TripMinder
A platform designed to simplify travel with integrated features for budgeting, organization, and community engagement.
Contribution: UX/UI, User Research.
Timeline: June 2024 - Sep 2024.
Role: Product Designer.
Results: 54% increase in user satisfaction.
Overview
People travel for adventure, relaxation, or cultural immersion. Yet, after choosing a destination and booking, the stress of planning, organizing, and budgeting often follows, complicating the journey. This project aims to create a product with features designed to address this issue.
Trip is booked, now what?
Problem
Travelers face limited options after booking, as most apps focus on specific features, forcing users to juggle platforms to manage finances, track bookings, and connect with others.
Solution
As lead designer, I created a platform integrating budgeting, organization, and community to simplify travel, manage finances, connect with others, and keep bookings in one place.
Identifying Gaps in Existing Travel Solutions
As part of my initial discovery research, I found that most current options for travelers fall short in various ways:
1. Booking platforms like Expedia, Booking, and Kayak focus only on reservations, requiring travelers to use multiple apps for other needs.
2. Budgeting tools like PocketGuard and YNAB help manage finances but lack travel-specific features, ignoring pre- and post-travel expenses.
3. TripIt is the only travel-specific app found, but it is limited to organization and doesn't offer budgeting or community connection features.
User Interviews
“Budgeting is the most important part because it defines what you can do”
Diego F.
“Traveling solo doesn't mean wanting to be alone all the time; it's about having the choice of when to engage with others.”
Sophia D.
“The challenge with using multiple sources is keeping track of all the bookings and information. It's easy to lose information in different platforms.”
Aria P.
To determine what were the commonalities among travelers and what features I needed to prioritize, I synthesize and organize the data I gathered preliminarily into groups to pinpoint the features that seemed to be crucial and beneficial for travelers.
Insight
After analyzing the gathered data, I was able to categorize the insights into these 3 categories
In my research, I also discovered the need for an introduction to TripMinder services to be able to overcome the challenge that the perception and expectation of travel apps present. Which often tend to prioritize booking functionalities while overlooking the need for post-booking organization tools.
Design
The app went through an iteration process to align with the brand identity. Feedback from travelers made it clear that the budgeting tool needed to take center stage as the app’s main feature. The result is a more visually appealing design with improved intuitiveness, highlighting the budgeting tool and making it easily accessible from the home page.
To overcome the travel app perception challenge, the design also involved an interactive onboarding journey and visual guidance to introduce users to the essential features.
Main Features
Budgeting
The budgeting tool is the heart of the app, designed to help travelers manage their finances before and during their trip effortlessly.
Users can set spending limits, track expenses in real-time, and receive insights to stay on top of their budget.
Community
The community feature connects travelers with a network of like-minded adventurers. Users can create and join groups, share tips, ask questions, and find inspiration for their trip
Folder
The folder tool acts as a digital hub for trip organization. Travelers can store important documents, tickets, reservations, and notes in one place.
Itinerary
The itinerary tool simplifies travel planning by allowing users to create, edit, and visualize their trip schedule in one view.
Future Development
The goal is to continually enhance TripMinder with features that help users streamline their travel planning and management, reducing the need to switch between multiple apps during their trips.