WhereNow Mobile App
As part of the eTech challenge hosted by the University of Adelaide. My team and I had the opportunity to design and develop a mobile application for the WhereNow platform.
I was responsible for the user research, design and development of the mobile app. I focused on conducting meaningful user research to understand the needs and expectations of users who would use a travelling companion app.
I conceptually thought of the original functions that were required to answer the basic needs of users.
I designed the lo-fi and hi-fi wireframes for the app, ensuring that the user interface was intuitive and easy to navigate.
A constant feedback loop will be utilised halfway through this project to allow rapid iteration cycles and refine the design based on user feedback. The app will be co-developed by me focusing on the front-end development.
Role
Researcher, Designer & Front End
Duration
Mar - Jun 2025
Platform
Mobile & Web
Collaborators
Context
WhereNow is a mobile app designed to make spontaneous trip planning fast, effortless, and personalized. Built for travelers who want to explore new places based on time, weather, and vibe — not endless tabs and spreadsheets.
With real-time itinerary updates, smart suggestions, and budget-aware options, WhereNow acts as your flexible co-pilot for stress-free travel.
Through research and iterative design, I led efforts to improve the travel planning experience — focusing on reducing decision fatigue, enabling real-time itinerary flexibility, and helping users confidently explore options that matched their vibe, budget, and timing.”
My Role
I am the lead researcher, designer and co-developer on the team. My team includes a marketing major and another software developer.
Defining the problem & MVP
Problem Statement
Planning spontaneous trips is frustrating, especially when time is limited or conditions like weather and availability keep changing.
Many travel tools overwhelm users with too many options or require manual effort, without offering real-time updates or personalized suggestions.
Users need a smarter, faster way to plan — with real-time recommendations, minimal input, and flexible itineraries that adapt to their vibe, budget, and time.
"I want to make the most of my trips without spending hours planning. Just tell me where to go and what's good!"
- Vanessa
"I love planning my trips down to the last detail, but I wish it didn't take so much effort !"
- Isabelle
"I want to explore new places without breaking the bank."
- Samuel
Affinity Mapping
To kick off the problem discovery phase, I synthesized user research insights into themes using affinity mapping. There were three main themes and almost character traits that emerged.
Each theme had its own set of sticky notes. These sticky note represented a pain point, need, or opportunity that came up during interviews, persona development, and journey mapping.
Feature Prioritization Map
After clustering patterns, these stickies were then stratetgically placed onto a feature prioritization map for impact vs feasability.
We prioritized features that were:
Low effort, high reward (e.g., budget-tracker, in-built directions with map navigation button)
High effort, high reward (e.g., real-time itinerary updates, video guides for popular places, reviews)
Deferred high-effort, low-reward ideas like flagging ambitious schedules or re-rolling your itinerary.
Project Timeline
A project timeline was made with the goal of prioritizing features that would be most useful to users and that would be easy to implement. According to the specific time-frame given our team section workloads and what was expected weekly.
Key features for the MVP
Researching our target users and competitors revealed a clear gap in the travel planning space — especially for spontaneous travelers who want flexibility without the stress. This analysis shaped the foundation of WhereNow: a smart, centralized platform that combines real-time destination discovery, itinerary flexibility, and personalized suggestions — all with minimal effort from the user.
- People want quick-start planning — minimal effort, no long forms.
- Real-time conditions like weather and availability play a big role in trip decisions.
- Users like automation, but only if they can still edit or override parts of their plan.
- Budget tracking with alerts and breakdowns are imperitive to users.
- Tagging and categorization of services makes it easier to find what you need. This also helps software AI be able to differentiate between services.
User Research & Insights
Discovery
To understand the real pain points behind trip planning, I conducted user interviews within the e-Tech challenge cohort with online Google-forms and synthesized findings into three distinct personas — each representing a key user type with unique travel goals and frustrations.
Surveys
To support qualitative interviews and persona development, I ran a short survey with 30 participants aged 18–34 who travel at least once a year. The goal was to uncover key behaviors, frustrations, and priorities when it comes to spontaneous trip planning.
Significance
40% of respondents use travel apps, but 30% still rely on manual Googling
suggesting a lack of trust in existing tools or friction in their UX.
Too many choices (35%) and time-consuming planning (25%) were the biggest pain points,
echoing the need for a simplified planning experience.
Budget (30%) and weather (25%) were the top considerations when deciding where to go
reinforcing the idea that a real-time, filtered suggestion engine could make decision-making easier and smarter.
Only 10% were comfortable traveling without planning
showing a real need for light, fast structure.
User Personas
User Flow
After developing personas, I mapped their typical travel planning journeys to uncover stress points and moments of opportunity. These were the initial userflows created before any wireframes based off qualitative research. Updated userflows have not been implemented yet.
Testing & User feedback
Initial Prototypes
Rather than starting with rough sketches, I began by establishing a foundational design system — focusing on typography, color palette, spacing, and visual consistency. This helped create a cohesive experience from the start and allowed me to move faster during high-fidelity screen design and prototyping. These early designs were then tested with users to validate both flow and interface clarity. The process was iterative, with key screens evolving based on user feedback.
Key design choices:
- 🗺️ Itinerary Page - A dynamic, real-time itinerary that users could personalize — lock in key events, swap out flexible items, or reroll entire days based on updated weather or mood.
- 📍Navigation Page - This page showed destinations and experiences near the user's location or a selected city. Users could filter results by vibe, budget, or distance — helping them explore what's nearby at a glance.
- ⭐ Reviews Page - An experience-focused review system showing real photos and vibe tags from other travelers. I prioritized clarity and honesty over 5-star rating noise.
- 🎥 Video Guides Page - Short-form travel content (like TikToks or Reels) embedded to help users preview spots before visiting. This made the experience more engaging and visually driven.
- ⚙️ Settings Page - Focused on lightweight control — letting users adjust distance limits, budget caps, and default preferences without digging through menus.
Lo-fi Wireframes
Hi-fi Wireframes
A/B Testing
For the WhereNow travel app, I designed and ran three targeted A/B tests focused on improving user navigation, trip planning efficiency, and overall usability:
Calender View Optimization
Old: Users could only switch between two days at a time.
New (Test): A week-view scrolling calendar was introduced to give users better visibility over their full itinerary.
- Goal: Reduce friction when planning multi-day trips and encourage deeper engagement.
- Metric Tracked: Number of days viewed, edits on days beyond Day 2, and session duration on itinerary screen.
Improved Bottom Navigation Clarity
- Goal: Help first-time users understand the app layout more quickly.
- Metric Tracked: Time to first action, navigation errors, and completion rate of key flows.
Old: Bottom nav used icons only.
New (Test): Text labels were added below each icon (e.g., Home, Map, Plan, Settings).
Floating Action Button (FAB) Redesign
Old: Tapping the + icon led to a full-screen decision page: “Create your own” vs. “Use AI Magic.”
New (Test): Introduced a quick-access floating menu that lets users instantly choose between Trip Plan and Guide.
- Goal: Streamline the creation flow and reduce drop-off from the decision screen.
- Metric Tracked: Click-through rates for each FAB option, trip creation starts, and plan completion rate.
Improvements Based on Feedback
Running user tests and examining the early prototypes sparked productive discussions within the team, which helped us to identify pain points and determine our desired visual direction. We are planning to do some A/B testing to evaluate the impact of these changes whilst still fitting the timeline.
- Users preferred when the home page is less cluttered
- Users expect the map to be accessible via the bottom navigation bar.
- Too many options in the footer leading to confusion
- Footer icons are too thick
- The specificity buttons are distracting and take away from the experience
- Bottom Nav bar should include headers as just icons is not enough
- Users preferred when the calendar had a whole 7 days of options rather than just 2
- Users enjoyed the floating action button after pressing the + in the bottom navigation bar better streamlining the creation flow.
Outcomes & Future Improvements
WhereNow is still in progress, but so far, the project has validated a clear need for spontaneous, flexible travel planning that balances structure, personality, and adaptability. Through research, wireframing, and early user testing, I've built a strong foundation for a system that aims to reduce decision fatigue and make real-time travel feel intuitive.
Early Impact Metrics
Initial testing and user interviews have shown strong interest in WhereNow's approach where 83% of early users said WhereNow felt easier or more exciting than traditional planning tools.
Future Metrics
By the end of the project, I hope to test and validate:
- 📉 Reduction in planning time (target: 50–500% faster than typical manual planning)
- ✅ Increased trust in suggestions (users choosing suggested items without major edits)
- 🔁 Frequency of plan adjustments (to measure how users interact with flexibility)
- 👫 Group planning interest & participation (clicks/shares on invite links or votes)
Current Takeaways
- WhereNow is being designed for travelers who want to make quick, confident decisions without the stress of traditional planning tools. Users don't want to scroll through endless blogs, juggle multiple apps, or worry about what the weather might ruin last minute. They want something that feels smart, personal, and flexible — without being overwhelming. The early feedback from user testing showed strong support for a travel experience that offers helpful suggestions but still keeps users in control.
- A core design hypothesis guiding this process is that if we allow users to plan trips using only a few simple, meaningful inputs — like mood, distance, and budget — then they'll feel more confident and spend less time planning overall. Another key assumption is that if trip suggestions are responsive to real-time conditions like weather or availability, then users will trust the system more and feel like it's genuinely helping them make better choices. This thinking informed early choices around onboarding, activity filtering, and itinerary layout.
- So far, the design direction has been validated by how users have responded to clean navigation, flexible itineraries, and an interface that avoids clutter. It's clear that people appreciate a planning tool that doesn't overload them with decisions. As development continues, I'll focus on enhancing group planning features, building out mood-based trip templates, and exploring ways to let users save and revisit ideas with ease — all while keeping the core experience light, adaptive, and intentional.
Adam Dao © 2025
