Liyuan Guo


An Admin-Facing Web Design

For an Equestrian Travel Agency - Galloping Gateways

 Team mate:  Xinrui Zhu, Hao Chuang, Yiran Li, Guang Yang
 Role: Product Design Manager & UX Designer
 Time: 2025
 Tool: Figma










Problem Statement


Post-pandemic, equestrian tourism surged in the U.S., with related topics gaining significant traction on social media. As booking volumes increased, riding agencies faced challenges managing customer data and service providers. Managers needed an efficient system to connect customers with riding service providers, preventing mismatches that could damage business. 

This brings up the challenge: 
How can we effectively and automatically manage the large volume of personalized orders, dynamic itineraries, matching corresponding riding service providers, and fluctuating accommodation prices?

Research  and  Design  Process


Research

01  /Target Market
02 /Research Methodology
03 /Survey Insights
04 /Persona
05 /MVP Prioritization

Target Market 

  • Group Travel Market: The size of the group travel market in the U.S. is huge, creating significant spending and showing positive estimated growth rates. This represents a huge incremental market opportunity.
  • Primary Market: Men and Women aged 26-60 looking for advanced riding vacations
  • Solo Travel Trends: Solo travel has grown beyond a niche market, with Baby Boomers now at the forefront of the trend. Women make up the majority of solo travelers. 
  • Note: While initially focused on customer-facing research, this understanding provides valuable context for developing the admin platform

Research Methodology

  • Analyzed similar platforms for feature sets and booking management systems
  • Conducted surveys with Galloping Gateways management to identify operational needs
  • Identified key administrative requirements and prioritized functionality

Survey Insights

Management needs centered around:

  • Task-specific platform functionality
  • Solutions for handling special customer requests
  • Optimized user experience with minimal learning curve

Persona


MVP  Prioritization

1. Must Have

  • Itinerary Management
  • Booking Management
  • Customer Management

2. Should Have

  • Team Collaboration
  • Data Analytics & Reporting

3. Nice to Have

  • Automated Notifications & Reminders
  • Personalized Recommendations



Design
01 /sketch wireframe

02 /color palette

03 /prototype

Sketch Wireframe




 

Color Palette


 

Prototype



Reflection and Summary


This project is my first experience designing an admin-facing platform, which presented unique challenges compared to customer-facing websites. The research phase proved particularly difficult as we couldn't directly access competitors' admin interfaces or easily observe real users interacting with similar systems.

Despite these obstacles, we leaned heavily on persistent iteration and collaboration—including meetings with the Galloping Getaways manager and our professor—to navigate the design process. The Figma prototype we've developed represents our vision for a streamlined, intuitive admin interface that addresses the specific needs of equestrian tour operators managing complex bookings with unique customer requirements.

Learnings from this project include:

  • The importance of understanding the underlying business operations before designing administrative tools
  • How to conduct effective research when direct competitive analysis isn't possible
  • The importance of feature prioritization when designing complex systems
  • How administrative interfaces differ fundamentally from customer-facing websites in both design philosophy and technical requirements