Budapestinfo Where city identity meets usability and revenue
The full UX and UI redesign of Budapest’s official tourism and information platform and its city card webshop, a major revenue source for the municipality.
- Budapest Brand
- Budapest Brand / Municipality of Budapest
- 2021-2022
- Digital Product Designer, sole designer on the project
Context
Budapest Brand was the official tourism, cultural and marketing organisation of the City of Budapest. budapestinfo.hu was its public face: the city’s official tourism and information platform.
The site also carried the Budapest Card webshop, a major revenue source for the agency within the municipality at more than HUF 500 million a year. I started at Budapest Brand as an external consultant and joined the Digital Division full-time in July 2021, responsible for redesigning both.
- HUF 500M+
Challenge
The platform had to serve tourists, residents and the Budapest Card sales funnel equally well, under strict technical, legal and financial constraints.
The work meant rethinking the content architecture from the ground up, designing responsive event pages, and aligning the visual identity with the updated Budapest Card brand.
Two critical problems emerged early. Broken English copy was actively undermining user trust, and the purchase flow was driving significant cart abandonment. Both became immediate priorities.
My role
I led the full UX and UI redesign of the platform and its integrated city card webshop. As the sole designer, supported by an external mentor, I owned the entire process: from research and concept through handoff and stakeholder coordination.
Approach
We began with a thorough diagnosis rather than with screens.
- User data analysis and data-driven behaviour research
- Competitive review
- Structured interviews across marketing, tourism and card sales
- A revised information architecture, sitemap and menu logic
- A purchase flow redesigned end to end, based on abandonment data
Collaboration
The redesign ran through five internal departments and three IT partners, with a small cross-functional core team for SEO, copy and project management.
I conducted stakeholder interviews with marketing, sales and management, and facilitated workshops on UX copy and content strategy. External collaborators helped reshape the information architecture and content strategy.
Sales, marketing and development teams stayed aligned throughout the rollout.
Design
A complete visual and structural rework: a restructured information architecture, a streamlined purchase flow, and a fresh voice aligned with the updated brand.
- Updated iconography and clearer calls to action
- Fully interactive card components
- A recurring sales promotion section to drive ongoing engagement
- Visual rebranding aligned with the city’s brand book
- Designed for performance within backend and point-of-sale limitations
Outcome
A cleaner, faster, lighter experience that met business, branding and legal requirements - and a webshop that kept trading throughout the relaunch.
- Legacy backend and point-of-sale systems integrated without downtime
- Uninterrupted operations after launch
- Brand tone and sales support elevated through UX copywriting
- The digital foundation for later city-wide platforms, including Budapest’s first official mobile app
Reflection
Navigating technical resistance and organisational constraints required as much diplomacy as design skill.
I consider it my main achievement that I convinced the decision makers to begin with a phase of research and user feedback before heading into UX and UI design.
I learned how to navigate competing interests, and how to advocate and stand up for design as a core, measurable value among wide-ranging needs and aims. It meant setting sail with winds blowing from art direction, management, marketing and development all at once, while meeting the legal, financial and technical criteria that public authorities work under.