trove
a social travel platform that helps users discover trusted recommendations from their network, save places and trips, and keep travel inspiration organized in one place.
duration
jun-aug, 2026
services
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ux/ui design
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user research
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visual identity
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copywriting
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brand strategy
the problem
travel planning shouldn't feel like detective work
travel recommendations are scattered across tiktok, instagram, google, and group chats, forcing people to spend time searching across multiple platforms. despite trusting recommendations from friends and family the most, there isn’t one place to easily discover where their network has been and what they recommend.
research goal
how do travelers discover, organize, and share travel recommendations?
research objectives
what do travelers actually trust
through user interviews, i wanted to:
understand how users currently find places and travel recommendations when planning a trip.
identify pain points and gaps within existing travel planning and recommendation tools.
understand how users seek, receive, and evaluate travel recommendations from friends and family.
explore how users currently save and organize travel recommendations for future trips.
research insights
across all interviews, users weren’t looking for more travel content. they wanted recommendations they could trust, with friends and family having the greatest influence on where they stayed, ate, and explored.
the biggest frustration was keeping recommendations organized across texts, notes, social media saves, and travel sites. users wanted one place to discover where friends have traveled, save recommendations, and revisit them at any point.
research suggests a social travel platform should prioritize trust, organization, and personalization over simply adding more travel content.
100%
said friends and family are most trusted travel resource
4 of 5
users identified using at least 3+ tools to organize content when planning a trip
100%
identified organization as the biggest pain point
persona
ideation
what if your network was your travel guide
how can i create a better way for travelers to discover and keep track of recommendations from people they trust? how can travel inspiration, recommendations, and saved places feel more connected instead of scattered across multiple platforms? how can a social travel platform bring trusted recommendations and trip inspiration into one organized, personalized experience?
design
making trusted travel feel effortless
initial wireframes focused on building out an easy to navigate UI that would narrow in on a few key opportunities:
social travel feed
create a home screen where users can see and engage with travel posts from friends, making it easy to discover trusted recommendations and recent trips.
discover destinations & travelers
allow users to search for specific destinations or members, helping them find travel inspiration and recommendations based on places or people they are interested in.
detailed trip posts
give users a complete view of a friend’s trip, including an overview, recommended activities, restaurants, and tips, providing context behind each recommendation.
building the brand
trove's brand was designed to feel clean, modern, and inviting, inspiring a sense of travel and discovery while keeping the experience organized, approachable, and easy to navigate.
testing objectives
validate the concept. i wanted to understand whether the platform addressed users’ biggest pain points around finding trusted recommendations and keeping travel inspiration organized, and if the features felt useful and valuable.
confirm navigation & feature placement. i wanted to ensure users could easily find key features, including the feed, destination and member search, and saved trips, where they expected them to be within the app.
observe the user journey. watching first-time users navigate the platform would help identify where they moved through the experience with confidence and where they encountered confusion or friction.
usability results
putting the experience to the test
there was a high level of satisfaction among testers, with all users successfully navigating the app and completing key tasks without assistance. while the overall experience felt intuitive and straightforward, testing revealed opportunities to make saving content, navigation, and visual cues even clearer.
100%
of users felt confident navigating throughout the platform with minimal assistance
4 of 5
users successfully saved a trip with little to no confusion
100%
of users would be extremely likely to use this product if it existed today
iterations & refinements
while navigating through the platform, users all had very similar behavior and comments about the overall product. this lead me to implement a couple of changes:
align save icon with user expectations. replace the heart icon with a bookmark to better communicate saving and distinguish it from liking or engaging with a trip.
improve saved trip accessibility. add a persistent hamburger menu to provide quicker access to saved trips and reduce navigation friction when exploring other users’ content.
increase save CTA prominence. move the primary save action higher on the trip page to align with where users naturally looked and make the action easier to discover.
strengthen gallery scroll cues. add clearer visual indicators, such as arrows, to signal that additional recommendations are available within horizontally scrolling galleries.
final prototype