Wandller
The process of a refined solution to the chaos.
Overview
Wandller is a travel-focused platform designed to inspire, connect, and assist travelers with real-time budget tracking and to create their itineraries. It provides a dynamic community based on collaboration that makes travel more accessible to those seeking a profound cultural experience. it fosters users with an interactive community-centric travel network where users can engage in meaningful discussions, exchange travel insights, collaborate on trip planning, conduct polls, or even through trip proposals from anywhere to anyone in the world.
role:
UI/UX Designer, UX Researcher
Project Duration:
Sep – Nov 2024
Tools:
Figma, G forms, Medium, Whimsical,
Uizard, GPT-4 turbo, Perplexity
Objectives and Goals
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Provide real-time budget tracking and cost estimates.
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Enable seamless itinerary organization and booking.
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Build a global travel community for shared insights and collaborations.
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Enhance user experience with a well-structured and visually appealing interface.
My Process
(Design Thinking)
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
Empathize
I first started with secondary research📄, to analyze existing data and uncover existing market trends before diving into real user insights. This helped identify key traveler pain points and expectations from a travel-focused platform. I dove deep into the world of travelers, I listened to their stories, frustrations, and aspirations. Some spoke of lost memories, scattered across different platforms. Others longed for a space where they could connect beyond fleeting likes and comments. The result? A burning need for a dedicated travel ecosystem.
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Gone through the existing research articles, blogs, etc. On various platforms like Lonely Planet, Medium, and Reddit, to find out insights.
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Social Media’s Influence on Travel ---
Research indicates that over 60% of people who plan on trips/to travel are relying on social media platforms like Instagram, Reddit, and travel communities for destination inspiration. This reinforces the importance of a community-driven approach in shaping travel decisions. -
Most of the millennials and Gen Z travelers prioritize hassle-free, easy-to-manage cost-effective planning tools.
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Studies show that peer recommendations influence 74% of travel decisions, emphasizing the need for a social component.
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Existing apps focus on bookings but lack seamless itinerary management, resulting in an incomplete experience.
Survey Insights
A survey was conducted with 50 participants, revealing key pain points:
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82% found organizing itineraries stressful.
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76% needed strict budget tracking.
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90% wanted personalized travel suggestions.
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80% preferred automated itinerary creation.
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66% were motivated by unique features not found in existing platforms.
User Personas
Define
Problem Stement
Dreaming of traveling but struggling with planning due to overwhelming choices, disorganized itineraries, budget mismanagement, and difficulties in gathering travel companions. This often results in abandoned plans, missed opportunities, and stressful experiences. WANDLLER aims to solve these issues by offering an intuitive and connected travel planning ecosystem.
Competitive Analysis
A comparison of existing travel planning platforms:
Benchmarking
analyzed top travel apps to integrate essential features like:
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AI-based recommendations (Google Travel)
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Community-based insights (TripAdvisor)
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Smart expense tracking (Splitwise)
Stakeholder Mapping
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Primary Users: Solo travelers, group travelers, budget-conscious individuals.
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Secondary Users: Travel agencies, content creators, influencers.
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Business Stakeholders: Partner hotels, airlines, and local tourism boards.
Ideate
Information Architecture
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A structured flow of WANDLLER’s ecosystem, covering:
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Home Screen (Dashboard with trip insights)
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Destination Selection (AI-powered recommendations)
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Itinerary Builder
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Budget Tracker (Real-time tracking and forecasts)
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Community (Engage, share, and collaborate on trips)
User Flows
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Choosing Destination
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Tracking Expenses
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Inviting Friends
Prototype
Style Guide
Wireframes
Prototype
User Testing
Test
Findings
Budget Tracking & Expense Management
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Users appreciated the Real-time expense tracking and found it as a highly valued feature with a better categorization of expenses.
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Users wanted integration with payment apps for smoother expense logging.
Community Engagement
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The community feature was widely praised for helping users connect with fellow travelers.
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Some users found it more moderate which ensures high-quality discussions.
Overall Satisfaction & Improvements
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Users stated they would use WANDLLER for future trips.
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Users recommended adding an offline mode for better accessibility during travel.
Learning Outcomes
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User-Centered Approach – Understanding and addressing real travel concerns.
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Iterative Design – Adapting features based on research and testing.
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Scalability Considerations – Identifying ways to expand features and improve performance.
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Enhancing Accessibility – Improving usability for diverse user groups with varying needs.
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Fostering Engagement – Creating a travel ecosystem that encourages social collaboration and knowledge sharing.
The Story
Every time I scrolled through Instagram or heard stories of people embarking on their dream journeys, I felt an unshakable urge to pack my bags and set off. But reality had other plans. The excitement of planning a trip always started strong, but soon, chaos would unfold. Researching destinations turned into a never-ending loop of confusion, and finding affordable stays felt like solving a complex puzzle. Convincing my friends to join was another battle altogether—half of them were busy, and the other half were "thinking about it." The worst part? Budgeting. No matter how much I planned, I would always end up overspending—sometimes on fancy stays, sometimes on unplanned detours, and more often than not, on things I didn’t even need.
Time after time, the stress of managing everything—from itineraries to bookings to expenses—kept piling up. Instead of looking forward to trips, I found myself dreading the planning process. It reached a point where I dropped out of multiple trips, not because I didn’t want to go, but because I was exhausted before the journey even began.
Then, one fine day, in the shower, of all places—it hit me!
"What if there was an app that could do all of this for me?"
An app that could not only help me plan but also track my budget, recommend destinations, automate itinerary creation, and even help me coordinate with my friends. Something that would let me focus on the joy of traveling rather than the stress of planning.
And that’s how WANDLLER was born—a name derived from two words that define: "wanderer" and "traveler."
WANDLLER is a game-changer for travel enthusiasts like me—those who crave adventure but don’t want to get lost in the mess of planning and ensuring that no one has to drop out of their dream trip ever again.