As an international student from China, I realized it was quite difficult for us to plan a trip in American. Then I created a survey to help me identify my potential users and their level of understanding of the technology, pain points, and needs. It gave me metrics about users’ travel choices, how they plan their travel, what do they consider on a trip and what they would like to see in a service like Gous.

As I began to transfer my card sorting exercise from Padlet into Sketch I took time to consider how and when the user would encounter the information throughout my app. Since Gous is artificial intelligence and social app, the most important user flow is for a user to connect with their commonly used tasks and find their best travel plans using artificial intelligence. Several user-flows explain how other tasks are to be done.

Before designing the user interface of this app, I began the ideation process of wire-framing by drawing out the main screens by sketching. My goal was to provide a structure and design that would meet the needs of users while keeping the objectives of the app.

Since the audience for this app is Chinese students who study in America, I identified the branding tone as friendly, love, and fresh. The logo was inspired by migrating North American Geese which was symbolic of the Chinese students who travel to American from their home country. I concluded that an abstracted goose logo mark with a rounded type would fit the brand perfectly. The name Gous also can interpret "Go U.S."