Pinned

An 8-month project to create an app that makes it simple for users to document their travels and revisit special moments. Designed to fit naturally into users’ travel routines, Pinned solves common problems like messy photo libraries, fading memories, and difficulty organizing travel experiences.

Designing a travel app to help users capture and relive their memories from 0 to 1

Challenge

To design an app that helps users document and relive their travel experiences, addressing key pain points such as:

Photo clutter
Difficulty recalling details of past trips
Lack of tools for meaningful memory organization

Responsibility

As the design lead, I was responsible for guiding a team of six designers from the initial idea to a polished prototype. I managed the project roadmap, coordinated tasks, and ensured we met key milestones on time.

Final Prototype

Team

6 Designers
1 Design Lead (Me)

My responsibilities

Market Research
Wireframing & Prototyping
Site Map
User Journey Mapping

Time

Nov 2023 - Jun 2024

Capture. Store. Relive.

With Pinned, every trip becomes more than just photos.

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Trace your path and journey

Visualize where you’ve been and how far you’ve traveled with location-based mapping of memories.

Personalized albums by trip and location

Organize photos into neat, customizable albums, helping users reconnect with their journeys.

Multisensory journal

Beyond snapshots, users can add sounds, events, notes, and more to bring their memories to life

The problem

Have you noticed how quickly the little details of a trip are forgotten?

After the excitement fades, only the big highlights remain, while the smaller, special moments seem to disappear like footprints in the sand.

Defining the problem

Draft survey centered around 3 guiding questions

Our first step was to understand how people remember and record their travels.

Question #1

How do people currently capture and preserve their travel memories?

Insights: Apple Photos, Google Photos, default camera apps, or trip journals for documentation.

Question #2

What motivates people to document their travel experiences?

Insights: Preserve memories, share experiences with loved ones, and marking trip milestones.

Question #3

What do people wish they could do with their travel memories but can’t with current tools?

Insights: Organizing moments into stories

Research

Research insights challenged our assumptions

Our 102 survey insights revealed surprising results:

Unexpected insights❗️

A deeper need

Research

Why are users satisfied with current tools and what other challenges do they still face?

We conducted a market analysis and 11 in-depth interviews to understand what users like about their current tools and where those tools fall short.

Brainstorming potential features

I led the team to explore 117 potential features and narrowed them down to the ones that would have the most impact:

Final prototype

Solution

Reflection

Leadership and design evolution

Leading a team of six designers on this project was a rewarding experience. Each team member brought different skills, so I focused on prioritizing the most important features to meet our deadlines. We worked together to create a consistent design by standardizing fonts, colors, and layouts, giving the app a polished and unified look. This experience helped me grow as a leader and create a product that makes saving and reliving memories more meaningful and enjoyable.