What if planning a trip could feel like the journey itself?
GatherRoute reframes travel planning as a collaborative spatial experience, transforming a functional task into an opportunity for connection, reflection, and shared intent.
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Why It Matters
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Can planning itself become an experience of connection?
Today’s travel tools focus on efficiency, bookings, filters, and algorithms, but they rarely capture the emotion behind why we travel. GatherRoute challenges this by designing for togetherness instead of convenience. It reframes technology as a way to nurture shared curiosity and connection, turning planning into a meaningful part of the journey rather than a task to finish.
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Research & Insight
(02)
People crave connection, not just coordination
People don’t just plan trips — they plan moments of connection.
Research revealed that group travel planning often feels fragmented across screens, yet emotionally charged when done together. This inspired a system that turns coordination into collaboration, and logistics into shared ritual.
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Concept
(03)
Reframing travel planning as a shared ritual.
GatherRoute turns the act of planning into an interactive, emotional experience that happens around a physical map. Instead of tapping through screens, people gather to explore routes together — watching shared memories, dreams, and emotions appear through augmented layers.
The project asks:
What if planning a trip felt as meaningful as the journey itself?
By merging tangible surfaces with AR overlays, GatherRoute transforms maps into social interfaces — where gestures, light, and conversation guide collective imagination.
Interaction Flow
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Design Process
(04)
Prototyping Spatial Interaction
The process began with quick sketches exploring how a physical map could become interactive through AR. I translated these ideas into spatial layouts in Figma, mapping how gestures, routes, and shared inputs could coexist on one surface.
Next, I built low-fidelity prototypes using printed maps and light projections to test how people naturally point, trace, and plan together. Feedback revealed a key tension, users loved the emotional warmth but often felt overwhelmed when too much data appeared.
Through iterations, I refined a calm, spatial interface that combines familiar elements like maps and pins with gentle motion and glow. The goal was to make technology feel intuitive and human, turning coordination into connection.
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Outcome
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The Final Prototype
The final prototype visualizes how AR can transform a static map into a shared space of exploration. As routes glow across the surface, participants see their individual choices merge into one collective journey. Each gesture , a trace, a mark, a memory , becomes part of a living landscape that grows through collaboration.
The experience captures the feeling of planning as presence: sitting together, seeing connections appear in light, and realizing that the journey begins long before departure.
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Reflection
(06)
What I learned
GatherRoute reframes technology as a medium of togetherness. Rather than optimizing for speed or efficiency, it designs for presence, inviting people to pause, connect, and co-create meaning through shared space. This project shaped my belief that interaction design can choreograph social rituals, blending physical, digital, and emotional realities into one continuous experience. It reminded me that innovation isn’t only about what technology can do, but how it can help us feel closer to one another.
Latest Projects.
(06)
A curated selection of projects that reflect our commitment to simplicity and purposeful design.
