Designing Cross-Plaform Car Tour Experience in Zoo Safari Parks
During the summer 2024, I took on a concept project to shape the cross-platform car tour experience in zoo safari parks via car display & mobile app platforms from 0 to 1.
As the lead product designer on the team, I worked with two entry-level designers and mentored them on the end-to-end research and design. I also led the product strategy, information architecture & user flows, wireframed and prototyped 80+ screens, owned the design system, and co-facilitated the user testings.
This project has been won multiple international awards in Product Design / UX at the MUSE Design Awards and Indigo Design Award 2025.
Role
Team
Platforms
Timeframe
1. Overview
Introducing SafariRoam Guide
Problem Statement
Reimagining Transportation in Zoo Safari Parks
The zoo is popular with busy shuttle buses, but there are several unmet transportation needs from different visitor groups:
Solution
A Car Tour Service in zoo safari parks
Powered by self-driving technology, our product streamlines the safari park journey from planning through post-visit, creating a more seamless and enjoyable adventure for families and friends.
Our product consists of two interconnected platforms:
Phone App: From booking and route planning to capturing memories and sharing experiences
Car HMI System: Real-time wildlife information and guided tour navigation for an immersive safari experience
Impact
Measuring the Effectiveness of the Design
Our product has achieved global acclaim - it has received recognition at multiple international design competitions, including:
MUSE Design Awards 2025: 🏆 x 1 (Silver Winner in Product Design)
Indigo Design Award 2025: 🏆 x 2 (Silver Winner in UX, Interface & Navigation; Silver Winner in Interactive Design)
For our product demo, please see below:
Through iterative user testings, we gathered qualitative feedbacks, showing our system successfully engaging visitors in the zoo experience, achieving our design goals. We have also gathered quantitative metrics showing high usability and user satisfaction for our product:
Good
Usability Score
8%
increase
Usability after iterations
40%
User Recommendation Rate
2. Research & Scoping
An Opportunity to Create a Better Car Tour Experience for Families in Zoo Safari Parks
Specifying the Scope
The Full Journey in Zoo Safari Parks
We are interested in the user experience before, during, and after the car tour.
While the definition what a zoo safari park entails can differ across regions and cultures, our design focuses on both the zoo exhibition area and the safari park:
In the zoo exhibition area, vehicles drop off the tourists at each stop.
In the safari park, tourists stay on the vehicle for the whole time while interacting with / observing the animals.
Competitive Analysis
Autonomous Vehicle Integration for Enhanced Wildlife Experience
After analyzing industry leaders (Zoox, Waymo) and benchmarked facilities (San Diego Zoo, Zoo Atlanta), we decided to adopt the following specs and protocols to create a passenger-centric design with enhanced visitor experience and optimized animal interaction safety.
Identifying the Primary Market Segment
Targeting Families as the Primary Users
We conducted interviews with 10 participants, all of whom have visited zoo safari parks in the past 2 years. Our participants were diverse in terms of age groups, family composition, travel preferences, etc.
We ultimately decided to focus on families for two reasons:
1) Families represent a diverse group with varying needs, including children, adults, and elderly. This can make our product more versatile.
2) Targeting families can lead to long-lasting customer relationships because it has the opportunity to create loyal customers across generations.
Identifying the Key Pain Points
Examining the User Journey
Based on user interviews, we identified the following pain points throughout the journey:
Before Trip: Difficult to plan and customize the tour schedule
During Tip: Safety concerns about animals and passengers; Distracted from the view by the central display; Trust issues between self-driving vehicle and users; Too much hassle reserving the car again; Hard to plan a temporary destination
After Trip: Concerns about budget, privacy, and efficiency for getting follow-up features
Design Strategies
Autonomous Vehicle Integration for Enhanced Wildlife Experience
Catering to our user needs and goals, we based our designs on the following design goals:
Since families represent a diverse group with varying needs, our design adopts an equity-based approach. We design for people with physical disabilities, people who lack driving skills or experience, as well as people with different learning styles.
3. Ideation, Design, Iteration
How might we create a trustworthy, engaging, and equity-based self-driving car tour experience in zoo safari parks for families?
Context
The Minibus where Our Car Displays Live
We decided to focus on small cars that can fit around 6-7 people, suitable for families. The minibus comes installed with car displays, external cameras, as well as reserved space for wheelchair and ADA ramp.
Feature Prioritization
Key Features
Based on brainstorming, competitive analysis, and user insights, we prioritized the key features, including route recommendation, virtual tour guidance, interactive navigation map, etc.
Creating a Streamlined User Experience
Virtual Tour Guidance & Interactive Navigation Map
Through iterations, I created a navigation system that lets families focus on enjoying animals rather than figuring out where to go next. The final design features:
Comprehensive map showing routes, stops, and timing
Simple toggle between tour guide and navigation views
Clear park overview with highlighted next stop information
Information Architecture
Designing Clear Navigation within the System
To design the navigation bar for our rider-focused auto HMI system, we analyzed competitor layouts and information architecture. However, we weren't able to find a good reference due to limited car HMI design guidelines.
During critiques, we had conflicting ideas despite each being well-reasoned. To resolve this, I recruited 20+ participants in one day and conducted rapid card sorting to understand user mental models. This quick testing played a key role in helping ensure a clean and intuitive design for the navigation bar as well as the logic behind the platforms.
Building Trust and Ensuring Safety
Car Controls and Help Center
The final car control page featured clear visual status indicators and animated feedback, whereras the Help Center page prioritized emergency buttons, prominent SOS function, and location-aware map for staff assistance. These simplified interfaces align with user expectations and enhance safety in our autonomous zoo vehicles.
UI Style Exploration
Creating Playful and Consistent Designs
We created multiple versions for our system, exploring various UI styles. We ultimately set on a final design that is clean, trustworthy, fun, and rider-centered.
As we finalized our visual style, I created design guidelines for color, text, and layout, and I created a sheet of components. This helped ensure consistency across our designs.
4. Reflection
Learnings & Next Steps
Learnings
Rapid prototyping and Lean Research
During the frequent design critiques within the team, I had many discussions with the team around design decisions. To make sure that our designs could achieve the desired outcomes, I took the chance to conducted rapid prototyping and lean research for insights when misalignments arose.
Next Steps
Realistic User Testing and Business Collaboration
Our prototype evaluations included testings on computers and ipads, with introduction to the zoo safari park scenario. If conditions permit, we would like to test on cars displays and phone devices, and we may also show virtual zoo background to help users better immerse in the scenario context.
Beyond the user traction, we would also like to gauge the potential of collaborating with businesses to launch this into the market.