenhagen.
