The previous website was not mobile-friendly and ran on a WordPress backend that felt bulky and outdated. At the same time Sepi had completed a print branding refresh that needed to carry over online, including an expanded color palette and a proper style guide built on the MUI design system. The engagement operated under a fixed budget and timeline inside the same accelerator-style program used for Boone Adventures. The core goal was a trustworthy, easy-to-use platform that surface historical places and made booking with trusted hosts feel simple.

As the design lead I ran the discovery and prioritization work, facilitated the As-Is and To-Be workshops, created the information architecture and interaction design, delivered high-fidelity desktop, mobile, and native app designs, and built the MUI-based style guide. I also collaborated directly with front-end developers through the original launch.

We followed my accelerator program structure while staying tightly focused on the traveler and host needs that mattered most.

We started with As-Is and To-Be workshops grounded in IBM Design Thinking. These sessions mapped the current friction and the ideal future state for both travelers and hosts. From the workshops we produced flow charts for the main features, then moved into rough wireframes and a clickable prototype for early validation.

Once the prototype was approved we designed the higher-resolution desktop and mobile experiences along with a native app direction. Throughout the process well-known Black travel influencers contributed insights that shaped content hierarchy, trust signals, and how destinations and host recommendations appeared.

Key discoveries from the workshops shaped the final design:

Traveler needs

• Easy discovery of historical places tied to a map and powered by trusted host articles

• Personalized recommendations from both hosts and the system

• Clear travel guides covering flights, stays, itineraries, and group options

• Simple ways to communicate with guides for updates

Host needs

• Article and blog content tied directly to planned destinations

• A full booking experience with recommendations, reviews, and destination tools

• Strong trust signals so travelers feel confident booking

• Communication tools to update travelers throughout the trip

One of the clearest decisions was to treat trusted hosts and their content as the primary discovery engine rather than a generic destination catalog. That choice put influencer voices and historical context at the center of the experience.

We also prioritized a mobile-first, one-stop flow (research → learn → book → manage) over bolting booking onto the old content-heavy structure. On the visual side we expanded the new brand palette and built a complete MUI style guide so the site would feel consistent with the print work already in market. Because the timeline was fixed we focused the first release on the highest-value traveler and host journeys instead of every possible secondary feature.

The engagement produced a modern desktop and mobile website, a native app direction, and a MUI-based style guide that matched Sepi’s refreshed brand. The new experience made it straightforward for travelers to discover historically significant places, learn from trusted hosts, and complete bookings in one place. I worked alongside front-end developers to launch the original site. Although the platform has since been deprecated, the work delivered a clean, mobile-friendly foundation that reflected both the new brand and the community it served.

Partnering with well known African American travel influencers early in the process proved especially valuable. Their input kept the design grounded in real trust and discovery behaviors instead of assumptions. The As-Is and To-Be workshops also created strong stakeholder alignment under a fixed budget and timeline. If I were running a similar heritage-focused travel project again I would bring a small group of actual travelers into the prototype testing phase so the recommendation and trust signals could be validated even earlier against real booking hesitation.