Case Study · 7 Min Read
Escapekar
From a saved Reel to a booked trip
Drop hero image here
Use the "It's time to escape" website and app mockup from your Assets
My Role
Founder and Product Designer
The only designer on the team
Team
1 co-founder, 2 developers and freelancers
Plus a roster of travel creators
Timeline
Sep 2022 to Oct 2025
Live on both app stores in 8 months
Platforms
iOS, Android and web
Designed in Figma, planned in Miro
What did I do?
User Research
Competitive Analysis
Information Architecture
User Flows
Sketching
Wireframing
Visual Design
Design System
Prototyping
Launch
At a glance
33K+
App downloads
4.8★
Rating on the app stores
92%
AI trips that got a like
4,662
Trips created [Check: 4,662 or 10,000+]
A listed Indian travel company later approached us to show our AI trip plans to their own customers.
Overview
One app for the whole trip
Planning one trip in India meant jumping between Instagram for ideas, Google for places, notes for the plan and separate sites for hotels, activities and agents. Escapekar brings all of it into one app.
You tell it what you like, or share a Reel you saved, and AI builds a day by day plan in about 30 seconds. You can borrow real travellers' itineraries, ask agents for quotes and book hotels and activities without leaving your plan.
I started Escapekar as a founder and was its only designer, from the first notebook sketch to the launch on both app stores.
The problem
One trip, too many apps
Planning was split across apps that did not talk to each other, and it caused three problems.
01
Too many apps
People jumped between Instagram, Google, notes and booking sites to plan one trip.
02
Good deals were hard to find
Comparing hotels and activities across sites took hours, and the best price was easy to miss.
03
Every package looked the same
Travel agents sent the same package to everyone, whatever they actually liked.
The question we set out to answer
How might we take someone from a saved Reel to a booked trip, in one place and in minutes?
Goals
Plan, personalise and book in one place
🧳
For travellers
A plan that fits their style in seconds, easy to change, and bookable without switching apps.
🤝
For travel agents
Real trip requests with dates, group and budget, so they can send a quote straight into the plan.
📈
For the business
Revenue from bookings and leads: hotel commission through Agoda, activities through Viator, and paid leads for agents.
Research and insights
What shaped the design
I studied six travel apps side by side. Each did one step well, whether that was getting ideas, planning or booking. None took a traveller through all three. [Replace: add how many travellers you spoke to, and how]
Wanderlog
Tripadvisor
Mindtrip
Google Travel
TripIt
iplan.ai
Insights that shaped the product
Travel ideas start on Instagram, not in a search bar.
People trust real travellers more than ads.
A blank plan feels like homework. People want a first draft to edit.
Most people know their travel style, not an exact budget.
Solo travellers, especially women, want to know a place feels safe.
Once something is booked, it should never move on its own.
[Check: keep only the insights that came from your research]
Ideas and scope
Deciding what goes in first
My co-founder and I put every idea on a Miro board, then sorted it into now, next and later. The rule was simple: ship the smallest app that could plan a full trip, then add the ways to earn.
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Screenshot of your Miro brainstorming board
Now
• AI trip planner
• Day by day plan with map
• Real traveller itineraries
• Plan with friends
• Budget and export to Google Maps
Next
• Reel to trip
• Quotes from travel agents
• Hotel and activity booking
• AI checklist, offline mode and flight updates
Later
• Deals and coupons
• Rewards and referrals
• Dark mode
• A planning tool for agents
[Check: move items if the real order was different]
Information architecture
Five tabs, one home for every trip
The app has five places to go. Everything a traveller does with a trip, from building it to booking it, happens inside My Trips, so the plan is never more than one tap away.
Escapekar app
Home
Trending trips
Tales: short travel videos
Guides
Things to do nearby
Search
Destinations
Itineraries
Hotels and activities
Map and list view
Create
AI trip in 8 steps
Borrow an itinerary
Start from scratch
Reel to trip
My Trips
Overview
Day by day plan
Map
Budget and checklist
Friends and bookings
Profile
Published trips
Tales
Bucket list
Notifications
[Check: match the tab names in the final app]
Sketches and wireframes
Paper first, then pixels
I sketch every flow in my notebook before I open Figma. It is the fastest way to find the edge cases. A few pages from that notebook:
Drop sketch here
IMG_2574
Optimise route only appears after 5 or more places. Booked items keep their time.
Drop sketch here
IMG_2576
Long press any stop to move, duplicate or delete it.
Drop sketch here
IMG_2584
Influencer guide: add any stop to your own trip with one tap.
Drop sketch here
IMG_2583
Place detail with safety notes for solo and women travellers.
Drop sketch here
IMG_2578
What happens when a hotel date falls outside the trip dates.
Drop sketch here
IMG_2577
Early logo ideas, back when the name was Tripexape.
Drop image here
3 or 4 digital wireframes from the Rough page in Figma
Key decisions
Four decisions that shaped Escapekar
Decision 01
Three ways to start a trip
The problem
People arrive in very different moods. Some have no idea where to go, some have seen a trip they love, and some already have a plan.
What I did
The Create button opens three doors: build a trip with AI in seconds, start from a real traveller's itinerary, or start from scratch.
The trade-off
One more screen before planning starts. It was worth it, because each group lands in the flow that fits them.
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips 1.0
→
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips 1.1
→
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips/Search
Decision 02
A full plan from 8 quick questions
The problem
Typing a trip into a chat box is slow, and vague answers give vague plans.
What I did
One question per screen, answered with taps: destination, days, who is going, trip vibe, interests, stay style, budget and a name. Budget can be a number or simply Economy, Normal or Luxury, and the app suggests the trip name.
The trade-off
Eight steps can feel long, so each screen shows its step number and takes a few seconds. In return the AI gets clean answers, and 92% of AI trips got a like.
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips/Type
→
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips/Trip Vibe
→
Drop screen
Figma v2: My Trips/Budget
Drop video here
Screen recording of the full AI trip flow, about 20 seconds
Decision 03
Borrow a real trip, then make it yours
The problem
People trust a real traveller's trip more than a list from an app.
What I did
Travellers and creators publish their trips on their profile. Anyone can open one, watch the videos behind each stop and add any stop to their own trip with one tap.
The trade-off
We had to design for creators too: profiles, published trips and a way to earn when their picks get booked.
Drop sketch
IMG_2584, influencer guide
→
Drop screen
Figma v1: Profile Page/Published Trips
Decision 04
Optimise the route, never move a booking
The problem
Once a day has many stops, the order matters. But a hotel check-in or a booked tour cannot move.
What I did
Optimise route reorders the flexible stops by travel time and opening hours. Booked items stay exactly where they were quoted. The button only appears once a day has more than five places, and Reset brings back the old order.
The trade-off
It became a Pro feature with a gold icon, so it had to feel worth paying for. [Check: did this ship?]
Drop sketch
IMG_2574, optimise route
→
Drop screen
Figma v1: My Trip/Itinerary
Visual design
Friendly, calm and quick to scan
Travel screens get busy fast. I kept the app light, used one green for every action and warm colours for categories, and built it all on a small design system so new features stayed consistent.
Colour
#20B08F
#4DC0A3
#79D0BC
#CAE7E1
#EAAE33
#F05D5D
#F48B21
#2388FF
[Check: the three light greens are read from a screenshot, confirm them in Figma]
Typography
Aa
Mulish
Regular, Medium and Bold on every screen, with a clear size scale from headlines to labels.
Built on a design system
Typography
Icons
Colour
Input fields
Tabs and carousels
Cards and images
Avatars
Buttons
Drop image here
Final screens, for example the Paris trip and All Trips mockup in your Assets
The same system also shaped the website, shown at the top of this page.
What happened
From 1,695 to 33,200 downloads
We grew almost entirely through Instagram and Google Ads. Downloads grew about 20 times in 15 months, the app held a 4.8 rating, and 92% of AI trips got a like.
Total app downloads
From the Escapekar pitch deck, over about 15 months
1,695
Jan
4,301
Apr
9,400
Jul
22,800
Oct
24,400
Jan
33,200
Apr
Who used it
Solo travellers
61%
Couples
21%
Friends
10%
Family
5%
Business
2%
Most users were 25 to 34 years old.
What did not work
Loved by travellers, but slow to earn
The app was free for travellers, and bookings and agent leads grew slowly. Revenue came too late to keep the team going. [Replace: say how Escapekar ended, in your words]
What I learned
What I would keep, and what I would change
01
Start where ideas already live
Travel plans begin on Instagram, so the product should start there too, not in a search bar.
02
Give people a draft, not a blank page
An AI plan they can edit felt far easier than a long form they had to fill in.
03
Plan the money from day one
A free app that earns from bookings grows slowly. Next time I would test what people will pay for much earlier.
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