For years, we’ve been struggling with providing a personalized travel app experience for tTravel users. In today’s digital world, personalization has become more than a trend—it’s an expectation. Users want products that adapt to their needs, preferences, and lifestyles, offering experiences that feel uniquely tailored to them.
In the first version of tTravel app, personalization wasn’t part of the experience. Every user started on a standard marketplace page, where they could browse or purchase itineraries. While functional, it lacked the personal touch that makes travel planning exciting and meaningful.
Now, with the new tTravel, we’ve completely transformed the approach and introduced a deeply personalized travel app experience.
If you prefer video format, here’s the video chapter of this story:
Home Screen as Your Journey Reflection
The home screen is no longer a one-size-fits-all interface—it’s personalized to you. Your dashboard and scratch map showcase your travel plans, memories, and achievements. You can even customize the home screen wallpaper by selecting the universe that resonates with you the most.
Personalized scratch map in tTravel
Wallpapers and widget covers customization in tTravel
This shift to personalization isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about creating an app that feels like an extension of your travel story. With tTravel, your adventure begins the moment you open the app.
Smart Recommendations for Smarter Travel
We’ve also enhanced the Plans widget to make planning seamless and intuitive. Recommended itineraries are now tailored to the countries you’ve added to your Plans. Whether you’re dreaming of a trip to Japan or exploring the best of Italy, our smart suggestions help you discover itineraries that align with your goals.
Smart itinerary recommendations in tTravel
What’s Next?
Personalized travel app experience doesn’t stop here. We’re working on exciting new features to make tTravel even more tailored to your needs:
Recommended for You: In the near future, our marketplace will offer personalized itinerary suggestions based on your saved plans and preferences. This feature will make it easier than ever to find trips that match your style of travel.
Customizable Me Appearance: Soon, you’ll be able to select the look and personality of Me—your travel companion, making your interactions even more engaging and personal.
Why Personalization Matters
Travel is deeply personal. The destinations we choose, the experiences we seek, and the memories we create are all reflections of who we are. By putting personalized travel app expreience at the heart of tTravel, we’re not just helping you plan trips—we’re helping you craft experiences that resonate with your unique story.
Join uson this journey as we continue to innovate, bringing you closer to the adventures you dream of. With tTravel, your journey starts here—and it’s entirely your own.
If you opened the new app at least once you must have heard the meditative soundtrack in the background. We added it to set the proper tone and immerse users in a contemplative atmosphere helping them reminisce about their past journeys or plan future ones.
If you prefer video format, here’s the video about our app soundtrack:
As I’ve mentioned in the Concept of Me article, we wanted tTravel to be not only a tool, but also an artistic expression.
The Birth of an App Soundtrack Idea
The idea of an app soundtrack was first planted during my research on competitor apps. While exploring the Louis Vuitton City Guide app, I noticed their use of music and sound effects, which sparked a thought: could music elevate tTravel? At the time, I saw it as a nice-to-have, not a necessity—until I discovered Gris.
Gris is more than a video game; it’s a work of art. Its stunning visuals influenced tTravel’s design and the look of our mascot, Me. But the real magic lies in its soundtrack, composed by Berlinist. The music was transcendent, perfectly complementing the game’s artistic atmosphere. I even used tracks from Gris as the background music for my internal video pitch of the new app concept to our team:
As I developed the concept for tTravel, I often worked with Gris’s soundtrack playing in the background. It wasn’t just inspiration—it was a catalyst. This experience made it clear: tTravel needed its own music to evoke the same emotional depth.
DIY: A Humbling Attempt
At first, I tried composing the music myself. By the time we approached this task, DIY approach has worked pretty well for us: I’ve generated countries thumbnails, home screen wallpapers, stickers and Me sketches using DALL-E, while Sasha Buratynskyi drew the final version of Me in vector graphics. So why not compose an app soundtrack ourselves as well? 🙂
With my limited playing and recording skills, this is what I came up with:
While it was a fun experiment, it became clear that not everything can be done ourselves… 🙂 We wanted the music to be truly to the point, not just music for the sake of music. We wanted it to feel like ocean waves, drawing you into a meditative state. For that, we needed more than amateur skills.
Turning to the Professionals
Determined to find the right sound, I reached out to Berlinist, hoping they could compose a track for us. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a response.
That’s when Sasha Buratynskyi stepped in. In previous life, Sasha had a strong connection to the music world. He played in a band called In Diana, worked as a sound engineer, and even created video interviews with drummers. One such interview featured Oleksandr Solokha, a talented drummer known for his work with O.Torvald, Lika Bugaeva, and DJ Tapolsky:
Sasha reached out to Oleksandr, who had since started composing his own music. To our delight, Oleksandr agreed to help—and he nailed it on the first try. His track perfectly captured the meditative, relaxing, and emotional vibe we were aiming for. It’s amazing how old connections can lead to such serendipitous outcomes years later!
Photo of Sasha Buratynskyi and Oleksandr Solokha made in 2015
Conclusions
Now that the app has been live for several months, we can confidently say the app soundtrack has achieved its goal. While notions like “meditation” or “emotional connection” can’t be directly measured, their impact is evident in one key metric: session length. Users are spending significantly more time in the app, proving that the music creates a more engaging experience.
Another important insight is that only 8% of users turn off the music in Settings. And personally, I sometimes just turn on tTravel to listen to it 🙂
Stay tuned for more stories about the creative journey behind tTravel!
In the era of artificial intelligence, the new tTravel app stands as a synthesis of human and AI creativity. From conceptual design to detailed visuals, AI played a pivotal role in shaping the app’s aesthetic and functionality. In this article, I’ll delve into the development of tTravel app design with AI, focusing on the creation of country thumbnails, wallpapers, stickers and our mascot, Me.
If you prefer video format, here’s a video about developing our app design with AI:
Country Thumbnails: A Unified Aesthetic
In the new app’s concept we completely restructured the itineraries database. This required a dedicated folder for every country of the world. Naturally, each folder needed a thumbnail, but finding the right approach wasn’t easy.
Using the tTravel logo for every thumbnail felt monotonous, while stock photos appeared too inconsistent and cluttered. This led to the idea of creating unique thumbnails in a consistent style—a blend of cubism and minimalism. This style not only complemented the geometric theme of our mascot, Me, but also offered a clean, modern aesthetic for the app.
One of the famous painters who worked in the cubism style was Picasso. When I started generating images for the app, I didn’t expect to match Picasso’s level, of course… just not ending up with Picasshole art would be fine 🙂
To generate images, I usedDALL-E. And I was greatly impressed by the results carefully crafted prompts could yield. Of course, it required a bit of a tweaking, but in general I should say that DALL-E understood the task pretty quickly and generated incredibly beautiful images, some of them I may even call masterpieces!
AI-generated country thumbnails in tTravel
Overall, it took me about 2 weeks to generate thumbnails for about 200 destinations but it was definitely worth it. We achieved a cohesive and visually appealing interface for the Plans and Memories widgets. The feedback from users was overwhelmingly positive. Many shared that they spent up to 10 minutes just admiring the country thumbnails and flipping through their widget pages on the dashboard. A truly brilliant AI contribution to the app design.
Wallpapers: Building Universes
Initially we planned the wallpapers to be drawn by professional illustrators. I was greatly inspired by the level design in Grisvideo game and wanted something similar for our wallpapers, aligning with the minimalist cubist aesthetic.
Level designs in Gris
Unfortunately, none of the illustrators we found came close to the idea we were aiming for.
That’s why I decided to experiment with DALL-E once again—and it didn’t disappoint. Within a short time, I generated a dozen mesmerizing wallpaper concepts, all reflecting the style we envisioned.
AI-generated wallpaper concepts in tTravel
The only drawback was DALL-E’s inability to produce vector graphics, which are essential for implementing future parallax effects we have in mind.
To address this, we selected the best AI-generated designs as references and handed them to an illustrator—an acquaintance of Sasha Buratynskyi—who recreated them in vector form. The result was a stunning collection of wallpapers that brought the app’s artistic vision to life.
Many apps reward users with badges, often generic in design and logic of unlocking. I decided to approach the concept of rewards from a different angle. First of all, I thought traveling is associated with stickers rather than badges. Think about it:
Many travelers have stickers on their passports, suitcases, laptops and smartphones.
Some leave stickers abroad as a memento, hoping to find them years later. It’s like leaving a part of yourself in some place abroad that’s become dear to you.
After all, if the stickers receive positive feedback we might even consider printing and selling them as tTravel merch.
Our stickers were also made with DALL-E. But it was a challenging process.
Stickers in tTravel
Step 1: Ideas and Prompts
First, I created a list of sticker ideas, names and the actions users could take to unlock them. Each sticker needed to stand out, often incorporating Easter Eggs paying tribute to iconic movies, series, musicians, or video games.
Step 2: Visualizing Stickers with AI
Then, I wrote prompts to visualize each sticker separately. It was harder than with countries’ covers or wallpapers, because the ideas of the stickers were often pretty complicated for AI to understand and visualize in the right way. I even had to abandon some ideas and choose simpler ones.
For example, a sticker for the car traveling itineraries was initially meant to be a tribute to the scene with Brad Pitt and Margaret Qualley from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, nodding to Tarantino’s fondness for including foot shots in his movies. With this one, DALL-E constantly messed up with the legs, number of fingers and the car composition.
Attempted sticker tribute to Tarantino
Despite the challenges, I believe we’ve created a solid first iteration of stickers. They’re unique, meaningful, and aligned with tTravel’s vision of making every user interaction personal and enjoyable.
But this is just the beginning. If you have ideas for new stickers or suggestions to improve the existing ones, we’re all ears! Collaborating with our community is essential to making tTravel even better. Who knows? Your idea could be the next standout sticker in the app—or even on someone’s suitcase.
Me sketches
The development of Me, our mascot, was another area where AI had a significant impact. From early sketches to the final design, DALL-E played a key role in refining Me’s appearance. For the full story on how AI influenced Me’s development, check out this article.
AI-generated mascot sketches for tTravel
The Artistic Impact of AI
Incorporating AI into the development of tTravel app design allowed us to merge human creativity with cutting-edge technology. AI didn’t just save time; it elevated the app’s design by providing unique, cohesive visuals that resonate with our users.
As we continue to innovate, AI will remain a vital tool in shaping tTravel. Stay tuned for more updates on how we’re blending art, technology, and travel into a seamless, personalized experience.
One of the biggest novelties in tTravel 2.0 is the Scratch Map. Of course, it’s not a big innovation. Most of our competitors already have a similar feature implemented. But remember what I said in our article about building a travel app in wartime? Competitors enjoy numerous advantages. To stand out, we needed to push boundaries and approach familiar features with bold creativity.
The mission was clear: create a map so distinctive and unexpected that users wouldn’t mistake tTravel for anything else on the market.
If you prefer video format, here’s a video about our scratch map creation:
Threads
I came up with that idea to merge the Scratch Map with Me, our mascot, in a gamified way. This involved threads growing from Me’s head and extending to the map, coloring countries that users added to their Plans or Memories. The concept sounded fun and innovative, but execution proved challenging.
At first, we projected the threads on top of the map, ending in geo pins at their tips. It worked for a few countries, but once entire continents were colored, the map became a chaotic tangle of lines that almost made us abandon the whole threads concept. Just look at this mess:
Chaotic tangle of threads in early iterations
We were really having a hard time finding the solution. However, a collective brainstorming effort saved the day:
Thinner Threads & Lower Opacity: Making the threads less intrusive visually.
Switching Layers: Moving the threads to the back layer, hiding them under the map.
Replacing Geo Pins with Dots: Simplifying the endpoints for a cleaner look.
Through these adjustments, the concept evolved into a polished and functional feature.
Improved threads look after refinement
However, the best part of the threads feature, to my mind, is that they are actually alive! This was another great idea by Kedri. By integrating the smartphone’s accelerometer, he made the threads “alive,” swinging side to side as users tilted their phones. This hypnotic motion added a playful, dynamic element to the app, significantly increasing session lengths.
At first, we considered an option of having a single layer of the map with different colors. But having one country in both Plans and Memories really turned that version into a confusing mess:
One-layered map version
That’s when we came up with the idea of switching the map layer by swiping the cube (Me’s head) in any direction – literally making a turn of the cube shifting the perspective.
As for the colors choice, we decided to color the Plans layer green, as it represents freshness and new beginnings. The Memories layer is colored orange, evoking warmth, vividness, and cherished experiences.
Shades
If you look close enough, you can see that our map layers are not uniform. They have different shades of green and orange. Right now the shades are placed randomly, but in the future it will have an awesome deeper meaning! Future updates will tie shades to time:
Brighter shades for recent additions: Reflecting vivid, fresh experiences.
Fading shades for older entries: Mirroring the nostalgic fading of old photographs.
Inspired by polaroid photography, this feature adds a temporal dimension to the map, making it a living archive of your travels.
This was another awesome idea proposed by Kedri. Indeed, all co-founders put their share of creativity into the concept!
Future Plans
We’re just scratching the surface of the map’s potential. Here’s what’s coming next:
Shaded Logic: Implementing the temporal shading system for a deeper storytelling experience.
Full-Screen Mode: A feature that will take the Scratch Map to a new level. Unlike competitors, this mode will allow users to mark only the specific areas of a country they’ve visited, not just the entire territory. While details are under wraps, we promise a feature that will set tTravel apart even further.
Future full screen map
The Scratch Map in tTravel 2.0 is more than a feature—it’s a creative statement. From its interactive threads to its meaningful colors and dynamic layers, every detail reflects the collective creativity of our team.
With more exciting updates on the horizon, we’re committed to ensuring tTravel continues to stand out as a unique and immersive travel companion. Stay tuned as we keep redefining the journey!
Developing the design of our mascot, Me, was a long and challenging journey that spanned 2-3 months. From struggling to convey our vision to illustrators to leveraging AI and animation technology, the process became a creative adventure of its own.
If you prefer video format of storytelling, check out the video:
Struggling with Illustrators
Our initial approach was to work with professional illustrators to bring the concept to life. We reached out to about seven illustrators, providing them with detailed explanations and a wireframe reference to guide their designs:
1st wireframe
However, the results were far from what we envisioned. The mascot design either leaned too heavily into cartoonish and childish styles:
cartoonish versions of Me
Or presented overly literal interpretations of the concepts behind Me—such as the tree concept:
tree versions of Me
Among the options, the simplest versions came the closest. They managed to partially capture the contemplative and transcendent vibe we were striving for:
simplistic versions of Me
And we even considered stopping at one of them. Especially since it could be drawn in vector graphics making it much easier to animate. But we were cautious the overall home screen would look too dull with nothing catching the eye. And then there was our idea with wallpaper customization, for which we needed a mascot that stood out, serving as the centerpiece of any wallpaper universe.
Turning to AI: The Game-Changer
Frustrated by the lack of alignment with illustrators, I decided to experiment with AI tools like DALL-E. And it turns out AI understands me much better than people 🙂
DALL-E generated numerous incredible versions of the mascot design and the wallpapers, giving me a burst of inspiration and creativity.
At the same time it was incredibly difficult to choose the best version. What I can say for sure is that AI definitely complemented the concept. Just check out some of the coolest designs it came up with:
AI generated versions of Me
However, there was one major drawback with the imagery DALL-E created: they couldn’t be directly transformed into vector graphics, which are essential for animation. This is when Sasha Buratynskyi stepped in, recalling his artistic skills to recreate the chosen mascot design in vector form.
By simplifying the AI-generated image, Sasha made it possible to animate Me while retaining its essence.
Rive Animation
For animation, we choseRive technology. With the help ofDmytro Ruban our Me was brought to life (it is literally breathing if you take a closer look!), but only in 2D for now – to animate in 3D it needs to be redrawn. So, if any of you reading this article is inspired by tTravel and would like to make a 3D version of Me, contact us by sending email to info@ttravel.me
Me breathing animation
Interaction with Me. Hints.
From the very beginning, we knew we wanted our Me to interact with users, to be their travel companion, guide and assistant. The question was how exactly it should communicate. Should we give it hands or face? Should it have any emotions depending on users’ actions?
At some point I came up with the idea of central cube animation – turning into different emojis or icons:
Me’s central cube animation
Ultimately we came up with a circle monitor and Yin and yang sign (check the article about Me’s concept and hidden senses) replaced by other icons from time to time, giving Me a more technological vibe, but still there’s part of me that has warm feelings about that versions with central cube’s animations 🙂
Me’s version with circle monitor
Plans for the Future:
Me’s evolution is far from over. Here’s what we’re working on next:
AI-Powered Features: Me will act as your personal travel assistant, like a travel-focused Siri or Chat GPT. We’re planning significant expansions of Me’s interaction with users, of course backed by AI. It will search for travel information like weather conditions, hotels, car rental, flight info etc. Also, it will provide inspirational tips and help with itinerary building.
3D Animation: A fully animated 3D version of Me is in our sights, and we’re eager to collaborate with talented artists to make it happen.
Customizable Skins: We’re planning to introduce multiple skins for Me, allowing premium users to choose their mascot’s look.
Gamified Progression: Inspired by Journey, we aim to incorporate gamification, where Me’s appearance evolves based on users’ achievements in the app.
Wayfarer in Journey changes its look with every new game completion
Our mascot Me is the soul of tTravel app. Its bizarre look might evoke a lot of questions. In this article, I will share all the answers and reveal hidden senses behind Me.
If you’re more up to video content, here’s the video story based on this article:
Why Me?
In the initial concepts, we called our mascot “Istotka” (“creature” in Ukrainian)—a name I used when presenting the app concept to other co-founders.
However, in the final stages of development, we decided to change the name, and here are some of the most interesting versions we considered:
Puzzle— rejected because of the letter “z.” ruzzian aggression against our country has tainted even a Latin letter, giving it negative associations.
Riddle— commonly used in computer games, where it refers to a puzzle the player must solve to proceed. Rejected due to the narrow audience and complex meaning.
t— an extra “t” in “tTravel” resulted from a typo by one of the co-founders, Oleksandr Buratynskyi, when he created the first group chat for co-founders. Naming our mascot “t” would be an additional justification for the name “tTravel”, but it still didn’t feel like the best option.
Me— the name we came up with when recalling our website domain ‘ttravel.me’. We considered it the best option, as we wanted our mascot to be a mirror of the user, but metaphorically—not as an explicit reflection. Some might see it as an assistant. Others might consider it a kind of Tamagotchi. And some might view it as their avatar. Plus, this name works well with the hints Me gives to users.
Why Does Me’s Head Resemble a Rubik’s Cube?
Constructor
Think about a Rubik’s Cube: it’s a mix of colorful pieces that, at first glance, might seem chaotic. But each turn brings you closer to a perfect, seamless picture. Travel, too, starts with a beautiful mess: ideas, dreams, and destinations waiting to be pieced together. And that’s what Me symbolizes — the challenge and joy of solving a puzzle of a perfect journey by means of our itinerary constructor.
Self-discovery
Travel shapes us, expands our worldview, and reveals new sides of ourselves—just like solving a Rubik’s Cube reveals an unexpected, colorful harmony. Me’s head serves as a metaphor of self-discovery through traveling.
A striking reinforcement of our concept is the sculpture “In Search of Your True Self” by Ukrainian sculptor Bohdan Kazachenko. I came up with the concept of Me before seeing this sculpture, but it was a real pleasure coming across it, as it really shored up the idea behind Me’s concept.
“In Search of Your True Self” sculpture by Ukrainian sculptor Bohdan Kazachenko
The Meaning Behind Threads
Threads connecting Me with the map of the world is another hugely important feature of our mascot and Home screen in general.
When I came up with this idea, I couldn’t imagine our co-founder Kerdi Plok would implement it with such a cool mechanic — threads are reacting to you tilting the smartphone!
Let’s break down the symbolism behind them.
Mental Ties
Travel memories are among the most cherished and vivid ones. By means of threads I tried to depict special bonds we make while traveling, tying together places, people, and experiences. I call these bonds ‘mental ties’ with the world.
When Me grows mental ties with the map, it becomes a ‘Tree’ symbol — a symbol of life and growth. Thus, I aimed to give users a subconscious feeling of self-growth and fresh air in the app.
Tree
When Me grows mental ties with the map, it becomes a ‘Tree’ symbol — a symbol of life and growth. Thus, I aimed to give users a subconscious feeling of self-growth and fresh air in the app.
Matrix
Another source of inspiration for us was the concept of Matrix, where people plunge into the Matrix through cables connected to the back of the head. This way we also aimed to show that users can relive their travel memories in tTravel.
Conceiving
Finally, I metaphorically aimed to symbolize the process of conceiving a travel plan — I guess, no explanations needed after looking at the pictures 🙂
Yinyang, Colors and Drawing Style
When developing the concept of new tTravel, I was also greatly inspired by two indie games: Journeyand Gris.
Journey
In Journey you play as an abstract wayfarer heading to the ‘Mountain’. Along the way, you meet companions that look very similar to you and ultimately you understand that it’s not about the final destination, but about the journey itself, which in fact is a never-ending one, and the companions you share it with. This idea had a huge impact on our concept.
The colors of Me are similar to the colors of a wayfarer you’re playing for in Journey, and the mountain behind Me’s back on the main wallpaper is in fact an Easter egg of the “mountain’ from Journey. Hence, the concept of Me metaphorically depicts both user and user’s travel companion.
The Yinyang symbol on Me’s screen is also a reference to Journey, as in the end of the game you realize that you were heading to the ‘mountain’ just to start your journey over and over again. This inspired me to come up with a never-ending cycle of travel content in the app: at first you plan your journey using the travel experience of other people, then this experience becomes yours and your updated knowledge serves as a guidance for the next travelers forming a never-ending cycle of travel content creation and updating.
Gris
Character and level design in Gris served as a huge inspiration for me as well. In terms of our mascot, its look was strongly influenced by a square-headed companion you meet along the way in Gris.
In terms of wallpapers I really wanted tTravel to have the same visual vibe. We achieved it by combining AI and human creativity.
But the main source of inspiration from Gris for me was its OST. Composed by Berlinist, it guided me through months of work over the new tTravel concept. The first concept video I pitched to my co-founders was accompanied by Gris OST. I dreamed of having a similar soundtrack in the app and it’s such a pleasure that we’ve achieved that. Soon, we will release an article about soundtrack creation as well, so stay tuned!
Conclusions
tTravel has been deeply inspired by the world of art in all its forms—cinematography, music, sculpture, video games, and even AI-generated art. These influences have shaped the app’s design, features, and overall experience, blending creativity with functionality to create a platform that isn’t simply a tool, but an artistic expression. From visual aesthetics to interactive elements, every detail reflects our passion for art and travel.
Follow tTravel for more stories and insights into the creative journey behind the app, and stay inspired to explore the world with us!
We’re thrilled to begin sharing the story of new tTravel, a travel app built with passion and perseverance in wartime against all odds.
In this article, we’ll take a trip down memory lane, recalling tTravel at its early stages and contemplating over the milestones of the long journey that shaped us into what we are today.
If you’re more up to video content, here’s the video story based on this article:
The Beginning: A Vision Takes Shape
It all started in late 2017 when we launched the YouTube channel #BEZVIZ with an ambitious first season showcasing the wonders of Indonesia.
I was in the midst of the darkest period of my life at the time and immersing myself in work on tTravel and #BEZVIZ literally saved my sanity.
The idea of combining the two projects was simple: inspire people with cinematic travel videos and provide easy-to-use itineraries to help them recreate those journeys without the stress of planning. To check the demand for such itineraries I created a simple website on Wix and uploaded a basic Bali itinerary.
This is how it looked like:
The website was really clunky and laggy, but the idea struck a chord. The positive feedback encouraged us to move forward.
Prototype 1.0: A Rough Draft
In the summer of 2018 we started building the first prototype of our future travel app. That’s when the name ‘tTravel’ emerged – when creating the first group chat for 3 co-founders Sasha Buratynskyi made a typo – extra t – which eventually became an integral part of the name.
In April 2019 the prototype was finally released and here’s what the first version of tTravel looked like:
Looking at it now, the first thing I do is wipe blood off my eyes but then I realize a galactic-scale progress we’ve made with tTravel since that iteration. The ugly duckling turned into a swan.
However, even with such a horrific design, the platform attracted our first creators and customers. Their support and feedback laid the groundwork for the future.
Prototype 2.0: A Step Forward
Realizing the need to drastically improve the design and UX, we started building the travel app prototype 2.0. Released in late 2020, it looked radically better and eventually became the basis for the first tTravel app.
We added a more user-friendly itinerary catalog with basic search functionality, included a creator section, and made the overall look more juicy and travel-related. We also created title pages of the itineraries, which was vitally important for boosting sales. Additionally, we streamlined the content consumption experience by eliminating the extra step of clicking on the “Day” button to access daily descriptions, making the flow much smoother and more intuitive.
Yet at the time we haven’t abandoned the idea of accessing locations’ content through geo pins on the map, which hindered seamless content consumption. We realized that flaw later on and fixed the issue in the next design versions.
Here’s how prototype 2.0 looked:
Overall, people perceived this prototype much better. But while the design was more visually appealing, it still had a major flaw. The mobile-oriented prototype didn’t translate well to desktop screens, leaving empty white spaces on either side. This pushed us toward a pivotal decision: focusing entirely on a dedicated mobile app experience. Web version meanwhile was put on hold and later hidden.
App 1.0: The Leap to Mobile
In August 2021 we launched tTravel app 1.0 on iOS and Android. This version introduced smoother content consumption with separate Days, Notes and Map sections. We also removed unnecessary clicks that users previously had to make to access itinerary locations’ content.
A big change was the bottom navigation menu with new ‘My bookmarks’ and ‘My purchases’ sections. But most notably, we unveiled the Itinerary Constructor, allowing users to create their own itineraries.
However, the constructor had lots of issues. For a really long time it didn’t support content publishing to the platform – the itineraries were stored on users’ devices only, making it mostly useless.
Also, the constructor wasn’t intuitive enough and its framework looked pretty different from what the itineraries looked like.
Here’s the flow of our constructor in app 1.0:
Overall, our travel app was met with great appraisal by Ukrainian travelers since 99% of our Ukraine itineraries were free of charge. But we failed to reach proper monetization and creator engagement. Those two key figures remained low.
We understood that relying solely on the transaction-based model of monetization isn’t viable in our case. We needed to stop being just a marketplace for itineraries and turn into something bigger, something travelers will use more frequently than once in 3-12 months and, most importantly, will be willing to pay for it on a regular basis.
Also, we realized we should shift the concept of constructor, as a very small percentage of users are willing to be travel creators. We decided to make the constructor useful for all users, not only creators, and at the same time solve the problem of stimulus for content creation.
App 2.0: Reinvention in Wartime
We started building the new travel app concept in late 2023 amid wartime in Ukraine. Tragically, we lost almost two years of time because of the ruzzian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, several competitors emerged on the market, being able to work in peace and security, travel the world, and attract investments and creators. Under such circumstances, we understood that the only way for us to compete was to differentiate from them, to be as creative as possible.
Psychologically it was also a salvation for me, just like in that dark period of my life in 2017. I’ve lost an opportunity to travel the world and make travel movies since February 2022. In fact, I haven’t had a camera in my hands since the full-scale war started, so I’ve sublimated this frustration and creative restrictions into a new tTravel app concept. And it was such a relief and joy when other co-founders got excited by the video pitch I presented in late 2023! So, we started building a new travel app almost from scratch in wartime…
It took 10 months to implement the basis of the new concept from scratch. And even though we planned to build it in 5 months, this is still a huge progress in our development speed compared to what we had before. Indeed, what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. On September 21, 2024, tTravel 2.0 was launched on Android. A week later, on September 27, it became available on iOS.
Conclusions
Our journey hasn’t been easy. From clunky beginnings to the challenges of building a completely new travel app in wartime, the road has been filled with obstacles. But looking back, I’m struck by the progress we’ve made. tTravel today is unrecognizable from its early iterations, a testament to perseverance and the power of never giving up.
If you’re working on your own project, I hope this story inspires you to keep going, no matter how daunting the challenges may seem. The feeling of looking back and seeing how far you’ve come is priceless.
In the next posts I will delve into the new app’s design & concept: from product, artistic and even philosophical perspectives. Meanwhile, take a moment to reflect on our first version, then see where we are now. This journey wouldn’t have been possible if we had thrown in the towel. The best is yet to come.
