Wander
–◻✕
WorksWander

Wander

A discovery and booking app built around the two moments every other travel product skips: choosing together, and the days after you’ve paid.

Role
Product designer
Type
Self-directed
Contains
22 screens
Modified
2026

Overview

Travel apps are good at showing you places. They’re terrible at helping you decide.

Finding a nice hotel takes four minutes. Getting three people to agree takes four days. And the moment money changes hands most travel apps go quiet, right when you need them.

A diary study: 14 travellers, two-week diaries, 9 follow-up interviews, groups of 2–5.

Wander 01 feedwander-01-feed.jpgWander 12 party votewander-12-party-vote.jpgWander 07 trip plannerwander-07-trip-planner.jpg

Research

Four findings that shaped everything.

11
days between first save and booking

Group trips stalled on agreement, not money.

0
apps used after check-in

Everyone moved to notes, screenshots and the group chat.

9/14
asked a host something already answered

Asked privately, because nobody could see prior answers.

73%
of saved places never revisited

Saving was a reflex, not an intention.

Reversals

Three decisions I got wrong first.

Tried
A personalised feed with “because you saved…” on every card
Shipped
A clean catalogue; personal context moved to the detail screen

The reason lines made a browsing surface feel like an argument, and promised a ranking the feed didn’t deliver.

Tried
A concierge chat with a Wander assistant
Shipped
An inbox with three threads, Hosts, Party, Wander

Chat collapsed three unrelated conversations into one. Split apart, each could be shaped properly.

Tried
Elevated, shadowed photo cards
Shipped
Flat, full-bleed cards with no shadow

Shadows put a layer of interface between the viewer and the place.

The work

Five features, in the order a trip happens.

Discover

A catalogue that respects browsing

Full-bleed photography, one category strip, no interstitial noise. The only data besides name and price is a deal pill, and only when the price is genuinely below its usual rate.

TestedTall cards won on time-per-card. The mosaic drove more taps but shallower ones.
Wander 01 feedwander-01-feed.jpgWander 03 detailwander-03-detail.jpg
Price intelligence

Say what the price means, not just what it is

Every price carries context: how it compares to the usual rate, whether it dropped since you saved it, and which nearby window is cheapest.

TestedThe flexible-window strip changed the dates in 6 of 9 sessions.
Wander 09 bookingwander-09-booking.jpgWander 02 search filterswander-02-search-filters.jpg
Decide

Voting lives inside the conversation

The shortlist argument already happens in a group chat, so the vote belongs there. A poll is a structured message with a close time and a tie rule.

TestedSetting the tie rule up front removed deadlock entirely.
Wander 13 poll composerwander-13-poll-composer.jpgWander 12 party votewander-12-party-vote.jpg
During the trip

The app that stays open after you’ve paid

The itinerary becomes the home screen. Walk times, a NOW marker, weather, offline save, and a wallet holding passes and confirmations.

TestedThe disruption screen drew the strongest reaction. Two people asked if it was real.
Wander 07 trip plannerwander-07-trip-planner.jpgWander 16 disruptionwander-16-disruption.jpgWander 08 document walletwander-08-document-wallet.jpg
Inbox

Close the gap between traveller and place

No travel app gives you a line to the person who owns the room. Host questions are answered publicly, so the same question is asked once.

TestedPublic answers removed the need to ask in 7 of 9 sessions.
Wander 11 host qawander-11-host-qa.jpgWander 14 wander actionswander-14-wander-actions.jpg

System

One accent, used only for the thing you should touch next.

Ink#0A0A0B
Surface#16171A
Lime#C7F14A
Alert#FF6B5E
Paper#FAF8F4

Outcome

4.2×

faster group decision in moderated tests

8/9

called price context the reason they’d trust it

0

closed the app after booking, against 14 of 14 before

2

features cut after testing

Still open

Blind voting tested well with three people and badly with five. And host Q&A assumes hosts answer, with a slow host it reads as abandonment.

Screens

Everything in the folder.

Wander 01 feedwander-01-feed.jpgWander 02 search filterswander-02-search-filters.jpgWander 03 detailwander-03-detail.jpgWander 04 mapwander-04-map.jpgWander 05 discover deckwander-05-discover-deck.jpgWander 06 saved boardwander-06-saved-board.jpgWander 07 trip plannerwander-07-trip-planner.jpgWander 08 document walletwander-08-document-wallet.jpgWander 09 bookingwander-09-booking.jpgWander 10 inboxwander-10-inbox.jpgWander 11 host qawander-11-host-qa.jpgWander 12 party votewander-12-party-vote.jpgWander 13 poll composerwander-13-poll-composer.jpgWander 14 wander actionswander-14-wander-actions.jpgWander 15 onboardingwander-15-onboarding.jpgWander 16 disruptionwander-16-disruption.jpgWander 17 recapwander-17-recap.jpgWander 18 profilewander-18-profile.jpgWander light 01 feedwander-light-01-feed.jpgWander light 03 detailwander-light-03-detail.jpgWander light 07 tripwander-light-07-trip.jpgWander light 12 party votewander-light-12-party-vote.jpg
22 items1.18 MB