Travel App UX Design Project
Junction: A travel app made for those who just can’t wait.
Project Date: Summer 2024
Overview
For my User Experience Design class I was tasked with creating a travel app aimed at Gen-Z and millenials. I used Figma to create a high-fidelty prototype of my app.
The Problem
When designing this travel app, I was thinking of the many travel influencers I follow, as well as the kind of trips my friends and I take. I found that both of these had a distinct commonality: budget-focused, bite-sized traveling. Younger people are more interested in short, cheap vacations that take minimal time and money, as opposed to the long, expensive vacations taken every couple years by older generations. I decided to make an app that would bring travel deals to these types of people using a concept they would be familiar with: swiping left and right, as they do with Tinder. I named the app Junction, because it aimed to meet travellers where they are, both in terms of location and budget.
The Solution
I began by designing a low-fidelity prototype using a pen and paper. I sketched out all the screens the app would have to get a feel for the navigation and basic design. My most basic idea was to have a travel app that functioned like Tinder, to reflect the convienience and rapid pace of Tinder’s decision making. With Tinder, one swipe can match you to a new date. With Junction, one swipe can bring you that much closer to your dream getaway.
After this point, I realized I needed to tweak my original idea, which was an attempt to offer deals on entire vacation packages, was too ambitious. Though a difficult decision — I was attached to my original idea — I decided to scale it down to just offering excursions, though this did not change the overall design of the app.
Once I had decided on an overall layout, I moved to Figma to build the basic prototype of my app, which I named Junction. I built up the basic UI, creating the Home, Chats, User, Bookings, Saved, and Search pages. The biggest change I made was adding the Trip Builder feature, where users would be able to build their own trips and include information such as the dates, location, budget, and even invite people to join the trip if they were traveling in a group. The algorithm would then use this information to offer the user travel excursions and opportunities based on their active trips.
Finally, it was time to build a high-fidelity prototype in Figma. I picked a color palette and typography, spent hours making components and consistent design, and spent many more hours planning out potential user interaction pathways so that the prototype would be interactive. Learning to use Figma’s component feature proved to be most challenging, and I definitely still have lots to learn, but I’m proud of the different components I made for this project. The nav bar, logo + text, and button array were all made with the Component feature.
I went with a light, pastel color palette to give an free, relaxed aesthetic suited for those who are looking to travel. All of the UI is meant to be digestible at a glance; millenials and gen-z are often on the go, bouncing from multiple jobs, so I wanted an app that wasn’t bloated with unnecessary text and features. The buttons are mostly self-evident, and it’s a pressure free experience; you can always save the deal and book it later.
I also added a tagging system, which is used both on the home screen for excursions and within trips that a user adds to their profile. The tags would be used by the algorithm to present the user with experiences that align with their interests, dates of travel, and location.
Results
At the moment of writing this, the project hasn’t been graded, but I think I did a good job. This project allowed me to improve my design process in multiple areas. I became more critical of the choices I made because of the design theories I had learned. Using Figma to create a prototype of my own app motivated me to immerse myself and tutorials and truly push my limits of what was possible to create the best version of Junction.
In the future, I would like to develop the group trip feature more, perhaps by giving it its own page and exploring different options for collaboration through the different features of the app. I would also like to add an explore/recommended page, so that users can see what is popular based on their destinations.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this project and the opportunity to stretch myself as a designer.