Mobile UX/UI · Interaction design · AI-assisted workflow
British Swim School
Redesigning the “Manage an absence” flow so parents can report an absence and book a makeup lesson faster, with less guesswork.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
3 days
Platform
Mobile app
Tools
Figma, Figma Make, ChatGPT
Try the interactive prototype ↗
Projected impact of the redesign
~35%
Faster task discovery, with less hesitation about where to begin
~40%
Fewer navigation steps between reporting an absence and booking a makeup
~60%
Faster lesson search, with far less scrolling
01 — The challenge
The feature existed. Using it took too much effort.
Parents use the British Swim School app to report absences and schedule makeup lessons.
The functionality was there, but the experience asked too much of them: several screens to navigate, unclear labels to interpret, and no clear confirmation, so parents had to check manually that their booking had gone through.
Goal
Make reporting an absence and scheduling a makeup lesson faster, clearer and easier.
User pain points
✕ Complex navigation
✕ Weak visual hierarchy
✕ Unclear system feedback
✕ Inefficient lesson search
✕ High cognitive load
✕ Manual verification
Design opportunities
→ Prioritize primary actions
→ Simplify the user flow
→ Improve confirmation states
→ Add smart filters
→ Reduce navigation steps
→ Strengthen information hierarchy
Business goals
✓ Improve task completion
✓ Reduce user friction
✓ Simplify navigation
✓ Increase booking confidence
✓ Improve the parent experience
✓ Modernize the mobile UX
02 — Process
From discovery to a clear, testable flow in three days.
Discovery
System thinking
Experience mapping
Design
Solution
Methods
UX audit
Object-oriented design
Epic & user stories
Design mapping
Low-fidelity wireframing
Deliverables
Object model
Design map
User flow
Low-fidelity wireframes
UX recommendations
03 — System thinking
Mapping the objects parents actually deal with.
Using object-oriented UX, I identified the key objects in the experience and how they relate, so the flow could be built around what parents are really managing.
04 — Define
One epic, seven user stories.
Epic
Manage an absence as a parent.
User stories
Submit an absence
Receive confirmation
Schedule a makeup lesson
Find an available lesson
Filter by location
Confirm the booking
Verify the booking in My Account
05 — Design
From design maps to wireframes.
I translated each user story into a design map that captured:
User actions
Questions
Assumptions
Design ideas
Reporting an absence
Booking a makeup lesson
Low-fidelity wireframes
06 — AI-assisted workflow
Moving faster with AI, with design judgment in the lead.
I used ChatGPT and Figma Make to speed up ideation, UX documentation, wireframing and prototyping. That cut design time by an estimated 50–70% and left more room to iterate and explore.
I led
The audit, the object model, the user stories and every design decision.
AI assisted
Ideation, documentation, first-draft wireframes and the clickable prototype.
I decided
Reviewed, refined and checked each output before it moved forward.
07 — Outcome
Fewer steps, clearer choices, a confident booking.
✓ About 35% faster task discovery, with less hesitation about where to begin
✓ About 40% fewer navigation steps, and fewer abandoned tasks between reporting an absence and booking a makeup
✓ About 60% faster lesson search, with much less scrolling
These figures are projections based on the redesigned flow. The next step would be to validate them with parents through usability testing.
Try the interactive prototype ↗08 — The takeaway
When a project gets complicated, structure keeps me focused.
What I learned
Complex projects can get overwhelming fast. You’re balancing user needs, technical constraints and a long list of design details, all at once. Working through the three levels of object-oriented design helped me stay focused and move, step by step, from abstract ideas to practical solutions I could actually test.
Three levels, one clear path
01 · Essential
Define the core concepts in the user’s world and how they connect, before thinking about screens.
02 · Specification
Shape those concepts into structure: the views, actions and details that bring clarity to the design.
03 · Implementation
Bring it all together in full detail, as visual prototypes and working solutions.
Next case study