Hi there!
My portfolio is best viewed on a laptop 🖳 for now!
The mobile version is still in the workshop, but it’s coming soon—stay tuned!
The Wayfarers
Live Project
Designed a slow-travel app aimed that redefines how we view sustainable travel
Check out the waitlist ⟶
Note: Major parts of this project are under NDA so some process details are left out, but I’ve included clickable links to key research bits—feel free to dive in! P.S. The app is currently in beta testing and will soon be available to waitlisted users.
Info
Team
UXDesignlabs 1 Product designer 3 Developers 1 Project manager 2 Content writers
Type
In-house project
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
4 months
Focus Area
Product Design UX Research Product Strategy QA & QC Testing
TL;DR + HIghlights
Designed and developed The Wayfarers, a slow-travel AI-assisted platform. The app is currently in beta-testing and will be released to waitlisted users in November 2024.
Designed a CRM dashboard for The Wayfarers internal team to help collect data and train the bot, Supertramp and manage the user data and curation from a single intergrated platform.
Worked on the marketing collaterals such as website, emailers etc.
THE CONTEXT
In an era where travel has become more about ticking boxes than truly experiencing the world, a revolutionary concept is on the horizon. Introducing The Wayfarers, an innovative platform designed for the modern traveler.
The mission is to redefine the essence of travel, transforming it into a journey of personal growth, sustainability, and community engagement.
The Vision
To harness the power of behavioral sciences and generative AI to eliminate the clutter and chaos from travel planning and enable travelers to transition to mindful living via conscious travel
my role in this project
I joined The Wayfarers as a founding designer to set up the foundation for the app experience, brand and strategy. I led the design of the complete app interface and experience design to create a slow travel app aimed at cultivating a travel community
THE APPROACH
Design Approach + Philosophy
THE SUMMARY
The design of the Wayfarers is rooted in humane technology where we wanted to eliminate the endless scroll while still retaining the user’s attention and interest in the platform.
In the app, we focused on clarity and ease of understanding to highlight the app's core value proposition. At the same time it was ensured that our marketing narrative seamlessly aligns with the app's functionality, keeping the user experience front and center.
PROCESS
To determine the platform’s features, we conducted market research and benchmarking, defined our ideal customer profile, and established our positioning.
We then built an MVP for closed beta testing. After identifying what worked and what didn’t, we finalized a phased release plan for the features and focused on the platform’s branding and interface design.
THE OCEAN
Understanding The Travel Marketspace
VALIDATION
The travel space has too many competitors aiming for the same segment of the population.
We identified that while there are no direct established players in this space and a few brands that specifically work on curation and recommendation for travel that is unique to YOU. No identical itineraries with AI powered data points by community for community.
THE OCEAN
Understanding The Travel Marketspace
Generalized image of a “traveller”
Traditional travel often portrays travelers as rugged individuals, but real travel experiences are far more diverse.
Definition of adventure
Commercial travel often equates adventure with risk and adrenaline. However, it is a wider range of experiences, including cultural exploration, personal growth, and discovering new places.
Escaping the normal life / Discovering yourself
The emphasis on grand escapes can overshadow the value of smaller, more personal travel experiences.
We categorized travel apps along two key axes: commercial to offbeat travel and inspiration to itinerary. Our analysis revealed that while most apps are focused on commercial itineraries, there's a noticeable gap in the offbeat, inspiration-based travel sector.
Challenges
Endless travel options overwhelm, fueling doomscrolling and surveillance capitalism
01
Recommendations are generic one size fits all
02
Businesses that align with your values are difficult to find
03
Endless travel options overwhelm, fueling doomscrolling and surveillance capitalism
04
Recommendations are generic one size fits all
05
Businesses that align with your values are difficult to find
06
THE OCEAN
Understanding The Travel Marketspace
Defining our ideal customer profile
What sets The Wayfarers apart in the crowded travel app space? Are we aiming at the same users that 999 apps are already made for?
The Wayfarers stands out by targeting young adults aged 21-28 seeking transformative travel experiences as our ICP. Our focus was on journeys of self-discovery, personal growth, and meaningful connections for recent graduates and young professionals.
Our ‘blue ocean’ strategy prioritized intentional, value-driven travel, catering to those wanting purpose beyond traditional vacations.
Life has become compartmentalized into ‘the daily grind’ and ‘the escape’ - reflections, creativity, epiphanies from travel don’t often return with you to ‘real life’
The app ecosystem—from the icon to marketing materials—was designed to project a youthful, inviting vibe while maintaining an element of sophistication.
Business Context
To make the platform stand out, we focused on our AI agent, Supertramp, building and training it from scratch using unique data, and onboarding off-beat businesses. We streamlined the app, ensuring features were clear and engaging, with gradual hooks to enhance user experience and add freemium features. Our goal was to quickly develop an MVP to attract investors. Early funding allowed us to iterate and test, leading to a refined V1.0 that met our expectations.
The Foundation
Feature Roadmap
THE SUMMARY
The features trace the journey of a traveler, right from the inception of the idea of travel to the planning to the after-journey euphoria and nostalgia that comes with looking back at their memories.
Note : This is a basic reinterpreted representation of the complete flow due to NDA
PHASE II
From MVP to
Market-Ready
UNIQUELY POSITIONED TO SCALE
As with any 0 to 1 startup, experiments & campaigns run all the time so the design needed to be exhaustive and template based to ship in the lowest TAT and design involvement.
Hence the design was made with scalability in mind. The elements are designed in a way that can be reorder/modified from backend which reduces design dependency while still ensuring top of the line design quality.
Note: Due to NDA restrictions, much of the Wayfarers project remains confidential. The user flows shown here are a simplified, condensed version.
We explored several iterations for the table’s structure before settling on the version that was the easiest for anyone to understand. The poster was produced in A3 size, making it convenient to package and display in various settings.
YOUR Travel Partner
Supertramp
development of supertramp
Our AI assistant “Supertramp”, named in honor of Christopher Johnson McCandless, embodies his spirit of adventure, empathy, and respect for nature and society.
It’s designed to absorb your travel preferences through an initial quiz and continuously refine a list of tailored suggestions for your exploration.
The Supertramp Agent uses the gathered data to summarize user behavior and provide contextually relevant answers in specific predefined categories such as stay, eat, see, do, near me, shop, trivia, and help.
Scenario 1
User asks about unrelated global events or topics
When asked about topics outside Indian travel, the agent responds with a lighthearted reminder of its expertise, while smoothly steering the conversation back to travel in India.
Scenario 2
User asks for help with non-travel related personal problems.
When confronted with personal or non-travel queries, the agent politely clarifies its travel focus, while offering enticing travel ideas or suggestions within India.
Scenario 3
User asks about non-Indian travel or international destinations.
For international travel queries, the agent playfully redirects users to its Indian expertise, suggesting India as their next destination or sharing a fun travel fact.
Scenario 4
User asks about scientific or technical topics outside travel.
When asked technical or scientific questions, the agent redirects with its passion for Indian travel, sharing fun facts about the country’s natural wonders or adventure sports.
Scenario 5
User seeks political or controversial topics.
When sensitive or political topics arise, the agent respectfully avoids them and redirects to Indian travel with a neutral, engaging response.
YOUR Travel Partner
We identified different edge cases that could emerge from user inputs and created tailored responses for each scenario to train the AI model. This approach ensures that Supertramp responds in a manner aligned with the platform's focus on slow travel within India, rather than providing generic, ChatGPT-style answers.
Internal Tool
CRM Platform & Knowledge Base
For agent training
We developed a CRM and knowledge base platform to centralize travel data and support agent training by The Wayfarers internal team.
This platform enables the team to store data, train and test the bot, report bugs and issues, and collect feedback from beta testers—all in one place for seamless implementation.
Personalisation
Travel Archetypes
THE summary
Another standout feature is ‘Travel Archetype Quiz’ which categorizes users into ten unique archetypes based on preferences like geography, motivation, and budget.
This personalized approach helps users understand their travel style, shaping curated recommendations and interactions with Supertramp to enhance their planning experience.
The archetypes are integrated throughout the platform to ensure consistent visual branding while providing personalized experiences for each user.
The partners
Onboarding Of Businesses Onto The Platform
THE summary
We wanted to redefine the manner in which businesses are onboarded onto the platform by breaking free from the classical method of asking for details in a clinical manner.
Instead, we wanted businesses to tell their story.
Instead of a static form, we crafted the business profile setup to let small businesses share their story naturally, selecting prompts that reflect their unique identity and how they wish to present themselves to travelers.
Extending the brand
Partnership with Studio Ping Pong
THE summary
We partnered with Studio Ping Pong to create the platform’s visual branding and traveler merchandise. The branding was seamlessly integrated into the app’s features, interactions, and UI, fostering a youthful vibe throughout.
Each illustration underwent multiple reviews and thorough checks to ensure the visuals were inclusive, calming, and non-triggering for clients who might be experiencing intense emotions when they engage with this zine.
The brand was extended to create the India Unfiltered website, which allowed travelers to explore the hidden gems from each state on an interactive website.
Extending the brand
Marketing Collaterals
THE summary
I contributed to designing the preliminary website for the app, which aimed to generate initial interest among users within our close circles. The website featured a concept note outlining the platform’s vision and included a custom-developed waitlist quiz.
Additionally, I collaborated on the India Unfiltered website, which enabled users to discover hidden gems across various states in India.
Hush... In the works!
This project is currently in development and will be available to users soon; therefore, significant portions are under NDA. Please feel free to reach out to learn more!
Milestones
1500+
Early user interest
Over the past month, we’ve been growing a waitlist of 1000+ eager travel enthusiasts from all walks of life.
3 months
Time to create the MVP
We had quickly designed and developed the first MVP within 3 months to gather the initial round of funding from investors.
Milestones
1200+
Waitlist signups
Our marketing efforts successfully generated over 1,200 organic waitlist signups.
Signing off : retrospective
As a product designer on my first project, I faced a steep learning curve, balancing ambitious designs with developer capabilities, timelines, and budget constraints. Despite being a beginner, I was given significant responsibility, overseeing the entire process from ideation to execution. This was made possible through the invaluable support and mentorship of my lead, Abhiram Deshpande, who entrusted me with this incredible opportunity.
Hi there!
My portfolio is best viewed on a laptop 🖳 for now!
The tablet version is still in the workshop, but it’s coming soon—stay tuned!