Exploración personal · 2021
Astros
A group travel plan that lives in one place
A personal concept: an app for planning group trips with a measured social layer, built to coordinate with friends without becoming yet another social network. I designed the whole thing, start to finish, on my own.
- Tipo
- Exploración personal
- Rol
- Product concept · Solo
- Plataforma
- iOS · Web
- Disciplinas
- Figma · User research · Prototyping
El problema
Un plan que vive en mil lugares
Astros came out of something that kept happening to me: every time I traveled with friends we ended up with four apps open — Maps, Notes, WhatsApp, Booking — and a shared spreadsheet on someone's Drive. The plan lived everywhere and nowhere, and nobody knew what the latest change was. Astros explores what it would be like to have all of that in one place, with a social layer that helps people coordinate without turning into one more social network.
Antes · disperso
Después · un solo lugar
AstrosDiscovery
Ocho viajeros, un mismo dolor
I interviewed eight friends who travel about their last group trip. 70% were still coordinating with WhatsApp and a spreadsheet. The other 30% had already given up and left everything to the organizer. What I found was clear: the problem is not planning the trip, it is keeping the group up to date while the trip is happening.
El desafío
Tres tensiones del producto
Centralize without becoming a social network
The idea was to gather the trip plan in a single shared place, but without it ending up looking like a social network, with its likes and constant notifications.
Built to be used on the trip
The app has to work offline or with very little signal. A trip is planned from home, but it is lived on planes, trains, and in new cities.
One group, two kinds of traveler
In every group there is someone who organizes and several who just want to follow the plan. It had to be designed for both, without forcing everyone to configure anything.
Decisiones
Tres decisiones de diseño
The plan in Astros, the conversation in WhatsApp
The conversation stays where it already is, in WhatsApp. Astros holds the plan itself: the itinerary, the expenses, the decisions already made. Each thing in its own channel.
Two views, one for each moment
The app has two separate views: "My view," with what is on me today, and "Group plan," with the full picture of the trip. You move from one to the other on purpose, not by accident.
A change log, not a social feed
A record of what changes in the plan, not of what people do. "Carla moved the hotel booking to Saturday" is useful; "Carla is at the airport" adds nothing.
El concepto
Una app, dos vistas
El grupo siempre tiene un organizador y varios que solo quieren seguir. En vez de obligar a todos a configurar, Astros separa el producto en dos vistas explícitas.
Individual · hoy
Mi vista
Solo el bloque del día: lo que tengo que hacer ahora, sin el ruido del plan completo.
Compartido · completo
Plan del grupo
El itinerario entero, los gastos y las decisiones tomadas — el estado real del viaje para todos.
Ejecución
Lo que diseñé
Shared, editable itinerary
A calendar anyone in the group can edit, with changes visible to everyone. It works offline and syncs on its own once there is signal again.
The "Today" view
During the trip, the main screen shows only the day's block. Nothing else. The full plan stays one gesture away.
Split expenses without arguing
Anything in the plan can carry an optional cost. At the end of the trip, a summary works out exactly who owes whom how much.
Resultados
Hasta dónde llegó la exploración
Concept
Validated with 8 interviews
12
Screens designed
iOS & Web
Cross-platform
2021
Personal project
Aprendizajes
Lo que me llevo
- 01
Coordinating is not the same as talking. The conversation has its channel; the structured plan belongs in the product.
- 02
Most people in a group just want to follow the plan. The product has to be built for them, not only for the organizer.
- 03
Designing this taught me to think about low connectivity — something that later became a real constraint when I worked at Outbuild.
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