Case Study
Role: Product Design Lead
Client: RCRC / KSA Government
Timeline: 6 months
Platforms: iOS/Android
One app. Every experience.
Designed a single platform that replaces every touchpoint
of a city visit discovery, booking, transport, payments, navigation, and loyalty all from one place.
Built separate but connected journeys for residents exploring their city and tourists planning their entire trip to Riyadh from scratch.
I proposed and designed an AI assistant that replaced manual trip planning entirely asking the right questions and building a personalised itinerary automatically based on user preferences.
The Problem
The client came with a clear vision but no defined product direction. Riyadh was growing rapidly as a global destination hosting world-class events, attractions, and experiences but visitors had no single platform to plan, navigate, and experience the city. Everything was fragmented across multiple apps, websites, and manual processes.
The challenge wasn't just designing an app. It was defining what a modern city experience platform needed to be.
A visitor planning a trip to Riyadh had to juggle separate apps for transport, ticketing, hotel booking, restaurant discovery, and navigation. There was no single source of truth, no unified pass, and no intelligent layer to make sense of it all.
The first and most critical design decision was defining the product architecture what belonged in the app, how the features connected, and how to make the experience feel effortless for someone who had never visited Riyadh before.
Challenges & Constraints
I had to design and deliver a complete city super-app covering discovery, AI planning, transport, ticketing, AR navigation, payments, and loyalty within a single project timeline. One of the biggest challenges was making an enormously feature rich platform feel simple and effortless for a first-time visitor who had never been to Riyadh and had no prior context.
Every feature had to earn its place. Too much complexity and the app becomes overwhelming. Too little and it doesn't deliver on the promise of replacing every other app a visitor might need.
Feature Depth Without Overwhelm
Designing an app with flight booking, AR navigation, AI planning, 3D venue previews, eSIM activation, and city pass management all without making it feel cluttered or confusing.
Two Distinct User Mindsets
Residents and tourists come to the app with completely different goals, contexts, and levels of familiarity with the city. Both journeys needed to feel equally native.
AI Integration Uncharted Brief
The AI assistant wasn't in the original brief. I proposed it, defined its scope, and designed the entire conversational flow which meant building something with no existing reference point within the project.
One Pass. Every Touchpoint
Designing a single City Pass QR system that worked seamlessly across hotels, attractions, transport, and restaurants required deep thinking about edge cases, error states, and trust signals at every scan point.
Understanding
user needs
Journey Mapping Across
Two User Types
I mapped the end-to-end journey for both residents and tourists. Each journey had completely different entry points, motivations, and friction points.
A resident already knows the city and wants quick access to events and services. A tourist is starting from zero and needs the app to think for them.
Insight:
Tourists didn't struggle with wanting to explore Riyadh they struggled with not knowing where to start.
The moment the app took the decision making burden away through AI planning and swipe-based discovery, the path from open app
to confirmed itinerary became frictionless.
Key Insights
Tourists want to experience everything Riyadh has to offer without spending hours planning, switching apps, or worrying about logistics.
Zero Planning Friction
AI builds a personalised itinerary automatically no research, no decision fatigue, no manual booking
One Pass for Everything
A single City Pass QR code covers hotels, attractions, transport, and restaurants no cash, no switching apps
Discover Without Thinking
Swipe-based discovery lets users find and save experiences instinctively the same way they browse social media
Building a
Unified Experience
Design Strategy:
Define a product architecture that could house an enormous range of features AI planning, AR navigation, 3D venue previews, transport booking, eSIM activation, loyalty points while maintaining a single coherent experience that never felt overwhelming. Every feature had to connect logically to the next, guiding the user naturally from discovery through to payment and beyond.
Outcome:
A single super-app that replaced every fragmented touchpoint of a Riyadh city visit from pre-arrival planning to post-visit feedback built around an AI core that made the entire experience feel personal, effortless, and intelligent.
Applied Design Principles
Every screen was designed to make a complex, feature-rich platform feel intuitive and effortless whether a first-time tourist was planning their itinerary from abroad or a resident was booking a last-minute experience across the city.
Clarity Through Intelligent
Defaults
The AI and interest-based personalisation meant users never faced a blank screen. Every entry point was pre-loaded with relevant content, reducing cognitive load from the very first interaction.
Consistent Experience
Across Every Feature
From swipe cards to 3D maps to AR navigation a unified design language and shared component library ensured every feature felt like it belonged to the same product regardless of how technically different each one was underneath.
Trust at Every Transaction
Every payment, scan, and booking interaction was designed with visible confirmation, clear feedback, and plain language making users feel confident handing over their entire city experience to one app.
Designed for Effortless City Exploration
Application Screens
