Navigo
Navigo was envisioned as a one-stop platform tailored for Africa’s emerging wave of travelers and digital nomads. It combined travel bookings, local experiences, and remote work tools in a single user-centric experience. This reflects the thoughtful research, intentional collaboration, cross-functional process, key design decisions and the groundwork laid for future success
Category
Services
time line
live project
Role Beyond Design
Creating Navigo - We operated as a small digital team and as the only product designer, my role often overlapped with product management and strategist
I worked to create desirability and feasibility around this app from self conducted ux research as well as working with the data team to analyse the data collected from conducted surveys and research to defining user stories
The Challenge
Purpose: What problem was Navigo solving? Who was it for
In a market saturated with global travel apps, few cater to the unique needs of African digital nomads, so how might we design a platform that feels both local and globally efficient, particularly for users navigating cross-border travel, remote work, and cultural discovery within Africa?
Understanding the user/market
The initial user and market research was conducted by Kitan (Data) alongside me, we identified five key differentiators through a mix of competitive analysis, surveys, and stakeholder interviews. These insights directly informed our product priorities and design strategy.
The key was to understand what the user needed and how to navigate an already saturated market
Challenges fuels creative thinking
The solution
I led the entire design process, from early ideation and wireframing to high-fidelity UI and sitemaps.
Used prioritization tools like the RICE model to strategically focus on high-impact, MVP-ready features.
Designed a modular system to support future scalability while keeping the initial product lightweight and focused.
Maintained close communication with front end engineers to ensure feasibility and align on system constraints.
Advocated for the user throughout, creating a design framework that balanced exploration, remote work, and trust, even without constant operations leader input
Outcome and Reflections
Working on Navigo was a defining experience in my growth as a product designer. As the sole designer on the project, I navigated everything from user research synthesis and feature prioritization to high-fidelity UI and cross-functional collaboration, all within a fast-moving, resource-limited environment.
The biggest challenge wasn’t just designing a complex platform, it was doing so with ambiguity, limited product input, and a shifting development timeline. This pushed me to lead with clarity, advocate for users, and create a design system that could scale, adapt, and remain intuitive even as the product’s direction evolved.
Next steps
Navigo remains a work in progress, with strong foundations in place for future development. Once resumed, the focus will shift to usability testing, continuous iteration, and refining the experience through direct feedback from digital nomads across Africa.
Navigo is built for impact. The goal is to evolve it into a smart, community-driven platform that simplifies and enhances long-term travel across Africa, one meaningful journey at a time.
