Momentr (Full Case Study)

Modernizing group trip planning with a mobile app
built for collaboration, clarity, and seamless decision-making.

Mobile phone screen showing a voting app interface with polls titled 'Osaka or Sapporo?' and 'Dinner in Kyoto,' including options, votes, and a 'Submit Vote' button.

ROLE
UI/UX Designer (Solo Project)
 

SKILLS
Competitive Analysis
User Research
Information Architecture
Prototyping
Usability Testing

TIMELINE
6 months

Coordinating travel with friends can quickly become a stressful experience. The joy of the trip is often overshadowed by the complexities of planning — and the process can feel overwhelming and take away the excitement of traveling together.

Why this matters

A long-running Harvard study on adult development, summarized by its current director Robert Waldinger, found that strong social connections are one of the most significant contributors to long-term happiness and health. (Mineo, 2017)

A black arrow pointing upwards on a white background.

35%

Post-covid, we are noticing a strong resurgence of group traveling, with a 35% rise in bookings for groups of eight or more, as people increasingly seek meaningful shared experiences - whether through multigenerational vacations, food-focused trips, or outdoor adventures (Apse, 2025).

What tools are already out there

I conducted a heuristic analysis of popular trip planning tools to evaluate how well they balance customization, information hierarchy, and user engagement. I focused on four key heuristics:

  • Visibility of system status

  • User control freedom

  • Flexibility + efficiency of use

  • Visual design

Key Observations

Icon of a lock

Apps like TripIt and Wanderlog gate features behind early paywalls, discouraging users from completing onboarding.

Black and white icon of three horizontal sliders with circular knobs.

Excessive customization and feature options lead to decision fatigue, slowing down the planning process.

Icon of a smartphone with a calculator app open.

Tools like Excel and Google Sheets prove effective for trip planning, leveraging existing mental models.

What I wanted to know from users

1

What tools/methods do people currently use to plan group trips, and what aspects of those tools work well or fall short?

2

What factors do people consider when determining if someone is a good travel companion?

3

How do people perceive and experience shared decision-making when planning trips with friends?

4

What pain points or challenges are commonly overlooked when planning trips with friends?

What users shared

I surveyed 26 participants to capture quantitative data on travel habits and the pain points of group coordination. From there, I conducted 5 in-depth interviews focused on recent or upcoming trips to understand planning behaviors, tool usage, and key friction points.

A detailed brainstorming or planning chart with notes grouped in colored sections, including tips on travel, finance, scheduling, and group decision-making.
A digital planning board with sticky notes and sketches organized into sections. The notes cover topics related to travel, planning, decision-making, and sharing resources, with themes such as major hurdles, tools used, and travel tips.

What themes emerged

Recurring themes emerged as I created this affinity map.

  • Challenges Accommodating Different Preferences

  • Lack of Equal Contribution/Input

  • Distrust of Online Sources

  • Managing Budget Constraints

  • Existing Decision-Making Tools/Methods

Post-it note with a quote about travel compatibility and a personal attribution at the bottom, reading: "Travel compatibility is huge. I cannot stress this enough! -Esther, Female, 36"
Quote about opinions and restrictions: 'The more strong opinions there are, the more restrictions there are - the easier it is to actually make an executive call.' - Harsha, Female, 27

OPPORTUNITIES

How might we make it easier for everyone to communicate their preference and expectations early in the planning process?

How might we ease the burden on group planners by distributing tasks and decisions more collaboratively?

User roles and goals

PAIN POINTS

GOALS
(MVP)

A simple white cartoon character with a smiling face, pointing to the right, against a black background.
A simple black and white cartoon character with a round head, smiling face, and a body with one arm raised. The hand is giving a thumbs up with the label 'yes' on the raised hand.
Simple black and white illustration of a smiling face with closed eyes, being cradled by two hands.

  • Carrying the weight of making big decisions alone.

  • Navigating unclear preferences and last-minute changes.

  • Reach group consensus on decisions.

  • Get input from everyone.

  • Delegate tasks among the group.

  • Managing low group commitment.

  • Getting little to no group participation.

  • Share suggestions easily.

  • See what tasks need to be done.

  • Vote on group decisions.

THE LEADER

THE CONTRIBUTOR

THE PARTICIPANT

  • Overwhelmed by too many notifications.

  • Doesn't want to plan every detail.

  • Keep up with essential details only.

  • Get notified when input is needed.

User Flows

I designed the user flow around two core experiences: account creation that captures travel preferences upfront, and trip creation that facilitates early alignment and group input.

Flowchart titled 'User Flow 01 - Create an Account' showing steps for creating a user account, including start, splash screen, profile creation, login options with phone/email or social media, and dashboard.
Flowchart titled 'User Flow 02 - Create a Trip' illustrating steps for creating a trip, including creating a new trip, adding dates, location, friends, and preferences, and then adding activities like hotel and flight.

Throwing my ideas on paper

Breaking down my solutions into quick sketches.

Hand-drawn wireframe sketches of a mobile app interface for an itinerary planner, including screens for dashboard, calendar, activity addition, profile management, and social sharing.

Mapping the screens

Used low-fidelity wireframes to establish structure and validate early solutions.

Mockup of a travel planning app interface for a trip to Tokyo, Japan, with screens for onboarding, planning, scheduling, and tracking trip activities and details.

Curating the visual identity

Momentr reimagines group travel planning as playful and collaborative, moving beyond spreadsheets toward a dynamic, visually rich experience. Drawing from scheduling app layouts and poster graphics, the design feels expressive, intuitive, and designed to build excitement.

A collage of various colorful digital screens and images, including a smartphone displaying 215 days vape-free and 407 days saved, a user interface with collections and categories, social media posts about fashion, culture, food, music, a sticker of a bear with good vibes, and other related visuals.
Color guide for a UI design with typography, action styles, design elements, and color palette sections. The typography section lists font sizes and styles for page titles, section titles, headers, input text, and body text. The action styles section shows buttons for past, upcoming, and disabled states, and navigation icons for unselected and selected states, with sample labels. The design elements section displays large and small corner radius rectangles. The color palette includes soft white, persimmon orange, true blue, chartreuse yellow, electric green, additional true blue and soft white circles with hex color codes, and persimmon orange circle.
Smartphone displaying a travel quiz app with a welcome message to Riley and options to skip or start.
A smartphone screen displaying a trip activity planner with categories such as food, cute cafes, shopping, historical sites, museums and art, local festivals, scenic views, hidden gems, hiking, relaxation, group building, spa, content moment, nightlife, and karaoke.

Personalized travel profile

Users begin with a travel quiz to determine their archetype. These insights inform personalized planning, highlight travel compatibility within the group, and help establish alignment from the outset.

Empowering personal input

To establish clear preferences early, users are prompted to select their top priorities and activities before moving forward with planning.

Mobile app screen showing top trip priorities options such as planned itinerary, sticking to budget, quality stay, convenience, reliability, safety, relaxation, group harmony, spontaneity, supporting locals, sustainable impact, shared growth, with a navigation arrow at the bottom right.
Travel app screen with black and white graphics of a globe, beach scene, camera, food, and friends, indicating a trip to Tokyo, Japan from October 28 to November 12, with 16 days left, 3 tasks, and a budget of $3K-$4K.
Mobile app screen showing a congratulatory message for contributing, with tabs labeled Your Tasks, Pending Polls, and Closed Polls, and a button at the bottom to create a new poll.
Screen showing a mobile app invitation for a graduation trip to Tokyo, Japan, from October 28 to November 12. The cover features icons of friends chatting, beverages, a globe, a person taking a photo, sunglasses, an airplane, and a bowl of ramen, all over a background of a traditional Japanese temple.

AI-generated vision board

To maintain alignment throughout planning, I introduced an AI-generated vision board that aggregates the group’s preferences into a vision board. The visual updates dynamically as members join and is anchored at the top of the dashboard to continuously reinforce the group’s shared goal.

Assigned Tasks

Present individually assigned tasks in a visible way to increase transparency around upcoming decisions and ensure all members can contribute feedback.

Mobile app screen displaying a poll about choosing between Osaka and Sapporo, with votes and a green highlight on the selected option, and a section showing dinner options in Kyoto with fewer votes.
A cartoon character of a bird wearing glasses and a beret, holding a pencil and a clipboard, on a pink and purple gradient background.

Testing with real users

  • Is onboarding clear and engaging?

  • Are collaborative features intuitive?

  • Can users easily set preferences?

  • Are key details visible and accessible?

  • Does the experience feel valuable?

Here's what I asked them to do

  • Complete onboarding by creating a trip profile.

  • Create a new group trip.

  • Complete your assigned tasks

  • Add a poll to the group trip. 

What I learned from users

While this version shows the breakdown of the cost, Users wanted more opportunities for personalization and customization.

Users paused to understand how to begin or complete the task due to a lack of clear entry points.

Users expected poll creation to occur on this page.

Each screen required tapping the next arrow, which created unnecessary friction and slowed down the flow.

Mobile app screen showing a budget options survey for a trip, with a highlighted $3K-4K budget, and a detailed cost breakdown including flights, accommodation, food, transportation, activities, and miscellaneous expenses, totaling $3,500.
Mobile app screen showing travel planning tasks, including polls for Osaka or Sapporo and Dinner in Kyoto, with options to add travel details.
Mobile app screen showing options for a traveler just arrived at their destination, including hunting for local food, taking a power nap, checking off the first stop, with one option highlighted in yellow: 'Dilly dally around town.'

How I updated the design

I enabled manual budget calculation so users could define realistic spending limits.

To reduce friction and help users get started, I opened the first task by default.

A clear CTA was added to the bottom to support creating a new poll.

I built momentum by automatically progressing to the next page when users select their answers.

Travel planning app screen asking about trip budget with a bar graph, budget categories, and total budget of $3500.
Mobile app screen showing polls with votes, including a poll about choosing between Osaka or Sapporo, and dinner options in Kyoto, with options to vote, create polls, and view poll statuses.
Screenshot of a mobile app with options for activities after arriving at a destination, highlighting 'Dilly dally around town' in yellow.

Closing Thoughts

  • Group decision-making proved more nuanced than I anticipated; balancing diverse travel preferences and personalities required thoughtful, deliberate design choices.

  • Users strongly resonated with personal travel profiles, allowing opportunities to explore compatibility matching and strength-based task delegation in future iterations.

  • Customization requires balancing flexibility with simplicity to prevent cognitive overload. Future iterations could introduce a more robust onboarding experience to gradually educate users on the platform’s full feature set.