How I designed a travel shop for a startup

In March 2022, due to the start of the war, only two functioning airports remained in the south of Russia. Overland travel surged, and a regional bus station decided to launch its own tour services.

The defining constraint: the product owner chose to build the website on a site constructor, without relying on developers’ assistance. Every feature (search, smooth scrolling, interactive maps, synchronised filters) had to be achieved within the limits of a website builder.

• Discover. Understanding the audience and what they actually need from a weekend tour.
• Define. A point of view based on jobs-to-be-done: information architecture and user flows.
• Ideate. Brainstorming creative solutions that survive no-code constraints.
• Prototype. Building tangible representations of the strongest ideas.
• Design & release. Final layout design and website release on Tilda.

• 30+ page MVP website covering the full catalogue of tours and destinations.
• Online booking system so customers could reserve seats without a phone call.
• Interactive route map showing every destination the company serves.
• Gift certificate purchasing. A new revenue line for the business.
• High-quality photography of the places visited during trips, setting the visual tone.
• Social media integration to keep the audience close between trips.