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Designing tiket.com’s Global Search: from zero to an inspiring discovery experience
Overview
We built tiket.com’s first Global Search from scratch — transforming a simple search function into an experience that helps users explore destinations, find inspiration, and plan their next journey seamlessly.
My Role
Product Designer & Researcher
Timeline
Mar 2021 - May 2021 (3 months)
Benchmarking and Research
At tiket.com, users could book almost anything — flights, hotels, events, and more — but there was no single place to find or explore them all.
We conducted a competitive analysis across major OTAs to understand user expectations and behaviors around search and discovery.
We found two main user objectives:
Direct Search: Users who already know what they want (e.g., “Flights to Bali”).
Exploratory Search: Users seeking inspiration or options (e.g., “Romantic getaway” or “Weekend ideas”).
This insight guided us to build a flexible search system that caters to both clear intent and open exploration.
Keyword analysis
To understand search behavior further, we analyzed popular keywords users often search for across tiket.com’s product verticals — from flights, hotels, events, to car rentals.
We grouped them into three levels of importance:
Very Important: frequent, high-intent searches like destinations or travel dates.
Important: semi-specific keywords such as “staycation” or “cheap flights.”
Less Important: rare or brand-related terms.
This keyword mapping helped the team prioritize content and system behavior during the design phase, ensuring the most relevant results appear first.
This insight shifted our focus:
we wanted to build a search experience that not only helps users perform direct searches but also encourages exploration — while surfacing relevant, reliable offers that match their interests.
Understanding User Intent & Creating Framework
From our research and behavioral data, we found that users approach search with two distinct mindsets:
Direct Searchers – They know exactly what they’re looking for, such as “Flight to Bali” or “Hotel in Jakarta.”
Explorers – They don’t have a specific plan yet, and instead use search to get inspired, browse ideas, or see deals.
Recognizing these two objectives was crucial. It helped us design a system that adapts to both — supporting users who come with intent, and guiding those who come to explore.
Framework
To improve cross-functional collaboration and streamline decision-making, I introduced a framework called Diamond.
It defines the user flow and team alignment in three clear stages:
Starting – Understanding user context and entry points (where they begin their journey).
Exploring – Surfacing inspiration, suggestions, and relevant recommendations.
Finding – Delivering accurate and reliable search results that lead to action.
This framework became the foundation for our design and development discussions, aligning design, engineering, and data teams under a shared vision.
Design Proposal
Once the research and framework were clear, we started designing the new Global Search experience.
Our proposal included two main directions — before and after the Discover project — to show how the system could evolve over time.
Entry point
We designed a rotating search bar on the homepage using alternating texts related to our slogan and product verticals: “Staycation in Bandung,” “Events in Jakarta,” “Flight to Surabaya,” and more — sparking curiosity and encouraging exploration from the start.
Search landing page
A new Global Search landing page was introduced, combining search + discovery.
It surfaces recommendations even before typing, such as trending destinations, curated categories, and dynamic deals.
Typing Experience
We tested how the system behaves as users type three letters, full destinations, or facility codes (like airport or station codes).
Each stage was compared to direct competitors to ensure faster response, accuracy, and relevant ranking.
Type facility name compared with direct competitor
