JourneyGo is a fun, gamified app designed in a one-week sprint to simplify group trip planning for young adults.
JourneyGo
Group Trips, Made Simple & Fun.
PROCESS
Design Sprint: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, Iterate
ROLE
Product Designer
TOOLS
Zoom, Figma, Slack
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Planning a group trip is often chaotic. With too many options and no clear way to decide, discussions quickly turn into endless debates. Most travel apps only focus on booking flights or hotels, leaving the real challenge—group coordination—unsolved. As a result, trips feel harder to plan, decisions drag on, and the process becomes stressful instead of fun.
SOLUTION STATEMENT
JourneyGo simplifies the chaos of group trip planning through a gamified and collaborative experience. By transforming indecision into fun interactions like “Swipe Battle,” the app helps groups reach quick, engaging decisions while keeping the process stress-free and enjoyable.
Secondary Research
While conducting secondary research, I focused on the psychology behind group decision-making and travel coordination. I discovered that one of the most common challenges is getting everyone to commit to shared decisions.
Key Findings
People are more likely to commit when decisions are made through interactive and participatory experiences.
Travel and lifestyle apps that use gamification report significantly higher levels of user engagement.
📊 48% of studies show that incorporating gamified decision-making increases overall user participation and satisfaction.
📈 54% of users are more likely to try and stick with an app that uses gamification, helping boost retention and brand loyalty.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS & THE GAP
TARGET AUDIENCE &
USER PERSONAS
Who Will Use This App?
Primary age 20-35
Frequent travelers, friend groups, family trips planners
User Personas
Spontaneous traveler who enjoys fun, hassle-free trip planning but struggles with group decisions.
Sarah Kim: Organized planner who values structure but wants an easier way to gather group input.
INSIGHTS & ANALYSIS
Theme 1: Collaboration
Theme 2: Engagement
Theme 3: Structure
Users want a way to vote and decide easily.
Decision-making should be fun, not frustrating.
A structure but intuitive experience is needed.
Group input should be quick and seamless.
Interactive elements keep users engaged.
Clear navigation prevents confusion.
A shared decision-making process reduces conflict.
A playful approach makes planning more enjoyable.
Users want guidance without feeling restricted.
USER FLOW
Creating user flows helped me understand how I wanted each screen to be laid out to guide users in completing their tasks.
SKETCHING
Sketching helped me bring the app’s user flows to life. During this process, I developed a clear vision for the app’s look and feel — modern and minimalistic.
USABILITY TESTING & KEY DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS (1st Round)
I conducted the first of three usability testing rounds to refine JourneyGo’s design. This round uncovered user pain points that led to my first set of design improvements. These early insights guided meaningful updates that enhanced clarity, usability, and engagement.
Clearer Onboarding Experience
Before → After
Why This Change?
Switching to a gradient color scheme adds visual depth and modern appeal, making the interface more dynamic and engaging. This subtle change enhances user experience by creating a contemporary look and helping content stand out.
Modernized Visual Style
Before → After
Why This Change?
Switching to a gradient color scheme adds visual depth and modern appeal, making the interface more dynamic and engaging. This subtle change enhances user experience by creating a contemporary look and helping content stand out.
Enhanced Readability on Interest Selection
Before → After
Why This Change?
I changed the background to a gradient because the city background made the typography hard to read, with the words not standing out clearly. The gradient simplifies the design, ensuring better readability and maintaining a smooth visual flow without overwhelming the content.
USABILITY TESTING & REDESIGN (2nd Round)
To evaluate how users navigate and complete tasks in the app, I conducted usability testing with real users. Their feedback helped uncover key pain points around navigation, clarity, and visual consistency.
Users suggested adding a back button, improving typography, and removing confusing or unnecessary sections etc. Based on these insights, I refined the UI by simplifying navigation, removing a few screens, and ensuring a more consistent and intuitive experience from start to finish.
Intro Screen Update
I removed the background shading behind the body text to create a cleaner visual experience and improve readability against the vibrant illustration. The “Continue” button was enlarged for better tap accessibility and visual hierarchy. I also center-aligned the body text to match the layout of the next screen for better visual flow and consistency. Lastly, I refined the status bar to ensure UI polish and alignment with platform standards.
Avatar Selection Screen Update
To improve navigation and usability, I added a back button to the top left corner, aligning with standard mobile design patterns. I removed the shadow from the title for a cleaner and more modern visual hierarchy, increased the font size for better readability, and added spacing between the headline and supporting text to enhance accessibility and content scannability. Additionally, I unified the design of the “Female” and “Male” buttons to reduce cognitive load and prevent selection bias, ensuring a more balanced and inclusive user experience.
Trip Interests Screen Update
I removed the drop shadows from both the heading and location tags to create a cleaner, more modern look and improve legibility. The title and supporting text were realigned to match the position of the back button and maintain layout consistency across screens.
I also increased vertical spacing between the interest tags to reduce visual clutter and improve tap target accessibility, making it easier for users to scan and interact with the options. These adjustments enhance readability, accessibility, and design consistency throughout the flow.
Avatar Selection Update
I added a back button for clear navigation and removed the destination preference bar and bottom nav to keep the user focused on avatar selection. The “Continue” button was added to guide users to the next step, and the avatar cards were centered to reduce empty space and improve layout balance.
Group Status Screen Update
I added a back button for smoother navigation and removed the bottom navigation to reduce distractions. The status indicators (green/red dots) were moved next to each name for better clarity and alignment with user expectations. I also introduced a blur background effect to create visual depth and elevate the overall aesthetic. Finally, a “Ready” button was added to clearly signal the next step and improve task flow.
Planner Screen Update
You removed the “Hosted by Carmen” header to reduce visual clutter and keep the focus on trip details. The profile avatar was repositioned to the top-right corner for better hierarchy and alignment with common mobile patterns.
These changes help streamline the UI, make the layout cleaner, and improve focus on the key content like location, date & time, and the map. The result is a more modern and intentional design that gives users the right information without distractions.
FINAL HI-FI SCREENS
The main goal during the design process was to create a seamless and playful experience for users planning group trips. As the project evolved, I made several refinements to improve layout efficiency and enhance key interactions—especially around gamified decision-making and the planning flow.
MOCKUPS
These mockups highlight JourneyGo’s clean, playful design. Each screen was built to simplify group planning while keeping the experience fun and easy to navigate.
DESIGN OVERVIEW
Takeaways & Lessons Learned
Working through this project taught me the importance of being intentional with every design decision—from structure to interaction. Usability testing played a key role in shaping the final product, helping me identify pain points, validate design choices, and make meaningful updates that improved clarity, navigation, and overall user experience.
As part of this paid project with MetaLab, I also received feedback highlighting my strengths in product thinking, originality, and user-centered design. I gained valuable insights into refining typography, visual hierarchy, and layout—skills I continue to develop to support clean, accessible, and engaging interfaces. If I had more time, I would conduct additional user testing and research, improve accessibility, expand to diverse user groups, and gather more feedback for continuous improvements.
