Travelogue
A social travel app that simplifies collaborative planning and makes travel storytelling effortless.
UI/UX Design |HCI - 594 Capstone | Team Nexus (Ashish, Ruth, Scott, Saikrishna)
What I did…!
I led UX design and research efforts: user interviews, journey mapping, card sorting, prototyping, and usability testing. I also contributed to the visual system, onboarding UX, and final presentation delivery.
Duration
10 weeks: January – March 2025
Winter Quarter · Capstone Project
Overview
Travelogue is a mobile app built for modern travelers who want to plan together, capture memories, and explore collaboratively. It merges trip planning, storytelling, and gamification into one intuitive experience.
Impact
✅ 100% task success in onboarding after redesign
✅ 80% of users located offline features with ease
✅ Gamification re-scoped to prioritize collaboration
✅ Presented as a finalist capstone at DePaul’s HCI showcase
Design System & Prototyping
Designed cohesive user flows and visual language.
From research insights to hi-fi prototypes, I contributed to a scalable system for itinerary creation, trip gallery sharing, and cross-user engagement.
The Problem
Travel planning today is scattered, inefficient, and lacks a human-centered design approach.
Modern Travel Planning is Fragmented
People use a patchwork of apps like Google Docs, WhatsApp, and spreadsheets to coordinate itineraries. None integrate planning, collaboration, and sharing seamlessly.
Pain Points
Hard to coordinate group travel in one place
No dedicated space to share and reflect on trip memories
Offline access is rarely supported
Gamified travel apps lack practicality
Onboarding in most apps is confusing or impersonal
What's missing..?
Current platforms offer isolated features itinerary planning or social storytelling but rarely both. Travelogue identifies this gap and seeks to unify them under one app experience.
Research Process
A mutli-method approach to uncover what real travellers need from a planning app.
User Interviews
11 Participants (Ages 18–35)
We interviewed solo and group travelers to understand planning behaviors and pain points.
Key Finding: People valued collaboration more than gamification.
Card Sorting (Optimal Workshop)
6 Participants
Used open card sorting to categorize features.
Helped us shape primary app sections:
Trip Planning
On-Trip Experience
Explore
Usability Testing
Mid-Fi and Hi-Fi tests with 6 users
We observed user flows, tracked errors, and refined:
Onboarding clarity
Collaboration discoverability
Offline accessibility
Defining the Context
We began by identifying real-world trust gaps in household water filtration. Our early desk research included legal reports (e.g., Brita lawsuit), customer reviews, and usage breakdowns of existing pitcher products. This uncovered a clear trend: lack of transparency in filter effectiveness and timing led to low trust and inconsistent maintenance.
Research Objectives
We focused on uncovering both functional frustrations and emotional needs.
We wanted to answer:
How do travelers currently plan group and solo trips?
→ Are tools like Google Docs, WhatsApp, or travel boards enough?What friction points arise when planning collaboratively?
→ How do users manage tasks, documents, and shared decision-making?Where and how do users capture and revisit memories?
→ Are they even motivated to document their trips?Do social and gamified features enhance or distract?
→ What makes travel feel fun, rewarding, or overwhelming?How much do users care about offline access?
→ Is it a convenience or a critical expectation when abroad?
How research Shaped Design
Our research wasn’t just a step — it was a continuous driver that shaped the app’s foundation. Insights from interviews, card sorting, and usability testing influenced multiple layers of the product:
🔁 Navigation Structure
Card sorting exercises exposed how users mentally grouped features — like distinguishing “Trip Planning” from “On-Trip Experiences.” This clarity led us to restructure the app’s bottom nav bar and content categories to match user logic.📴 Offline-First Experience
Offline access was cited as crucial across interviews. Users traveling abroad or into remote areas needed access to documents, itineraries, and checklists without connectivity. This led to the design of a dedicated “Make Available Offline” toggle per trip.📌 Visual Hierarchy of Features
Users prioritized checklists, travel docs, and itinerary over gamification. We elevated these in the dashboard design, placing core trip planning tools above secondary features like social feed and rewards.🎯 Simplified Onboarding with Personalization Hooks
We noticed users were confused about how interest selections impacted their app experience. So we added subtle tooltips and live examples to explain how their choices would personalize suggestions and dashboard widgets.🔄 Iterative Refinement Through Usability Testing
Each test led to tangible design changes: improving the visibility of “Invite to Trip,” rewording confusing CTAs, and adjusting iconography to reduce misclicks. Nothing was final until it passed user validation.
User interviews
11 Participants | Ages 18–35 | 20–30 min sessions
We conducted semi-structured interviews to understand travelers' pain points across solo and group trip planning. The conversations focused on planning behaviors, tool usage, collaboration needs, and expectations from travel apps.
Insights Gathered
Planning a trip with friends takes forever. Everyone shares stuff on different apps.”
“I want to keep a record of where I went and what I saw, but never get around to it.”
“Offline access is a must. I lose service every time I actually need a map.”
“I usually make a Google Doc for the trip and drop links, tickets, and ideas in there.”
“I like the idea of challenges, but only if they lead me to something cool.”
Personas
Our users aren’t just travelers — they’re students, professionals, and nomads with distinct goals and challenges.
Lily Radtke
The Community Explorer
Age 20
"Travel is about stories and sharing them with the people I love."
Background
Lily is a full-time university student who juggles studies, part-time work, and social life. She enjoys planning spontaneous weekend getaways with friends but finds the logistics overwhelming. Most of her trips are budget-conscious and peer-driven.
Goals
Capture and document memories for social media or reflection
Use affordable tools that don’t require premium subscriptions
Easily organize and co-plan short trips with friends
Challenge
Feels anxious navigating multiple planning tools
Often forgets details post-trip due to lack of journaling
Gets lost in group chat clutter and link sharing
Vaibhav G.
Time Strapped Strategist
Age 28
"Give me clean, efficient, and done. I don’t have time to organize chaos."
Background
Vaibhav is a busy software engineer who values structure. He travels twice a year, often with his partner, and prefers pre-built itineraries, clean UIs, and the ability to manage everything in one place — especially when traveling abroad with no Wi-Fi.
Goals
Discover curated, high-quality trip plans
Save all travel documents and bookings in one place
Access content offline without data stress
Challenge
Dislikes unstructured apps and hidden features
Gets frustrated if essential info isn’t accessible offline
Wants a platform that minimizes decision fatigue
Shreya Shetty
The Socail Nomad
Age 25
"Travel is better when it's collaborative, creative, and shared."
Background
Lena is a freelance designer who works remotely while traveling. She often plans group trips for her creative friends and values visual storytelling, shared trip editing, and discovering hidden local spots. She's tech-savvy and active on social platforms.
Goals
Co-edit and coordinate group itineraries seamlessly
Discover offbeat, creative travel spots
Build a visual gallery of every trip with collaborators
Challenge
Struggles when friends are scattered across tools
Finds memory documentation tedious if not intuitive
Needs fluid, mobile-first UX that works on the go
The Solution
Travelogue - A single app to plan, collaborate, and share your journey – online or offline.
Travelogue bridges the gap between travel logistics and memory-making.
It enables collaborative trip planning, real-time itinerary access, offline documentation, and a gentle layer of social gamification — all in one place.
Core Features Overview
Create solo or group trips
Invite friends to co-edit itineraries
Add destinations, tickets, checklists, and documents
Access everything offline
Capture and share travel stories post-trip
Discover hidden local gems through community recommendations
Problem | Solution |
|---|
Fragmented tools |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Design Process
Low Fidelity.
Mid Fidelity.
High Fidelity.
High Fidelity.
Future Opportunities
Smarter recommendations using AI to generate personalized itineraries based on user preferences, location, and travel history
Integrated cost-splitting tools for better group planning transparency
Improved accessibility options for travelers with cognitive or physical challenges
Localized “Explore” tab powered by user-submitted places and community-curated guides
Trip Memory Exports – Generate sharable visual summaries (collages, maps, timelines) at the end of a trip
Reflections
This capstone project taught me the power of designing with clarity and intention. I learned how to prioritize user needs over feature ambition, adapt based on real feedback, and balance aesthetics with utility. From research to refinement, every decision was informed by people’s actual travel experiences. It was a chance to lead UX end-to-end: shaping strategy, synthesizing insights, and building interactions that feel human.
It also deepened my confidence in collaborative product thinking, team dynamics, and embracing iteration as growth not rework.
Ashish Dixit | 2025 | All rights reserved