ROLE
Product Designer
TOOLS
UX Research
Visual Design
Prototyping
TIMELINE
6 Weeks
Initial Observation
People are compulsively saving content across social media platforms and don't use what they've collected, creating digital clutter without purpose
Oftentimes, users of social media save thousands of posts: -- bookmarking recipes never cooked, screenshotting outfits never worn, saving workout videos never tried. Over time, these posts are never revisited and forever lost. leading to lost opportunities.
Initial Problem Statement
Creating folders or taking screenshots is too passive an approach to ensure that saved content stays organized and gets actively used again
Narrowing Down
While digital hoarding affects many content categories, I found that travel-related content showed unique patterns
After doing some secondary research, I decided that I wanted to focus on organizing travel-related content, as this category had shown high areas of friction for users. Compared to other types of content, travel-related materials carried higher stakes for users which is due to the fact that users tend to have higher emotional investment, greater intent to act, and more frustration when saving/using travel content.
Redefined Problem Statement
People collect travel inspiration digitally but don't follow through with visiting saved places
User Interviews
Multi-platform research and planning leads to disorganized social media saves
After refining my problem space, I chose to conduct user interviews to gain deeper insight into which aspects of saving and using places to visit posed the greatest challenges. I primarily looked into the time spent finding and saving locations, as well as different ways people went about research process.
Affinity Mapping
Users experienced frustration from forgetting their saving motivation, losing track of saved content, app-switching, and never actually visiting saved places
Using affinity mapping techniques, I synthesized user feedback to pinpoint the key friction points between content discovery and trip planning. This process revealed five major categories of frustration that users experience when trying to turn their social media saves into actionable travel plans.
Experience Flow Analysis
Users felt irritated by the repetitive back-and-forth workflow, while trying to organize saves
With users saving content across various platforms, the manual process of consolidating this information into external tools like Google Docs or Apple Maps requires significant time investment.
Hypotheses
Based on my research, I developed hypotheses around increasing visit follow-through, streamlining saving approaches, and improving location organization
Through these conversations, I uncovered a range of factors contributing to users’ difficulties: lack of organization (location and category), different research apps/approaches to storing information, lack of action to visit saved locations
Exploring Solutions
I developed three targeted prototypes to address the most critical challenges outlined in my hypotheses
Concept 1
An app that looks to solve the disconnect between saving travel content and taking action by enabling users to document their location experiences through reflective journaling so that they can cultivate emotional connections that motivate future travel decisions
Concept 2
An app that looks to solve the fragmentation of multi-platform travel research by leveraging AI to curate location recommendations from an array of social media sources so that users can efficiently discover and evaluate potential destinations through an intuitive swipe interface
Concept 3
An app that looks to solve the inefficiency of manual location saving by enabling direct content sharing with intelligent AI extraction capabilities so that users can streamline their research workflow and eliminate platform-switching friction
Final Solution Concept
I decided on creating an app that consolidates travel inspiration from multiple platforms into one organized, actionable planning tool
Ultimately I selected this approach because, after evaluating multiple solutions, this concept directly addressed the most fundamental pain point: the constant switching between applications
Design Audit
Throughout my iteration process, I evaluated elements that could be improved in terms of usability and visual style
User Flow
I reorganized the information architecture to align with the finalized functionality and layout
After
Design System
Key Feature: Cross Platform Sharing
Cross platform sharing streamlines the process of switching between apps to save places
The old Albert made multiple different pages for each school and subject, and within these pages was tons of information. I simplified finding information by creating a static navigation system on the left side of the screen while the right side showed users class section, professor, status, and time -- creating quicker task completion of finding and adding courses.
Key Feature: Proximity Alerts
Proximity alerts remind you when saved places are nearby — so you never miss a chance to visit
Allowing users to specify the number of credits required, along with the essential classes that must be part of every schedule ("Need to Take"), and the optional ones that can be included if space permits ("Want to Take"), are all factos that expand the possibilities for crafting personalized schedules. This feature enables users to save their favorite schedules and customize their names for future enrollment.
Key Feature: Memory Saver
Keep your travel memories alive with a space to capture stories tied to the places you've explored
I was able to create two iterations of my final prototype, one with more creative interactions, and one with simpler interactions. The engaging interactions prototype allowed users to feel a sense of reassurance that courses were successfully added on the "Schedule" page (shown below).
My Reflections
This project reinforced that thoroughly defining the problem space is fundamental to understanding what users actually need
Initially, I thought the main issue was simply that people saved too many places and got overwhelmed. Through user interviews, I discovered the real problem wasn't quantity—it was the loss of emotional context and the fragmented experience across platforms. This shift in understanding completely changed my approach to the solution, moving from a simple organizational tool to a context-preserving, cross-platform experience.