ToodaGo
A local discovery app that finds places that match your mood and vibe
A client came to me with an interesting idea — an idea that was already in the air. In big cities, people need a personal guide to cultural places, and they also want to know where their friends go. Other people's experience matters to us. People also need an easy way to organize meetings. You could say this app solves problems that people currently solve with different apps:
From Instagram: people want to post nice photos of food from restaurants, and photos from parties
From Google Maps and TripAdvisor: people want to read other people's reviews
From messengers: people want to create a group to organize a meeting
00
problem
A client came to me with an idea for a startup — a guide to cultural life in a big city. In a big city, people often feel alone, lost in all the cultural events, restaurants and cafes around them. But also, people value their time, and they don't have much of it. So when it is time to plan a date, meet with friends, or when some free time appears suddenly in an unfamiliar area, people want to find "their" place — a place that feels close to their spirit.
solutions
I made interviews with the client and with potential users, and I analyzed the market. Based on this, I defined the MVP version and made prototypes of the app. After that, I created the branding and UI for the project.
Modules I designed and took to release
User pain points
Where will I like it?
I don't know where to go", "where can I go right now?", "I am in N district, is there a good place here for dinner?"
Staying in the loop
"Where do interesting people go? Which restaurants, which exhibitions, which theater shows? What are people talking about right now? I want to stay in the know"
Organizing meeting
Organizing meetings is a real problem. "Dozens of group chats in messengers", "I don't know exactly who is coming", "at the meeting, nobody knows how long to wait for the others"
Solutions
Recommendations
Personalized recommendations for places and events, based on visual aesthetics. The app shows the user some prepared images, and the user says "like" or "dislike" for each one. From this, the app builds an idea of the user's taste.
The user can follow a person whose taste they trust and whose opinion they listen to.
Recommendations based on places the user visited and was happy with.
Interest feed
The feed shows events for the user, for people they follow, and for their friends. It includes concerts, exhibitions, movie screenings, workshops, and restaurant and cafe reviews.
The feed is built by AI. It doesn't just match what the user already likes — the goal is to surprise and delight them, so the feed also shows events and places the user may not expect, but could still enjoy
Organizing meetings (to avoid too many chats in messengers):
The user can create a meetup at a venue, with day, time and a description (for example, "My birthday"). They can invite friends and see right away how many friends confirmed.
On the day of the meeting, the user can see how close the friends are who are on their way. Participants can share their location, so in the app you can see, more or less, where everyone is right now.
One of the app's key features is meeting organization. The user can pick a venue or event, set a date and time, and invite people. This works well for private meetups, corporate events, and even tourist groups.
For the main venue types, we designed separate screens — each one shows the information that matters most for that type of place.
To keep the meeting chat from turning into just another messenger chat, we limited it to polls and status updates.
We added manual and automatic arrival notifications, based on location, and a way to let others know if you're running late.
Cultural critic:
The user can become a cultural guide for the city.
The user can share the places they visited and leave comments about a venue.
Users can follow and buy paid subscriptions to get cultural updates from well-known people.
