Gous

Visual

Resume

Visual

Resume

Gous

AI-driven platform to streamline trip planning, real-time translation, and personalized travel recommendations. By combining AI-driven personalized itineraries with cultural insights, Gous serves as both a comprehensive trip planner and a platform for fostering meaningful connections.

ROLE

Visual Designer
UX Designer

DOMAINS

System Design
Visual Design
UX research

TOOLS

Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

TIMELINE

14 Weeks

Background

Why Trip Planning Feels So Hard For Me

As an international student from China, planning trips in the United States was far more difficult than I expected. What should have been an exciting experience often became stressful and overwhelming. Between classes, assignments, and part-time work, I rarely had the time or energy to research destinations, compare options, and plan trips from scratch.

As I conducted user research, I learned that language and cultural barriers are one of the most significant contributors to this problem. Many travel platforms assume users have local knowledge, such as how transportation systems work, which neighborhoods are safe, what costs are actually included, or which recommendations can be trusted.

“I struggled to find reliable guidance, often encountering hidden fees, unclear itineraries, or conflicting reviews that left me uncertain about my decisions.”

— Xinqian Zhen, International Student from China

Over time, I realized that this wasn’t just my personal frustration. Many international students who speak English as a second language face the same challenges.

This experience revealed a clear gap:

International students need a faster, more intuitive trip-planning experience that reduces cognitive load and builds trust.

Goals ✅

Create an app, solution, or product that will:

Simplify the process of planning trips for users by offering a intuitive platform tailored to their travel needs.

Provide personalized travel recommendations with detailed information, including activity ratings, reviews, and key insights.

Provide real-time chatbot assistance and language translation to help users communicate, navigate, and get instant answers to their travel-related questions.

{ Final Design & Key Features }

{ How I design Gous }

{ How I design Gous }

{ Research }

{ Research }

Secondary Research

My research aimed to understand the key challenges these students face when planning trips, the role of AI in addressing these issues, and the potential for AI-driven tools to improve user experience.

Competitive Analysis

I analyzed existing travel applications such as Agoda, Booking.com, and Kayak to identify their strengths and limitations, particularly in addressing the unique needs of international students. At present, there is no travel booking app that could apply AI technology to customers. Gous could fill the gap in tourism marketing so that students could no longer suffer the difficulty in planning trips.

User Interviews

To understand the challenges students face, I conducted user interviews with 8 international students and distributed a survey, gathering approximately 40 responses to provide insights about their travel behaviors, trip-planning strategies, pain points, and key factors that inspire their destination choices.

Approach 🎒

Our interview and survey strategy aimed to explore both practical behaviors and emotional experiences.
We sought answers to key questions:

How do international student currently plan and book their trips?
What barriers do those students face when traveling alone or with a group?
What kind of support or resources would make trip planning easier for them?

Analysis

I used inductive analysis such as affinity wall to organize and analyze the data from the interviews. This approach helped reveal key opportunities for improving trip personalization, AI-powered assistance, and user experience enhancements.

“Planning a trip is insane, I have to research destinations, compare prices, and figure out transportation.”

"I want something more unique and suited to my preferences."

Insights

From the interviews, three dominant themes emerged, each shaping Gous’s design priorities

Time Constraints in Trip Planning

International students struggle with limited time to plan trips, and arranging transportation can be overwhelming.

Lack of Personalized Travel Recommendations

International students struggle to find dining and local experiences that match their preferences and cultural backgrounds.

Language Barriers in Communication

International students struggle to understand restaurant menus and communicate with staff due to language barriers.

{ Define }

{ Define }

Empathy Map

I created this empathy map by meticulously synthesizing outcomes from user interviews, focusing on the specific experiences, emotions, thoughts, and actions of travel booking app users, particularly international students, to identify their unique needs and challenges.

User Persona

I grouped similar users together and developed two distinct user personas, each representing their collective goals, needs, and frustrations related to travel experiences.

{ Ideate }

{ Ideate }

Card Sorting

I used the open card sorting approach with 4 international students to improve the navigation structure and feature organization of Gous. I gave them these cards and asked to group them into categories that make sense to them.

User Flow

Once the IA was defined, I mapped how users would navigate through key features. Gous focused on three user flows:

Trips Recommendations

Create Trip Plans

AI Translator Assistance

{ Ptototype }

{ Ptototype }

Sketch

By sketching different screens, I can quickly explore design variations, refine the placement of key elements, and ensure a seamless user experience before moving into digital prototyping.

Prototyping

In the prototype phase, I followed our design principle and developed them into low-fidelity prototype to express my ideas. Then, I use our lofi prototype to do user testing to confirm and elaborate our ideas.

{ Test }

{ Test }

Usability Testing

I conducted a think-aloud test with two international students for Gous. The feedbacks from Gous' target users helped me identify and fix some usability issues.

Design System 🧩

I created a design system that contained all the components and UI patterns used in the application.

{ Potential Next Steps }

{ Potential Next Steps }

Deploy Code

-Expand the prototype into a fully functional app and release it to the public.

-Optimize AI trip generation for improved accuracy and user satisfaction.

More Accessible

-Develop an inclusive version to accommodate a wider range of users.

-Ensure accessibility features for users with diverse needs.

{ Key Learnings }

{ Key Learnings }

Diverse Research Methods and Implications

This was my first UX design case study and it was a fantastic experience. I learned about the core principles of Human-computer interaction (HCI), such as user-research methodologies and usability testing.

The Importance of a Design System

A well-structured design system allows my team to maintain uniform styles, components, and interactions, improving collaboration and reducing inconsistencies. By establishing standardized UI elements, typography, colors, and reusable components, the design system enhances workflow efficiency and creates a more cohesive user experience.

User-Centered Development

Involving users throughout development keeps the app aligned with their needs. And gathering feedback at every stage ensures the app remains aligned with users’ evolving needs and preferences, leading to a more refined and impactful solution.

Next up

& Xylo Dashboard

B2C SaaS, AI-Assisted CRM

& Certik.com

Website Redesign and Development

& Adaptfit

Product Design

xinjianlidesign@gmail.com