REA*SAHI
Rea's Avatar wearing a top hat, mouth closed similing

Work

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About

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REA*SAHI
Rea's Avatar wearing a top hat, mouth closed similing

Work

Illustrations

About

Resume

REA*SAHI
Rea's Avatar wearing a top hat, mouth closed similing

Tern Travel

University of Toronto Crest Logo

Team

Myself (UX Designer)

Aashish Virk (UX Designer)

Cecilia Yang Liu (UX Researcher)

Sarah Schacht (UX Researcher)

Overview

Collaborated with three user experience design students to solve the need to pack and culturally adapt before travelling through a mobile app concept for a Master’s level course INF1602 (Fundamentals of UXD).

Timeline

4 Months (Sep—Dec 2024)

Tools

Figma, Microsoft 365, Otter.ai

Contributions

User Interviews, User Testing, Data Synthesis, Presentations, Prototyping

Contributions

UX Research, User Interviews, Data Analysis, Visual Design, Stakeholder Presentations, Prototyping

Tern Travel primary screens with packing mode option and local insights
Figma Logo
Figma Logo

View Prototype

View Prototype

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Highlights

A guided packing list that turns cultural unknowns into a checklist.

By focusing on potential stressors for young adults when packing, we created a personalized location specific packing list organizer for new destination travelers.

Travel details screen with "where to?", "when", "who", and "luggage" inputs

Travel Details

"Choose your packing mode" screen with "Detailed Pack" selected

Packing Mode

Packing checklist screen with Tokyo, Japan as example

Checklist

Local insights checklist with cultural etiquette at top of page

Local Insights

Problem

The most stressful part of travelling? ... packing. Especially for a new country.

ssense.com lacks clear hierarchical structure, accessibility considerations, and an insufficient navigation system.

When the language, customs, and even the weather are unfamiliar and unpredictable, packing stops being a checklist and starts being a source of anxiety long before a trip even begins.

Discovery

Target Audience

Our primary audience is 18 to 35 year old North Americans who trust internet and social media advice over guidebooks, and who travel more for leisure than business.

Persona descrption of Liam, a 21 year old American with limited travel experience who has never visited locations outside of the Western continents

Liam wants to …

Explore

Explore

To experience something new without accidentally disrespecting a culture he’s visiting.

Save Time

Save Time

Packing completed fast, not another research project before the trip even starts.

Plan for “just-in-cases”

Plan for “just-in-cases”

A plan for the things they can't control, like weather, safety, or unfamiliar customs.

Competitor Analysis

Common packing organizer apps only solve pieces of the problem for Liam:

Tripit

Tripit Logo

Strength: Itinerary tracking

Gap: No packing support

Packpoint

Packpoint Logo

Strength: Variable tracking (weather)

Gap: No cultural context

Apple Notes

Apple Notes Logo

Strength: Convenience

Gap: Uninformative

User Interviews

We interviewed 8 participants for 15 minutes each, screening for fit against our target audience beforehand. I conducted 2 of the 8, and transcripts were pooled into an affinity map and coded into 3 recurring pain points:

"I think no travel app that I've ever used has been organized enough for me to fully use it." — ROP

"I think no travel app that I've ever used has been organized enough for me to fully use it." — ROP

"Safety is a big priority, and making sure they have some sense of English understanding." — TTC

"Safety is a big priority, and making sure they have some sense of English understanding." — TTC

"Challenges of different language, different culture, different religion, and different habits, and dealing with unexpected situations beyond the plan." — RBL

"Challenges of different language, different culture, different religion, and different habits, and dealing with unexpected situations beyond the plan." — RBL

Organization (6/8)

Organization (6/8)

Existing tools didn't feel structured enough to fully rely on, resulting in external research and overwhelming amounts of information.

Lifestyle Variance (5/8)

Lifestyle Variance (5/8)

Adapting to an unfamiliar culture was the most overlooked, most anxiety-inducing factor noted.

Weather (5/8)

Weather (5/8)

Unpredictable conditions were the hardest thing to plan around.

Affinity Mapping Diagram with sticky notes clustered into various categories on a Figjam board

Organization (6/8)

Existing tools didn't feel structured enough to fully rely on, resulting in external research and overwhelming amounts of information.

Lifestyle Variance (5/8)

Adapting to an unfamiliar culture was the most overlooked, most anxiety-inducing factor noted.

Weather (5/8)

Unpredictable conditions were the hardest thing to plan around.

Design

Flow Diagram

We set-up a basic fundamental task for the user to follow within a mobile app to help for packing: creating a new list for a new trip, setting up an essential task before embedded the cultural twist.

Flow diagram of user journey in Tern Travel, simulating a happy path

Ideation

Initial Sketching

I sketched various features, icons, screen ideas, and ranked valuability of features worth implementing to see what is the most important for our target user.

A board of multiple rough paper sketches for Tern Travel

Lo-fidelity Storyboards

After rough paper drafts, I combined these screen sketches with the flow chart to how to user’s journey throughout their main usage of the app.

Two storyboards of the happy path, one created in Balsamiq, the other higher fidelity created in Figma

Task: Packing List Generation

Two storyboards of the happy path, one created in Balsamiq, the other higher fidelity created in Figma

Task: Packing List Generation

Two storyboards of the happy path, one created in Balsamiq, the other higher fidelity created in Figma

Task: Packing List Generation

Branding and Visual Identity

We created a moldboard and individual style tiles to find a tonality for the look and feel of Tern Travel, centered around five words: lightweight, earthy, modern, calming, and exploration. The final palette shifted toward blue and yellow to differentiate between TripIt.

A vision board (left) and individually created style tiles by each team member (right)

Solution

Design Decisions

Concluding the design phase, we presented our prototype and findings to industry experts and our peers, with the following features at the forefront:

  1. Packing Mode Option

  1. Packing Mode Option

Quick, Detailed, and Eco Pack let users choose their own prioritization levels for initial list generation and quick access to valued learnings and items.

Buttons for all three packing modes
Cards for sections on the local insights page, locational info, cultural etiquette, essential items, and things to avoid

  1. Local Insights To-Do

  1. Local Insights To-Do

Cultural etiquette and context show up before the packing list, highlighting the importance and standout feature of Tern Travel over others.

  1. Activity Based Packing

  1. Activity Based Packing

Indicating planned activities upfront lets the generated list account for proper attire and equipment automatically.

Choose your activities screen containing a search bar and quick access buttons based on locational pre-selection
Three checklist items, two high priority uncomplete, one medium priority completed

  1. Priority Based Checklist

  1. Priority Based Checklist

Every generated item includes a drop-down tool tip explaining why it's there, and prioritization level in accordance with packing mode selection, so users can trust and adjust as needed.

Fun Fact: the name “Tern Travel” is inspired by the arctic tern bird which has one of the longest known migration routes - travelling more than 80,000km/year! (Ocean Conservancy).

Hi-Fidelity Prototype

Learnings

Design and scope will evolve.

This project began as a travel wardrobe solution, pivoting ideas three times throughout the process, teaching us that clear research foundation early on saves valuable time during refinement stages. We started broad and kept cutting until only the strongest idea was left.

Research over aesthetics.

Through user interviews, testing, and empathy mapping, we uncovered pain points that challenged our assumptions, allowing for more intuitive and user-centred experiences.

WCAG 2.0 considerations.

After our final round of feedback, the colour palette chosen was flagged as too distracting at high fidelity with an almost too many competing number of shades. In future iterations, this app would stick to higher contrast blue and a lighter yellow colour to be less distracting and be more accessibly friendly.

PREV: SSENSE Redesign

NEXT: pyRTC

Overview

Highlights

Problem

Discovery

Design

Solution

Learnings

© 2026 Rea Sahi.

© 2026 Rea Sahi.

© 2026 Rea Sahi.