App Design Case Study
Lighter
Leave the heavy lifting behind. Travel Lighter.
A personalized travel-planning and packing assistant designed to reduce the stress and inefficiency caused by overpacking.
Leave the heavy lifting behind. Travel Lighter.
A personalized travel-planning and packing assistant designed to reduce the stress and inefficiency caused by overpacking.
Many travellers overpack out of anxiety about what might go wrong — leading to heavy luggage, hard transit, and less freedom to move.
Lighter guides users through trip planning by understanding their destination, activities, travel style, and personal needs. Based on this, it generates personalized packing suggestions, distinguishes essentials from optional items, and helps users prioritize what they truly need.
Rather than a generic checklist, Lighter acts as a supportive travel companion — reducing packing anxiety through organization, reassurance, and contextual recommendations, while still making room for the personal essentials that help someone feel at ease.
After framing the research questions, I interviewed two frequent travellers to confirm the problem and understand core user needs. Two personas emerged — both overpack, but for different emotional reasons.
I studied three existing apps — Expedia, Packing Point, and Packing List (Essi) — to understand what they do well and where there's room to do better.
Travellers need emotional reassurance that packing less still leaves them prepared. Overpacking is driven by fear and anxiety, not a lack of space.
Recommendations tailored to trip length, weather, activities, and destination. Generic suggestions don't help with unique travel needs.
A clear, structured way to see what's being packed. Seeing categories and limits ahead of time helps prevent overpacking.
Help distinguishing essentials from unnecessary "just in case" items — the decision many travellers struggle with most.
Trip setup that understands how you actually travel — destination, duration, purpose, and who you're with — so the plan fits the real journey.
Suggestions tailored to your plans, weather, and experiences — separating true essentials from the optional "just in case."
A clear, prioritized checklist and a reassuring "you're ready" moment — so nothing critical slips through, and nothing weighs you down.
The PRD frames the problem and solution and defines three core feature areas — smart list generation, luggage & weight management, and stress-reduction — along with the flows, data, and design system that shape the app.
Trip-purpose logic, accommodation context, and real-time weather sync generate a curated, minimal packing list for each trip.
A visual "fullness meter" and rough weight estimate help travellers avoid overpacking — and airport overweight fees.
A calm, supportive UI with encouraging feedback and countdown reminders for time-sensitive tasks before departure.
Initial sketches mapped out the core features — trip planning, a personalized essentials list, warnings for prohibited items, and help spacing out luggage.
Building on the sketches, I created a first set of wireframes. Key screens from the plan-a-trip and packing flows are shown here.
The second edition added an onboarding page and slogan, and deepened the trip-planning flow — destination changed from a dropdown to a search field with suggestions, a calendar was added, and the "Others" choice gained a specify field.
Because the purpose of the trip and the trip-planning inputs change, the personalized packing support changes with them. This second flow shows the app adapting to a business trip.
Try the flow yourself.
The interactive prototype walks through creating a trip and building a personalized packing plan end to end. Best viewed on mobile.
After critique, suggested packing items now show enlarged detail (t-shirt, long sleeves, dress) instead of being numbered Top 1 / 2 / 3.
Open prototype
Designing for anxiety meant designing for what happens before the trip — the goal wasn't a longer list, it was a lighter, more confident traveller.
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