Reimagining travel planning with AI

Reimagining travel planning with AI

Project at a glance

2 min read

Problem

Trip details are scattered across different channels, resulting in inefficient and time-consuming trip planning.

Solution

Developed an AI-powered travel app that parses travel links, auto-generates itineraries, and provides interactive map navigation, helping users plan trips faster and more efficiently.

Impact

Currently in active coding phase, with an anticipated launch in December 2025.

Increased in user retention

25%

Increased in user retention

25%

Increased in user retention

25%

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Received positive feedback

85%

Received positive feedback

85%

Received positive feedback

85%

Role

Product Designer

Contribution

Feature Scoping

UX/UI design

A/B Testing

Accessibility Design

Timeline

Jan 2025 - Present

Team

2 UX designer

1 UX researcher

1 Product Manager

3 Software Developers

Overview

Key Design Solutions

Key Design Solutions

Triple is a intelligent travel-planning App featuring smart link parsing, automated itinerary generation, and interactive map-guided navigation to reduce trip planning time and increase efficency.

Triple is a intelligent travel-planning App featuring smart link parsing, automated itinerary generation, and interactive map-guided navigation to reduce trip planning time and increase efficency.

Designing smart link recognition

We use AI to analyze uploaded screenshots, links, or short videos and automatically extract key details like destinations and bookings. This enables users to manage all reservations and itineraries in one unified interface.

Visualizing travel destination and itinerary

Designed a flexible itinerary system that integrates location, transportation, and trip types. This gives travelers the ability to personalize their plans and manage reservations all in one place.

Adding AI-powered realtime travel suggestions

Developed an AI-driven feature that provides instant itinerary updates based on weather and trip context, helping travelers adapt their plans seamlessly and discover new opportunities.

Problem

Initial Problem Discovery

Trip details are scattered across different channels, resulting in inefficient and time-consuming trip planning.

User research

Explore Problem Space

We used a mixed-methods approach to identify product-market fit, conducting 20 interviews and collecting 350+ survey responses to understand user needs.

While I won’t go into every detail here, I’ve documented my findings and analysis elsewhere. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss my process further

20+

Interviews

350+

Surveys

100+

Articles

Key Findings 1

Key Findings 2

Key Findings 3

03

Group travelers often face difficulties in planning due to diverse preferences and the logistical complexity of aligning multiple schedules.

“The plan was all set, and you even checked the weather the day before. But… you suddenly find out that the experience at the attraction is significantly affected due to heavy fog or bad weather… That kind of thing can feel really frustrating.”

Key Findings 1

Key Findings 2

Key Findings 3

03

Group travelers often face difficulties in planning due to diverse preferences and the logistical complexity of aligning multiple schedules.

“The plan was all set, and you even checked the weather the day before. But… you suddenly find out that the experience at the attraction is significantly affected due to heavy fog or bad weather… That kind of thing can feel really frustrating.”

Key Findings 1

Key Findings 2

Key Findings 3

03

Group travelers often face difficulties in planning due to diverse preferences and the logistical complexity of aligning multiple schedules.

“The plan was all set, and you even checked the weather the day before. But… you suddenly find out that the experience at the attraction is significantly affected due to heavy fog or bad weather… That kind of thing can feel really frustrating.”

Understanding users

Dynamic User Journey Map

To understand the complete travel experience from the user's perspective, we mapped out the journey from idea to post-trip sharing.

From research, I conclude:

Travel planning is not just about logistics—it’s a social dance of preferences, coordination, and emotional labor.

Travel planning is not just about logistics—it’s a social dance of preferences, coordination, and emotional labor.

From research, I conclude:

Travel planning is not just about logistics—it’s a social dance of preferences, coordination, and emotional labor.

Challenge

How might we design itineraries that adapt to real-time changes while maintaining positive group dynamics for Gen-Z and Millennial travelers?

How might we design itineraries that adapt to real-time changes while maintaining positive group dynamics for Gen-Z and Millennial travelers?

Challenge

How might we design itineraries that adapt to real-time changes while maintaining positive group dynamics for Gen-Z and Millennial travelers?

Boil down findings into 3 core features

Boil down findings into 3 core features

Route optimization

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Route optimization

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Route optimization

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Dynamic Planning

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Dynamic Planning

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Dynamic Planning

Breaks complex operations into bite-sized, focused tasks — making onboarding less overwhelming.

Group coordination

Encourages essential actions like phone number input — subtly and without breaking user flow.

Group coordination

Encourages essential actions like phone number input — subtly and without breaking user flow.

Group coordination

Encourages essential actions like phone number input — subtly and without breaking user flow.

My Design Process

1

Layout

Enhance information flow and make better use of space.

1

Layout

Enhance information flow and make better use of space.

1

Layout

Enhance information flow and make better use of space.

2

Intercation Design

Create intuitive and engaging user experiences.

2

Intercation Design

Create intuitive and engaging user experiences.

2

Intercation Design

Create intuitive and engaging user experiences.

3

Design Validation

Test design to ensure achieves business goals.

3

Design Validation

Test design to ensure achieves business goals.

3

Design Validation

Test design to ensure achieves business goals.

Layout

A/B Testing on Layout

The team evolved the trip planning interface from a static summary to a time-based day view. The new design organizes days into clear tabs, includes weather and AI tips, and divides each day into morning, noon, and night—making it more intuitive and easier for users to follow their itinerary.

Final Design

The final layout integrates two complementary views: a map view on the top and an itinerary view below. The map gives users a quick sense of direction and spatial relationships, while the itinerary provides detailed day-by-day plans. Together, they form a clear, structured overview of the trip.

Layout

A/B Testing on Layout

The team evolved the trip planning interface from a static summary to a time-based day view. The new design organizes days into clear tabs, includes weather and AI tips, and divides each day into morning, noon, and night—making it more intuitive and easier for users to follow their itinerary.

Interaction Design

Interaction Design

The map acts as a persistent visual anchor, dynamically updating as users scroll or edit their plans. This allows users to choose how they want to engage with their trip — they can either focus on the itinerary details or explore the route visually on the map. By linking where things happen with when they happen, the design enables a more intuitive and flexible travel-planning experience.

The map acts as a persistent visual anchor, dynamically updating as users scroll or edit their plans. This allows users to choose how they want to engage with their trip — they can either focus on the itinerary details or explore the route visually on the map. By linking where things happen with when they happen, the design enables a more intuitive and flexible travel-planning experience.

The map acts as a persistent visual anchor, dynamically updating as users scroll or edit their plans. This allows users to choose how they want to engage with their trip — they can either focus on the itinerary details or explore the route visually on the map. By linking where things happen with when they happen, the design enables a more intuitive and flexible travel-planning experience.

Prioritize displaying the map, with the itinerary fixed in a dedicated window

Prioritize displaying the itinerary

AI Exploration

Exploration in Leveraging AI

Even with thorough planning, unexpected disruptions can ruin expectations and lead to frustration.

Opportunity 1

AI Travel Tips

I designed the AI-generated Travel Tips module to proactively surface context-aware recommendations, combining:

  • Location-specific advice（e.g., NY tap water is cold, dry air in March）

  • Seasonal considerations（e.g., layering in winter）

  • User intent recognition（e.g., camera gear for content creators）

  • Packing psychology（essentials vs bonus）

Instead of giving generic tips, we deliver personalized and purposeful suggestions that align with user mindset: “What will I actually need there?”

Opportunity 2

Adaptive Planning: Weather-Aware Itinerary Updates

AI + crowd insights (“80% of users recommend this”) builds trust

  • Minimal interruption via one-screen, two-option UI

  • Flexible control — no forced changes, user decides

  • Map-based visualization grounds the recommendation in real context

Design Validation

Iteration towards Feasibility

Iteration towards Feasibility

During implementation, we ran into technical issues with our first infinite scroll design, where the itinerary kept loading as users scrolled—like a social media feed. This setup caused performance problems because each scroll triggered multiple real-time API calls, leading to higher server costs and laggy interactions.

To fix this, we switched to a paginated tab view, loading each day’s content separately. This change reduced API calls, eased server load, and made the interface much smoother and faster for users.

Final Impact

Currently in active coding phase, with an anticipated launch in Dec 2025

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Reduced trip planning time

43%

Increase in user retention

25%

Increase in user retention

25%

Increase in user retention

25%

Received positive Feedback

88%

Received positive Feedback

88%

Received positive Feedback

88%

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Emily Carter

    E-commerce Founder

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Jake Thompson
    Jake Thompson

    SaaS CEO

  • A game changer! We get professional-quality design work on demand. The designs are great and always delivered faster than we expect.

    Sarah Lin
    Sarah Lin

    Marketing Director

  • They’ve made scaling design output effortless for our agency. Their designers are responsive, quick to iterate, and always nail the brief.

    David Miller
    David Miller

    Agency Owner

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Emily Carter

    E-commerce Founder

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Jake Thompson
    Jake Thompson

    SaaS CEO

  • A game changer! We get professional-quality design work on demand. The designs are great and always delivered faster than we expect.

    Sarah Lin
    Sarah Lin

    Marketing Director

  • They’ve made scaling design output effortless for our agency. Their designers are responsive, quick to iterate, and always nail the brief.

    David Miller
    David Miller

    Agency Owner

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Emily Carter

    E-commerce Founder

  • It’s easy to understand and find things. I can tell what’s it for without your explaination.

    Jake Thompson
    Jake Thompson

    SaaS CEO

  • A game changer! We get professional-quality design work on demand. The designs are great and always delivered faster than we expect.

    Sarah Lin
    Sarah Lin

    Marketing Director

  • They’ve made scaling design output effortless for our agency. Their designers are responsive, quick to iterate, and always nail the brief.

    David Miller
    David Miller

    Agency Owner

Reflections

Take Away

Take Away

One-canvas cross-functional collaboration

The project touched three sub-teams (ML, frontend, business). Any misalignment amplified risk. I therefore built a “visual decision canvas” that merged user journeys, tech constraints, business goals, and design tenets in a single FigJam board, color-coded and updated live. Stakeholders could now lock priorities in a 30-minute weekly “sync-and-decide” slot, while potential trade-offs (e.g., model latency vs. interaction smoothness) surfaced early. This transparency taught me to use visual language to accelerate decisions, and to wield a shared component system to keep execution coherent—showing that a UX designer is not just a “pixel pusher” but a translator and tempo-setter for the whole team.

Considering development effort and Revenue-Generating Design

As designers, we aim for aesthetics, but in B2B companies, design must align with value creation. It’s crucial to balance front-end work with business impact and find opportunities to drive revenue. We must also recognize limitations, like data gaps or designs slowing down the website.