Off Beat
A responsive web app that streamlines road-trip planning, end to end.
Overview
The Driving Force
I set out to build the tool I always wished existed. As a lifelong road-tripper, I knew the friction firsthand — planning scattered across a dozen tabs, budgets left to guesswork, the best detours never found. Off Beat started with a single question: what if one product handled all of it?
Issues
- Decentralized information — multiple apps, spreadsheets, pen & paper.
- Analog budgeting, leading to inaccurate and inconsistent numbers.
- Difficulty sourcing unique destinations and accommodations.
- Route planning for multiple destinations is clunky.
- No routing options for scenic / off-the-beaten-path routes.
Solutions
- One consolidated tool — browse, search, plan, budget, book, navigate.
- Cost estimates for gas, tolls, accommodations, and activities.
- Browse, search, save, and share recommendations.
- Browse, create, save, and share thorough travel itineraries.
Process
Five phases,
start to finish.
Exploration +
Empathize +
Imagine +
Test +
Design +
Exploration
Understand the competition.
The category was already crowded, so I went deep on the two products that defined it — Roadtrippers and Airbnb. A combined SWOT and heuristic analysis showed where each one excelled, where each fell short, and where Off Beat could carve out an advantage.
Competitive Analysis
Roadtrippers, by S.W.O.T.
Strengths
- DynamicPlan your own trip or get inspired by pre-planned road trips.
- In-app navigationNavigate with the tool of your preference.
- Hyper-specificNiche expertise with strong filtering.
Weaknesses
- Limited coverageOnly US, Australia, Canada & New Zealand.
- No trial, high cost$29.99/yr; the free version is very limited.
- Limited searchYou can't search trip guides.
Opportunities
- Expand the user baseProvide worldwide coverage.
- Revenue modelLower price and a free trial.
- In-depth budgetingFor every step, not just gas.
- User-generated guidesMore authentic than sponsored content.
Threats
- Price pointThe most expensive map app; most competitors are free.
- Limited demographicVery niche; competitor map apps are global.
- Other travelAir and train aren't incorporated.
Hypothesis
Travelers want a single, consolidated tool to plan, navigate, and budget their road trips — not five.
Empathize
Learn users' wants & needs.
A hypothesis is only a guess until it's tested. I ran one-on-one interviews to pressure-test mine — to learn where my assumptions held, where they broke, and what road-trippers actually needed.
User Interviews
Three users, one set of questions.
I interviewed three travelers from different walks of life, each answering the same set of questions. Their demographics and goals diverged — but their frustrations converged, again and again, on the same handful of problems.
Synthesis
What the interviews revealed.
Personas
Who are my users?
Patterns in the interviews and survey data resolved into three distinct personas — each with their own goals, behaviors, and reasons to reach for Off Beat.
MVP Objective
Make planning a road trip effortless — in one consolidated tool.
Imagine
Conceptualize the ideas.
With needs translated into concrete Jobs To Be Done, I mapped the entire experience as a single user flow — tracing every task end to end, surfacing the friction points, and closing the gaps before a single screen was designed.
User Flow
Design
Sketches to screens.
From paper to pixels: I translated the low-fidelity wireframes into Adobe XD, designing mobile-first and scaling up from there. Every layout sits on a consistent 12-column grid, so the system holds together cleanly from phone to desktop.
Low → Mid → High Fidelity
Final Designs
Any device, anywhere.
Thank you for following Off Beat — from first question to final screen.