Redesigning the Universal Studios mobile app, updating guest navigation and ticketing into a seamless journey
Product Universal Studios App
The official mobile app for Universal Studios Hollywood, designed to serve both first-time guests and frequent passholders with real-time park navigation, ride schedules, and dining management.
Problem Cluttered navigation
Crucial information like ride wait times, ticket blockout dates, and mobile-ordering restaurants was hard to find due to cluttered map screens, poor categorization, and a home screen that prioritized promotional news over daily utility.
Solution Simplified Discovery
Redesigned the home screen to surface high-frequency actions (map, mobile ordering, tickets), introduced a dedicated "Explore the Park" discovery section, and streamlined map filters so users spend less time on their screens and more time enjoying the park.
Result Improved Engagement
Transformed a frustrating, ad-heavy application into a streamlined digital companion that improved map usability and overall user sentiment across both first-time guests and annual passholders.
Details
Role/Team: Product Designer
Contributions: Heuristic Evaluation, Competitive Analysis, User Interviews, Ideation & Iteration, Usability Testing, High Fidelity Prototypes
Tools: Figma
Timeline: 2023
Scope: Product Design, UX Research, Usability Testing, Information Architecture, Mobile Design, Wayfinding
Impact
150+
home screen preference
All participants reported faster access to core park utilities like wait times and tickets
+83%
map navigation efficiency
5 out of 6 participants located key attractions faster due to streamlined filters and categorization
Seamless
mobile order discovery
Streamlined access to individual dining location info to verify ordering availability
Having visited Universal Studios for years, my expectations for its mobile app shifted from a full tour guide to a seamless, passive companion. Yet, a clunky interface made essential tasks—like checking wait times, navigating the map, and mobile ordering—frustratingly slow.
Over 8 weeks, I redesigned the app to bring high-frequency park features directly to the surface, making navigation effortless so guests can spend less time on their phones and more time enjoying the park.
A digital companion app designed to help Universal Studios guests navigate the park, check wait times, access tickets, and mobile order food.
Context
Whether first-time guests or seasoned park experts looking for ride wait times, guests struggled to quickly locate essential information due to the app’s clunky visual hierarchy and unintuitive interface.
Guests struggle to navigate the park due to the app’s unintuitive interface
The Problem
A heuristic evaluation revealed key usability issues and information architecture breakdowns across several core screens:
Struggles with the Existing App
Home Screen
Hard to tell if park hours banner, which is the only place to find park-related info such as block out dates, is tappable or not.
Prominently surfaced "Quick Actions" were neither quick nor frequently used, cluttering prime screen real estate with low-frequency features like Virtual Line and Alerts
News carousel takes up excess amount of space
Mobile Ordering Screens
There’s no way to tell which dining options have mobile ordering available. Users are forced to tap into each restaurant and check.
Map Screens
Map presents users with an overwhelming amount of information that is hard to comprehend.
Hard to find information related to park offerings from the map due to the confusing icons.
Map List Screens
Non-ride park offerings are clumped together into a single “Other Attractions” category which made it further difficult to find information.
To explore how other theme park apps surfaced park info and features, I reviewed the mobile apps of the 3 most popular parks in Southern California.
Competitive Analysis
Disneyland
Map is easy to find rides, wait times, and other key points of interest
Home screen was cluttered and more like a long block of ads than a quick spot for park features.
Six Flags
Map was difficult to read and confusing to comprehend due to the large number of small icons
Home screen was simple to navigate and informative.
Knott’s Berry Farm
Map was confusing to navigate, difficult to read, and not very helpful for getting around the park.
Home screen felt utilitarian, but wasn’t visually interesting or engaging.
I interviewed guests, ranging from first-timers to annual passholders, to identify key feature gaps and pain points.
User Interviews and Usability Testing
With the data I gathered from my user interviews, testing, and research, I organized user pain points into an affinity map and grouped into the following categories where users felt the app could be improved.Difficulty planning trips to park: Almost everybody showed confusion with finding park hours and ticket information such as block out dates.
Difficulty Mobile Ordering: Multiple users struggled to find restaurants that had mobile food ordering available.
Inconvenient Home Screen: Most users felt the Home screen didn’t surface important park content and features they wanted or needed in a digestible format.
Map and Map List navigation: Unanimously, users found that navigating the map screens to find specific park offerings was cumbersome and frustrating.
Restructure the Home Screen: Bring key actions—like ride wait times, ticket details, and park hours—front and center so users don't have to hunt for daily utilities.
Surface Mobile-Ordering Options: Add clear visual indicators for restaurants offering mobile order-ahead, reducing wait times in food lines.
Streamline Map & Filtering: Simplify icon overload and categorize non-ride park offerings so guests can filter and find attractions at a glance.
Introduce Exploration Guides: Create curated "Explore the Park" categories to help both first-timers and passholders quickly plan their route.
Empower guests to navigate the park effortlessly by surfacing essential information instantly, minimizing phone screen time so they can maximize their park experience.
Goal + North Star
Focus on restructuring the home screen hierarchy, simplifying map filter overlays, and integrating clear mobile-ordering indicators.
Tested low-fidelity concepts with users to validate information hierarchy and quickly explore and iterate on layout ideas before committing to visual polish.
Getting user feedback to see how we can surface information to the users without cluttering the UI or overwhelming guests.
Wireframes and Initial Designs
Lo-fi wireframes for Home page, maps, maps list, and filters
The style guide aligns with the colors and style of the Universal Studios Hollywood brand and their popular IP’s.
The Style Guide
I utilized the Universal Studios blue as my primary color for CTAs with complimenting grays and whites for the cards and sections.
Redesign featuring a restructured home screen for quick-access park utility, dedicated mobile-ordering tags, and simplified map categorization and filtering.
Solution + Prototype
Convenient access to regularly used features and content
Quick access most frequently needed content and functionality such as the map, ticket details and mobile ordering.
Guests are able to plan ahead and quickly check Park Hours and Info for future dates.
“Explore the Park” category provides guides and inspiration for navigating the park during your visit.
Making dining options that support mobile ordering easier to find increases guests willingness to spend by 45%*.
Ability to order ahead reduces queues and encourages guests to plan ahead.
*according to Omnico’s Theme Park Mobile Barometer
Find Mobile Ordering dining easily
Surfaced wait times and show times bring important info to users at a glance.
Categorizing park offerings make exploring the park and map easier.
Tailored filters make refining map and map list more effective.
More effectively navigate the park
Try out the prototype design here or below.
6/6 felt the new Home screen was more helpful and convenient during their visit to the park.
6/6 exhibited a more positive attitude towards the app since they were spending less time figuring out how to use it and more time accomplishing tasks in it during their visits.
5/6 were able to find information more quickly on the map since it felt more structured and less cluttered with icons.
4/6 liked the new“Explore the Park” category and found it an insightful way to learn more about the park.
After performing validation testing of this prototype with the same 6 users as before, I found:
Outcomes
The importance of knowing how to ask questions: The way you ask questions can determine what and how much you can discover from users. Open-ended questions allows people to answer with sentences and stories and provide new and deeper insights into the problem you are trying to solve.
Progress through iteration: In the early wireframe design stages, I took a lot more time than expected in exploring over 10+ options for the Home screens. It’s important to know when to move forward when stuck on one aspect of a project. Designs will evolve overtime.