RouteWise

Project Overview

RouteWise is an all-in-one road trip planner for North America!

It simplifies route selection, vehicle choice, booking stays, and planning stops for various activities tailored to the destination, time, and budget—all with real-time cost estimates to stay within your budget.

Travelers can share the trip with others, add tripmates, and split costs with them.

I worked on this project from scratch during a bootcamp at UX-Land School, where I collaborated as a UX/UI Designer to understand user needs and collaborated with a group to design a platform for customizing road trip plans.

Stakeholder Needs

Challenges

Easy, Simple Design for All-in-One Booking: Design a platform to encourage ongoing use for future bookings:

• Streamlines route planning

• Offers vehicle selection (using your own vehicle or reserving one)

• Facilitates booking accommodations

• Enables scheduling stops (e.g., activities, outdoor adventures, sights, and attractions)

Clear Cost Display: Present costs for each step (each reservation) and trip subtotals clearly, along with a budget-fit indicator, without overwhelming users.

Time Constraints: One of the biggest challenges in designing this project was the limited time available. Each section required separate research, which made managing the timeline difficult.

Testing Limitations: Another major challenge was the inability to test with users in real-life booking scenarios. Instead of conducting qualitative usability tests, I had to rely on lab-based testing, which limited the accuracy and reliability of our insights.

Route Planning: Provide multiple route options.

Vehicle Management: Enable users to select their vehicle or reserve one easily.

Accommodation Booking: Simplify finding and reserving stays along the route.

Activity Scheduling: Allow users to add stops for activities, outdoor adventures, and attractions.

Cost Management: Set trip budget, present clear reservation costs, and subtotals with budget comparisons.

Road Trip Enthusiasts: Individuals or groups planning road trips across North America.

Budget-Conscious Travelers: Users who prioritize managing expenses and staying within a budget.

Families and Groups: Travelers needing a streamlined platform for multi-stop trips and shared expenses.

Adventure Seekers: Users interested in exploring scenic routes, outdoor activities, and attractions.

RV and Vehicle Renters: Travelers without their own vehicle or looking to rent one for the journey.

Target Users

key Tasks

Designe Thinking

I followed a Double Diamond approach based on Design Thinking. It was not a linear path, as I moved between stages as the project evolved.

Discover

For trip planning, I focused on designing a package that includes roads, vehicles, activities, and accommodations. Each area required individual consideration, which I addressed separately during the interview process.

To understand users' pain points and develop effective solutions, I employed a comprehensive research approach using the following methods:

1. Interview

2. Competitive Analysis

Interview

I selected people who take road trips several times a year (cars/RVs) or tour leaders who manage travelers' needs. I used open-ended questions to foster discussion rather than a strict Q&A format.

I identified user pain points and expectations and discussed them with our stakeholders. Considering the business's value proposition and time constraints, I began defining the key contents for the information architecture.

Competitive Analysis

I evaluated 12 online platforms related to road trips planning, RV/car rentals, and hotel/accommodation reservations, by examining important features based on stockholder needs. Using these features, I designed an all-in-one road trip planning that provides essential, easy-to-use tools.

Our analysis shows that Roadtrippers was the most competitive platform. However, it does not offer direct reservations for RVs, cars, or activities.            So, for accommodations, I conducted a competitive analysis on Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, and TripAdvisor. For car and RV rentals, Outdoorsy and similar platforms were analyzed. 

Below, I outlined the key aspects that influenced our design.

Define

Affinity Diagram

Based on Insights from the interviews, I created an Affinity Diagram and identified pain points and expectations for each key step.

Our chosen persona represents users who value time management, budgeting, and organized planning. The users I interviewed are eager for road trips but avoid them due to limited time. They need a comprehensive platform to meet all their travel needs in one place, helping them manage both time and money while planning a memorable road trip.

Persona

Site Map

To ensure our information architecture meets user expectations, I conducted open/ close card sorting using the Optimal Workshop & Figma. After the initial exercise, I developed our first version and iteratively refined it based on user testing and competitive analysis.

Here is our final site map:

I added a customization task to the user flow for personalized packages, providing a seamless experience for busy professionals like Sam.

Final User Flow

Develop

After analyzing all of our research, we began to understand our project’s needs and challenges and tried to find a solution in our design.

• Easy, straightforward flow to gather essential information to start planning their trips.

• Clear details on route & Pricing without overwhelming:

• Easily plan road trips with smooth intuitive navigation, select favorites and spots based on needs through accessible, comprehensive filtering.

Iterations- Step 1

Sketches and Wireframes

I started with hand-sketched low-fidelity wireframes to facilitate team communication during the early design stages. Later, I used Figma to create mid-fidelity wireframes, visualizing page layouts and design direction for stakeholders.

These wireframes show a part of my design that went through multiple iterations. After finalizing the layout, I moved on to the high-fidelity design for the rest of the project.

Iterations- Step 2

Iterations- Step 3

I shaped our mood board inspired by nature, ultimately arriving at a color palette that includes a variety of green shades symbolizing nature and vitality, along with cream tones inspired by the sunrise.

Moodboard

UI Kit

We developed a complete UI kit to serve as a reference for templates and components. This kit ensures that interface development is smooth, consistent, and efficient throughout the project.

Our UI kit balances casualness with a color palette of dark & light green, light orange & brown tones, modern and easy-to-read fonts.

Deliver

High Fidelity Wireframe

Protoype

Here is the last prototype, displaying what I've achieved through our design process.

After many iterations, this represents a portion of the current high-fidelity design.

Iteration and Usability Test

Throughout the project, I went through multiple iterations, driven by the insights I gained from usability tests. These tests were instrumental in shaping our decisions and constantly enhancing our project.