Universal Orlando Resort

Universal Orlando Resort is one of the most complex hospitality and entertainment brands in the world — and the digital experience needed to match that ambition. The engagement I led spanned multiple years and multiple workstreams, touching the full arc of the guest journey from trip planning and booking through in-park operations. What made this engagement distinctive wasn't just the scope — it was the mandate to leave Universal's own design organization stronger and more self-sufficient than we found it.

My role on this engagement was genuinely fluid. On the core booking flow I was both creative lead and individual contributor — doing the strategy, the design work itself, the research and testing, and the stakeholder management simultaneously. I partnered directly with Universal's internal design team, coordinating with third-party consultants from outside firms, and worked across multiple stakeholder groups within the UO organization. I also contributed to the original pitch that won the engagement.

The booking experience was one of the most technically and experientially complex commerce problems I've worked on. On the surface it looked like a ticketing flow. In practice it was a deeply integrated multi-product purchase experience spanning park tickets with layered upsell logic across multiple ticket types, hotel reservations through a Loews Resorts integration, and flight booking — all within a single, coherent guest journey. Every touchpoint had to feel simple to the guest while quietly managing an enormous amount of complexity underneath.

The multi-vendor environment added another dimension. At any given time I was aligning creative and UX decisions across Publicis Sapient's team, Universal's internal designers, and outside consultants from other firms — all with different methodologies, different definitions of quality, and different organizational pressures.

Because I was both leading and contributing, I had to be disciplined about when to be in the work and when to step back and direct it. On the booking flow specifically, being hands-on wasn't optional — the complexity of the integration requirements meant the team needed someone who could think strategically and execute at the same time.

The partnership with Universal's internal design team was something I took seriously from the beginning. Rather than positioning Sapient as the team doing the work while the client watched, I worked to integrate their designers as genuine collaborators — giving them real ownership of decisions, coaching them on how to navigate stakeholder reviews, and building their confidence presenting and defending their work.

The scope extended beyond the guest-facing booking flow to include internal customer service tooling and in-park POS systems for staff managing cabana rentals and reservations at Volcano Bay. These internal tools rarely get the same design attention as consumer-facing products, but they have a direct impact on the guest experience.