What Is AfterHours
What Is After Hours
Afterhours is a dining reservation app designed to help users discover and book upscale dining locations, hotel restaurants, and gourmet delicacies in urban areas.
Find the Perfect Spot, Every Time
We offer a vast variety of restaurants, but our powerful filtering system makes finding the right one simple. Users can instantly filter by cuisine, price, and specific occasion from a romantic date to a large group dinner to pinpoint the perfect venue that matches any context or need. As the product designer, I tackled the "paradox of choice" by designing filters for real-world user intent, like 'Occasion.' I kept the powerful interface simple using progressive disclosure, enabling users to effortlessly find the perfect restaurant for any situation.
Designing for Confident Decisions
To create a seamless user flow, I integrated all essential data directly into the restaurant profiles. This includes interactive menus, verified user reviews, and rich photo galleries. Providing this complete picture in one place builds user confidence and reduces the need to navigate away, directly increasing booking conversions.
The Interactive Map View
To simplify user decisions, I designed an interactive map view showing all our partner restaurants across the Netherlands. It allows users to instantly visualize their options, understand proximity, and explore neighborhoods in cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, turning discovery into a simple, context-rich experience.
The Afterhours Design System
I developed a scalable design system for Afterhours to increase efficiency and ensure a world-class user experience. This library of reusable, accessible components and clear guidelines directly led to faster development cycles, perfect UI consistency, and dramatically improved collaboration between design and development.
01 — Research & discovery
Diners
User frustration
Complex booking flows, hidden fees and a lack of real-time availability.
Partners
Partner needs
Restaurants sought tools for capacity optimization. Hotels were eager to find a solution for surplus food from their dining rooms.
Market
Market gap
Competitive analysis showed an opportunity to differentiate by integrating sustainability with a simplified, transparent booking experience.
02 — Design & solution
Streamlined booking
Search
→
Select
→
Confirm
Eco-friendly dining
“Surplus Meals” let users book high-quality, discounted meals from hotel partners, directly addressing food waste.
AI-powered personalization
Recommendations based on user history and preferences, with robust filters for cuisine, dietary needs and eco-friendly options.
Strong design system
A modular, mobile-first design system for a consistent, scalable and accessible user experience.
03 — Outcomes
Booking drop-offs
Thanks to the simplified flow and transparent policies.
Increased engagement
Driven by personalized recommendations and unique eco-friendly dining options.
Stronger partnerships
Successful collaboration with restaurant and hotel partners, improving their efficiency and reducing food waste.
In summary
A mobile-first, 3-step booking flow built on a scalable, WCAG-compliant design system. We prioritized user trust with real-time availability, transparent pricing and visually highlighted eco-friendly dining options, then refined it all through iterative testing.
Mobile-first
3-step booking
WCAG-compliant
Real-time availability
Transparent pricing
