Group project
Ongoing development
An AI-powered travel compatibility experience that helps WeRoad travelers find the right group, not just the right trip.
Brief / Challenges
WeMatch started from a gap in group travel: travelers can compare destinations, dates, itineraries and prices before booking, but they know very little about the people they will share the experience with.
Our research suggested that the group often shapes the quality of a trip as much as the destination itself, while compatibility is still largely left to chance. The challenge was therefore to introduce group compatibility into the travel discovery process without reducing people to rigid or static profiles.
The project brief asked us to envision and prototype an agentic experience within the Travel & Mobility context. Rather than creating a separate travel service, we explored how an intelligent layer could be integrated into WeRoad's existing journey and support travelers before, during and after a group trip.
How might we help travelers find suitable experiences and compatible groups through shared behaviors and preferences, so that both destination and group support a better travel experience?
The Process
The process moved from understanding the social uncertainty of group travel to defining Matchy as a compatibility layer embedded in the WeRoad journey.
The project was developed collaboratively, while my main contribution focused on translating the concept into experience architecture, user flows, interaction logic and interface prototyping.
01 — Research & Synthesis
Turning social uncertainty into a design opportunity.
Before developing the solution, we combined quantitative evidence, qualitative research and synthesis to understand what travelers can evaluate before booking and what remains uncertain.
The following visual summaries condense the evidence, problem framing and design principles that shaped WeMatch.
The Data
Making the social factor measurable.
The review analysis made the issue measurable. References to the group appeared more frequently than references to destinations, food, hotels or tour leaders, suggesting that social compatibility is not a secondary detail but a central part of the travel experience.
The Problem
What the travel platform can control — and what it cannot.
WeRoad can define much of the trip structure, from the itinerary and accommodation to pacing and activities. The social composition of the group, however, is still largely determined by who happens to book the same departure.
Problem Statement
Framing the central tension.
Research Methodology
Three sources converging on the same finding.
Secondary research, eight in-depth interviews and the analysis of 1,660 recent reviews were used as complementary lenses. Their convergence provided a stronger basis for moving from observation to design.
Research Findings
From evidence to design principles.
The synthesis produced three principles: the social experience matters as much as logistics, traveler profiles must remain contextual and editable, and compatibility must feel recognizable rather than opaque.
The Archetype
Designing for priorities rather than fixed identities.
Instead of defining a fixed demographic persona, we developed the Compatibility Seeker: an archetype whose priorities can shift between atmosphere, activities, social connection and cultural engagement depending on the trip.
02 — Introducing Matchy
Giving the compatibility system a visible interface.
Once the research direction was defined, we introduced Matchy as the visible interface of the compatibility system.
Rather than becoming a separate travel service, Matchy is integrated into the existing WeRoad journey, helping travelers express their preferences, understand recommendations and refine how the system represents them over time.
Within the team, my work focused especially on translating this concept into the experience structure, interaction flows and interface behaviors through which travelers encounter Matchy.
03 — Solution Definition
A behavioral compatibility layer for group travel.
WeMatch was defined as a behavioral compatibility layer for group travel. It brings together shared behaviors, social dynamics and travel preferences, operating across discovery, booking, the trip itself and post-trip reflection.
The goal is not to promise a perfect group, but to make compatibility more visible and understandable before travelers commit to an experience.
04 — Matchy Across the Journey
One agent, a different role at each stage.
Matchy was not designed as a single onboarding interaction. We mapped its role across six phases of the travel journey.
It observes during discovery, builds a behavioral profile, matches compatible groups, explains its recommendations, understands impressions during the trip and learns from post-trip feedback.
The Blueprints
Connecting user actions, agent behavior and system responses.
After defining Matchy's changing role, we mapped each phase in greater detail to understand how traveler actions, agent interventions, behavioral signals and system responses connect across the journey.
The six blueprints translated the overall journey into a structured interaction system, identifying where Matchy appears, what information it uses and how each intervention influences the following stages.
The Outcome
The final outcome translates the experience architecture and blueprints into four concept visualizations. Each video represents a key moment in the evolving relationship between the traveler and Matchy, showing how the compatibility layer becomes part of the existing WeRoad journey.
Together, the four moments form a connected experience: Matchy introduces the system and builds an initial profile, uses compatibility to support trip discovery, learns from the experience after the trip and makes its interpretation visible and editable over time.
01
First encounter and profiling
A first-time traveler discovers the Match me feature and begins a guided profiling experience. Matchy introduces the compatibility layer, gathers initial behavioral signals and turns them into a first representation of the traveler's preferences.
02
Searching through compatibility
A returning traveler uses the profile while searching for a new trip. Matchy compares the traveler's preferences with available groups, supports the discovery of compatible options and explains why a particular group may be a suitable fit.
03
Learning from the trip
After the experience, trip feedback becomes part of the compatibility profile. Matchy uses what the traveler actually experienced to refine its interpretation and improve future recommendations.
04
Reviewing and editing the profile
The behavioral profile makes Matchy's interpretation visible. Travelers can review, question and edit how they are represented, keeping the system understandable, adjustable and increasingly accurate over time.
