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 used DALL-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!
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 Gris video game and wanted something similar for our wallpapers, aligning with the minimalist cubist aesthetic.
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.
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.
Check out our tutorial article about wallpapers customization in tTravel.
Stickers
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.
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.
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.
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.
By: Artem Shambalov