How might we...

simplify the decision making process for trip planning?


streamline the communication process?

Insight

It can be difficult to find something that meets everyone’s preferences and some people don’t respond as often

Insight

People don’t communicate or they lose interest too easily

Insight

It’s hard to get everyone on the same page most of the time.

Insight

People don’t respond fast, some people have potential conflicts so it takes a while to get those sorted out.

How might we...

gather everyone’s preferences for

trip activities?


include everyone in the trip

planning process?

Insight

It's difficult to get everyone on board for the same things sometimes. And budget is also very hard to control.

Insight

it can be difficult to get people to commit and to find activities that everyone planning to go will enjoy.

Insight

Can be difficult to make sure that everyone is interested in going.

Insight

Ppl got different priorities/interest as well as some ppl don’t got any license so they gonna be a passenger princess

Insight

I think the hardest thing about group trips is getting everyone’s equal participation in planning it. Without everyone sharing their input, it’s hard to decide on activities that will satisfy everyone without feeling like I’m planning the trip all by myself.

Insight

Usually involves a lot of back and forth, especially if it’s a bigger group. Finding things that we’ll all like doing is often difficult. Tracking and splitting expenses had been a hassle without spreadsheets. But I use wanderlog now to make the itinerary and track expenses.

How might we...

split costs efficiently amongst different activities?

How might we...

coordinate everybody’s schedules efficiently?

Insight

people are usually pretty down to go on group trips, the process of planning it just gets a little tedious when it comes to who is driving, how the costs are going to be split, a possible itinerary for the day, etc. personally i think would be nice for a trip planning app to take into account all the expenses of a trip and split an itemized bill evenly among all trip-goers to streamline the process; maybe this could include hypothetical in-app integration with airlines, uber, airbnb, restaurants, etc !

Insight

I feel as though I’m one of the main people planning trips out. It’s not exactly an issue but the main issues really come down to cost, transportation, and timing.

Insight

most difficult part is organizing rides, sending out deposits, and sending reminders for other payments (gas, airbnb, etc.), and making sure everyone is on the same page. itinerary is the easier part!

Insight

Only Finding time and scheduling is hard.

Insight

Difficult to find a time when everyone is free

Insight

Sometimes coordinating group trips can be difficult trying to accommodate everyone's different schedules or the different types of activities/food that everyone wants to try.

Literature Review Goals

Understanding the problem space of “vacationing” and “trip planning”

Identify gaps in research to inform the next steps in user research

Understand the current knowledge of users about travel planning

User Research Goals

Identify what platforms students are currently using to plan trips.

Understand the current user journey of trip planning and post-trip logistics.

Identify potential pain points of the current trip planning process.

1

2

3

How might we...

create a mobile application that streamlines the communication of trip plans, engages all trip attendees in decision making, and simplifies the trip planning process?

Moving into Figma

Round 1

Mid fidelity & User Testing

Round 2

High fidelity designs

Design Standards

We integrated a play on words with traveling to a planet” and “plan it”. This prompted our galaxy

color palette and overall theme.

Normal

Bold

Inter

PlanIT

#272626

Background

#84DBDD

Brand 1

#A5ABEC

Brand 2

#F7BFC5

Brand 3

#3C3939

Accent

#F5F1EA

Text

LOGO

TYPOGRAPHY

COLORS

Replaced messaging tab with notifications --> moved messaging to a button in home page


Messaging is faster and easier for the user to access


Notifications tab guides the user throughout the app and encourages user to interact with more features

Notifications

Summarizes trip, making official information easily accessible for all parties

“Group to do” and “Trip Summary” tab switched, making “Trip Summary” furthest right --> makes distinction between categories more intuitive

Make a Trip

Downsized from 3 to 2 tabs in order to highlight the most important information: personal itineraries and saved itineraries.


Past itineraries are displayed on profile, while future trips are displayed on Home Page


Allows for more intuitive organization



Itineraries can be displayed publicly or privately to others

Profile Page

Clarified the difference between filters and categories


Serves for an overall less confusing navigation experience

Filters are displayed in search bar when applied, while categories are displayed in large headings

Discover

Narrowing down features

Building an app for such a broad prompt with so many pain points and possible features was a challenge. We learned to start small and prioritize according to the amount of time we had to design.

Scheduling meetings

A big challenge was scheduling time to work together. We had to learn to delegate tasks during syncs and keep each other accountable to present deliverables every week.

Challenges

Narrowing down features

Building an app for such a broad prompt with so many pain points and possible features was a challenge. We learned to start small and prioritize according to the amount of time we had to design.

Scheduling meetings

A big challenge was scheduling time to work together. We had to learn to delegate tasks during syncs and keep each other accountable to present deliverables every week.

Challenges

What I learned

What I learned

How to do a case study

As this was my first full length UX design project, I definitely got a better grasp of fundamental skills and the overall organizational process.

Collaborating with designers

I was able to work with designers of various levels of experiences and specialities. Learning to cater towards our strengths and goals definitely benefited the team.

Reflecting back...

Understanding the

problem space

Literature review

Competitive Analysis

User survey

User interviews

3

4

2

1

Trip Planning App

Oct-Dec 2023

The challenge

Develop a mobile application that enables users to effortlessly plan memorable trips.

The award

Awarded Most Innovative UX

Describes the overarching features of the app, rather than letting users go in blind

Introduces and eases users into the app, leading to a smoother and less

confusing experience

Onboarding

The mission

Our mission is to help users launch their plans for

out-of-this-world trips.

PlanIT

Role

UI/UX Designer

Duration

3 months

Tools

Figma and FigJam

Team

4 UI/UX Designers

PlanIT

Launch your plans into reality.

Findings

Key Insights

42% of Gen Z cite TikTok as a place to learn most about travel destinations

Global travelers plan to take more short getaways (≤3 nights) than longer vacations (>3 nights) in the next

12 months

Overnight trips have increased by 7% and day trips have increased by 20%

Overnight and day trips seem to be gaining more popularity

Marketing for certain places causes curiosity and excitement (people see New York on TikTok, they want to go there next)

Seeing what’s out there

Road Trip Planner

Wanderlog

Expedia

Reddit

Surveys

63%

26%

of students are highly interested in going on trips with friends

say their plans make it out of the

group chat

Interviews

“Sometimes it’s hard to get everyone to find common ground when deciding on activities”

“Usually one person does the planning and delegate tasks”

“[Currently uses] iMessage or a texting platform” to plan trips

Communication

Finding Activities

Scheduling

Splitting Costs

It is difficult to get everyone on the same page and there can be a lot of confusion regarding trip details.

Expenses add up from all parts of the trip and can get quite confusing, and easily lost in the group chat.

 It is difficult to find a time that works for everyone’s busy schedules, especially in larger group settings.

Oftentimes, 1–2 people end up planning the entire trip. With a lack of participation in trip planning, not everyone is as ecstatic for

the trip.

Synthesizing Pain Points

Onboarding

Didn’t understand the purpose of pop up frames

Intimidated by having to make concrete decisions so quickly

Planning a Trip

Enjoyed the columns to separate tasks

Confused with the itinerary page

Unclear on knowing when the trip is fully finalized

Past, Current, Upcoming

Enjoyed seeing current trips on the home page

Mixed up the difference between the two map icons

Thought the layout could be more concise

Discover

Confused about the positioning of save button

Wondered the difference between “day trip” vs “for you” icons

Curious as to where discover content was coming from

Messaging and Notifications

Appreciated a messaging feature to communicate with other attendees

Mentioned that messaging might not be helpful as they don’t plan trips often

Say hi!

Want to chat? Contact me through

Keep in touch.

I hope you had a lovely time! Here’s a gift on the way out

Say hi!

Want to chat? Contact me through

Keep in touch.

I hope you had a lovely time! Here’s a gift on the way out