Travelbook

Travelbook began as a simple social platform for travellers to connect and share experiences. As the community grew, expectations changed. Users wanted to plan, book and review within the same space. The challenge was to evolve from a feed of stories into a complete travel product, without losing the authenticity that made it special.

The platform had to grow fast while keeping its social roots intact. Integrating booking systems, maps and user reviews added technical and design complexity. Each new feature risked crowding the interface or confusing intent. The team operated with a small design crew spread across time zones and had to ship each release without disrupting the live product.

We started by defining what “belonging” meant inside a product. Mapping user journeys revealed that planning, booking and sharing were emotionally linked people wanted to tell the story of their trip from start to finish. The interface evolved around that insight.

I led design across flows and worked closely with engineering to merge travel data, booking APIs and user content into one coherent experience. Each release was designed modularly, allowing the platform to expand feature by feature without losing visual or structural consistency.

Every interaction reflected motion. From scrolling through feeds to exploring maps. Components were reusable, typography adaptive and navigation lightweight. The brand identity stayed human and warm, so even as the system scaled, it never felt corporate. The design aimed to keep travel personal, not transactional.

As Travelbook evolved from a pure sharing app into a platform that offered bookings and partner tours, we needed to protect its community feel. We ran A/B tests with existing users that pitted separate “Booking” tabs against contextual actions embedded within the social feed and experimented with sign‑up flows that foregrounded travel‑planning tools versus ones that emphasised stories first.

The tests showed that keeping navigation centred on the feed and surfacing booking options in‑line preserved engagement and conversion, while feature‑first layouts led to a drop in social activity. That insight guided us to integrate commercial features seamlessly into itineraries and posts, allowing the platform to grow without losing its social heart.

Travelbook proved that growth doesn’t have to dilute character. With the right structure and intent, a social idea can evolve into a scalable platform. One that still feels made by travellers, for travellers.