How can we make travel planning a more enjoyable experience in todays age?
Role
Seja Kwon, Product Designer
Duration
February 2024 - Present
Tools
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator
The Evolving Landscape of Travel
The way people plan travel has been fundamentally reshaped by digital technology. The modern traveler is no longer reliant on only traditional travel methods. Instead, they are Content-Driven and Experience-Obsessed.
Key Trends shaping this shift
Visual First Decision Making
Aesthetics and shareability drive destination choices . Travelers want to visualize the experience, culture, and immersion through photos and videos.
40.1% of travelers aged 18-33 choose vacation spots based on how “Instagrammable” they are
The Rise of Social Influence
Travelers now trust recommendations from online content creators and peers over traditional sources.
Also 88% of Gen Z consumers are following at least one travel influencer on TikTok.
The Problem: The "Platform Planning Pain Point"
Our research identified a critical pain point in the modern planning process: tool fragmentation. Users are forced to juggle an inefficient ecosystem of platforms to move from inspiration to itinerary. This multi-app process undermines the user priority for efficiency (in both time and distance).
The Solution: A Consolidated UX for End-to-End Travel Planning.
Coddi is designed to solve tool fragmentation by providing a single, unified platform for the entire travel journey: from visual inspiration to optimized itinerary execution.
Unified Inspiration Moodboard
Users can seamlessly dump and collect inspiration (images, links, text) from all social media and web sources into a single, visual moodboard.
Single Tap Itinerary
With a single tap ("Generate Itinerary"), the AI takes the user-selected activities and creates the most time and distance-efficient route. It remains mindful of user requests and constraints.
Seamless Collaboration
Users can easily invite others, share their trip, and allow collaborators to contribute to and co-plan the itinerary.
Flexible Itinerary View Modes
Have both a Schedule View: A traditional, chronological itinerary showing "where and when to go," as well as a Map View: A visual representation of the route, crucial for understanding and optimizing area-based travel.
Organize your ideas into mood boards, itineraries, and trip guides.
Using AI, turn the board into an actual Itinerary, curated by your personal likes
Invite and collab with friends and family together to make the perfect trip
The Road Ahead: Future Vision and Growth
Our current solution solves the major pain point of planning fragmentation, but our ambition is to own the entire travel cycle, from the earliest flicker of inspiration to the final shared memory. We have two key strategic priorities for the future development of Coddi:
Closing the Discovery Loop: The Integrated Social Feed
Effortless Documentation and Storytelling
Our immediate priority is to transition the app from a superb aggregator of external content to a primary source of inspiration. We plan to implement a proprietary Social Discovery Feed.
The long-term vision for this product is rooted in recognizing that every trip is a deeply personal and unique adventure. We aim to create the ultimate toolkit for post-trip documentation. This involves designing features that effortlessly synthesize the user’s completed itinerary, collected media, and time-stamped activities into a visually rich, shareable "Journey Story."