Product Designer
Pinpoint App
Location saving and notification mobile app
Background
The Problem:
Many users struggle with keeping track of saved places across different apps, screenshots, notes, or maps. Whether users are planning local outings or traveling to unfamiliar areas, organizing restaurants, attractions, shops, or personal destinations can become overwhelming and disorganized. Current travel and map experiences often require users to constantly switch between multiple apps, making the process inefficient and frustrating.
The stakeholder wanted a solution that would allow users to:
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Organize saved locations in one centralized app
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Quickly access important destinations while traveling
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Receive helpful reminders or location-based prompts when near saved places
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Simplify travel planning and everyday location management
The pain points:
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Users forget about locations they previously saved
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Saved places are difficult to organize clearly
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Existing map applications can feel cluttered or overly complex
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Travelers often miss nearby places they intended to visit
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Notifications and reminders are not personalized to location activity
Objective: PinPoint aimed to design a user-friendly mobile app that helps users organize locations and provides smart, location-based functionality.
Key functions:
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Creating an organized system for saving and categorizing locations
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Designing a clean and simple interface for easy navigation
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Implementing location-triggered reminders and pop-up notifications
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Improving the overall travel and exploration experience
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Making the app feel approachable, modern, and enjoyable to use
The Design Process
Team contributions:
Collaboration:
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Discussing core user pain points
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Brainstorming travel-related app features
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Reviewing interface concepts
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Providing iterative feedback during design revisions
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Aligning on the overall product direction and user goals
My role:
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UX research
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Design research
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Competitor analysis
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Wireframing
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Low-fidelity design creation
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High-fidelity UI design
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Mockup creation
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Visual interface refinement
Target Audience
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Smartphone users who frequently travel locally or internationally
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Users who enjoy discovering restaurants, attractions, and activities
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Travelers who want a simpler way to organize destinations
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Busy individuals who benefit from reminders and location notifications
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Users looking for an all-in-one location organization experience
Discovery Phase
Design inspiration:
During the discovery phase, I researched and analyzed existing travel, food, and location-based applications to understand common design patterns and usability strengths.
Apps reviewed included:
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Food discovery apps
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Travel planning apps
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Map and navigation applications
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Location bookmarking platforms
The research focused on:
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Navigation structure
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Information hierarchy
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User interaction patterns
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Search functionality
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Saving and organizing features
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Notification systems
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Visual simplicity and accessibility
Key findings from competitor analysis:
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Users preferred simple and visually clean interfaces
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Overly crowded maps reduced usability
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Personalized reminders improved engagement
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Categorization features helped users feel more organized
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Minimal and modern UI styles improved the user experience
The Outcome
Solution
How the design was determined
The final solution was a streamlined mobile application that combines location organization with smart notification features.
The design focused on:
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Easy location saving and categorization
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Clear navigation structure
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Personalized reminders based on proximity
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A visually clean interface with minimal clutter
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Simple interactions that reduce user effort
The app includes:
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A home dashboard for reminders and notifications
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Saved location categories
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Location-based pop-up reminders when nearby
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Quick-access travel organization tools
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Personalized travel and local exploration support
Design Inspiration
The visual inspiration for PinPoint came from modern food discovery and travel applications that prioritize clean layouts and intuitive user experiences.
Key inspiration points included:
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Minimal interfaces with strong visual hierarchy
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Simple navigation systems
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Soft and approachable design elements
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Mobile-first usability
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Card-based layouts are commonly used in food and travel apps
The goal was to create an interface that felt familiar and easy to learn while still offering a unique and engaging experience.
Color Scheme
The color palette was inspired by travel destinations, tropical environments, and positive experiences associated with exploration.
The design used:
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Bright and refreshing accent colors
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Tropical-inspired tones
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Soft neutrals for readability
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Warm and welcoming visual elements
User Flow Diagram
A user flow diagram was created to show how the flow of the Pinpoint app would be. It shows what page leads to each page and is very helpful for the idea process.
Feature and Style Competitive Analysis
Key style ideas I wanted to incorporate:
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A sense of excitement and adventure
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Positive and happy user emotions
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A relaxed and enjoyable interface experience
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A modern and approachable mobile design
Font Style and Imagery
Font Style
The Font used is a san serif font that can be easily read. It also has a clean casual and inviting feel to it.
Iconography
I used rounded icons to match the soft rounded theme of the design. The icons give a more playful feel to the design.
Imagery
I used realistic photos for users to see what the actual location and restaurants look like.
Early design
I made multiple iterations of each component and tested out the sizing and color until I found what looked best.
Results
The final deliverables
The final design resulted in a streamlined and user-friendly mobile application that helps users stay organized while traveling or exploring locally.
Key outcomes included:
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Improved organization of saved locations
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Easier access to reminders and travel plans
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Cleaner navigation experience
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More intuitive interaction flow
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Reduced friction when managing multiple destinations
One of the most successful features was the home page dashboard, which provided users with:
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Travel reminders
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Saved destination updates
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Notification alerts
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Nearby saved-location prompts
The location-triggered notifications added convenience by reminding users about saved places when they were physically nearby, helping users make better use of locations they previously saved.
The final interface successfully balanced functionality with simplicity, creating an experience that felt modern, practical, and visually appealing.
Pinpoint Mobile App
Home Screen
My Pins/ adding pins/ adding folders
Search locations -> add new folder
Settings
Project Takeaways
Key Takeaway
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Simplicity greatly improves usability
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Users value organization and convenience
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Clean interfaces help reduce cognitive overload
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Personalized features can improve engagement
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Early research plays a critical role in design decisions
What I learned
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UX research and competitor analysis
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Mobile-first design thinking
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Information architecture
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Creating low- and high-fidelity wireframes
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Designing intuitive user flows
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Building cohesive visual systems
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Balancing aesthetics with functionality
Next Steps
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Social sharing and collaborative travel planning
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AI-powered travel recommendations
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Advanced location categorization
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Integration with maps and booking platforms
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Offline access for travelers
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Personalized travel itineraries
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Enhanced accessibility features