AdventureBook is a collaborative travel planning tool that learns what you love, tackles group indecision, and makes planning feel joyful instead of overwhelming. It recommends fewer, higher-quality options, encourages timely responses from group members, and automatically weaves together dates, locations, and preferences into a trip everyone says yes to.
This was my thesis project at California College of the Arts, created under the mentorship of my professors, Hugo Eccles and Scott Minneman.
Turning group indecision into shared adventures
Step 1: Create a trip. Add destinations, dates, and friends.
Step 2: Drop in activity links. AdventureBook auto-fills a description, prices, availability and pins it on a map.
Step 3: Everyone votes. Yes, no, maybe.
Step 4: Build an itinerary. AdventureBook strings together interests, availability, and locations into a trip that works for everyone.
Indecision, the travel-planning blocker
Planning a group trip doesn’t fall apart because people don’t care - it falls apart because people hesitate. So I asked: what causes that hesitation?
I surveyed 44 people and found consistent blockers:
Too many choices
Different budgets and schedules
Tools (like spreadsheets and maps) that aren’t designed to handle group dynamics, so decisions aren't documented clearly
AdventureBook answers all of that. It minimizes decision fatigue with smarter defaults. It uses voting and notifications to drive action. And it acts as a central brain, combining maps, notes, calendars, and group consensus in one place.
Travel-planning tools don't capture the feeling of adventure that travel journals do
I wanted the interface to feel less like an app and more like a book of lived and future adventures. Something tactile, personal - inspired by travel stamps, tickets, brochures.
My early explorations leaned too hard into literal travel journal aesthetics. Handwritten fonts and collage layouts lacked clarity and weren't glanceable.
So I reset. I preserved the emotional tone, but grounded the system in clarity:
Uniform grids instead of chaotic collages
One strong photo per activity
Typography inspired by ticket stubs and passports
Structured layouts that looked warm, but read clean
Travelers want a logistics brain that handles dependencies
Planning a trip is hard because it’s full of dependencies:
“Is this activity's price okay for everyone?”
“Is this close to that?”
“What times are available for each activity?”
AdventureBook takes that burden. It pulls data from links. It knows when you’re still waiting on votes. It recommends options based on your group’s interests. It not only plans - it adapts.
And when someone doesn’t respond? It sends a gentle, friendly nudge not just to hurry them, but to keep the group moving forward together.
What I’d add with more time
AdventureBook already supports decision-making, logistics, and group flow. But with more time, I’d deepen both the functionality and the experience:
Editable Itineraries: Let users drag, drop, and fine-tune their plans after generation. Flexibility is key when plans evolve.
Reservation Integration: Pull in real booking data- confirmation numbers, check-in/check-out times, and alerts around availability.
Smarter Budgeting: Build shared and individual budgets into the planning process, with filters for price and smart splits.
Cultural Cues and Recommendations: Go beyond logistics and add meaningful context - local etiquette, music, customs, hidden gems.
Mobile Travel Mode: A lightweight version of AdventureBook for the trip itself: “Where am I headed now?”, “What’s nearby?”, “What’s next?”
All of this would bring the product closer to what it’s meant to be - not just a tool, but a joyful, collaborative companion from the first idea to the final flight home.
