The initial phase of the project was focused on understanding the needs of the primary client (i.e., AnswerLab) as well as the secondary client (i.e., global tech company) in order to frame how best to deliver value to both. This was conducted through stakeholder interviews and onboarding workships, and supported by secondary research focused on establishing a keen understanding of the market realities impacting the work of both clients.

The UX research was conducted remotely via video calls, which were livestreamed to an unlisted YouTube channel thereby facilitating client observation without disrupting the research process. Hour-long in-depth interviews were conducted with over 20 participants in order to understand on a macro level their preferences with respect to online travel research before honing in on investigating their perceptions of the client's existing offerings and prototypes of potential future offerings on a micro level. The client was debriefed at the end of each day with top-line learnings, which were also summarized in end-of-week reports presented during project team meetings. Insights from this research informed the improvement of existing service offerings as well as to assist in the ideation of future products and services.

Learnings from the in-depth interviews were translated into actionable design principles in order to inform improvements of the digital products across form, function, and usability. These principles were synthesized from the research data using a variety of design activities (e.g., affinity mapping) on a virtual whiteboard before being translated into a presentation deck. A read-out of this deck was provided to key internal client stakeholders, as well as recorded for posterity purposes and sharing with wider audiences via YouTube.