Marlon Vargas

Gems

Find the place you need, without searching.

Gems is a location recommendation app with the focus on reducing screen time and helping users to try new things and places.

Year

2024

Purpose

University Project

Work

UX / UI Design

Art Direction

Graphic Design

Tools

Figma

Illustrator

Blender

Problem

When exploring a new city, it can be frustrating to be spontaneous and open-minded while still feeling like you've got your money's worth. Numerous apps offering reviews, photos and maps are often cluttered and time-consuming to use. That's why I created this project to solve this UX problem.

Research

As part of the research I analiyzed the existing and most popular apps for finding places. Here are the problems i found.

a screenshot of google maps showing a map full of information

Google Maps

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•Paid recommendations + external advertising
•Questionable data protection

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•Paid recommendations + external advertising
•Questionable data protection

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•Paid recommendations + external advertising
•Questionable data protection

a screenshoot of Tripadvisor showing a list of restaurants with a lot of information

Tripadvisor

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•No personalized recommendations
•Advertising

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•No personalized recommendations
•Advertising

•Too much information and options
•Very limited filters
•No presets and scheduling
•No personalized recommendations
•Advertising

a screenshoot of Tiktok showing video recommendations for restaurants in Frankfurt

Social Media

•Not made to recommend locations.
•Dependent on external navigation apps.
•Takes too long to find a personalized recommendation.
•Same problems as the others.

•Not made to recommend locations.
•Dependent on external navigation apps.
•Takes too long to find a personalized recommendation.
•Same problems as the others.

•Not made to recommend locations.
•Dependent on external navigation apps.
•Takes too long to find a personalized recommendation.
•Same problems as the others.

How the problem is solved

The following features are designed to solve existing problems while remaining user-friendly. They allow for customisation, spontaneity, and reduced screen time.

3 phones showing 3 app instances with personalization options

Presets

The presets feature allows users to personalise recommendations and quickly change the settings depending in their current situation.

3 phones showing 3 app instances with scheduling options

Schedule + Nearby

The Schedule feature sends recommendation notifications based on location, time or when you're nearby so you can find places on the go without looking at your phone. In combination with presets, you only receive relevant recommendations. You can activate the function for one or more categories and combine the Schedule options.

a hand holding a phone showing the home screen of the Gems app with a restaurant recommendation

Surprise me

The surprise me preset recommends places based on history, ratings by similar users, location and time. It can be used in any category as well as in the schedule feature.

Process

During the design process the information arquitecture, userflows (see example) and low and high-fidelity wireframes were made. Though the iteration and simplication, the entire process for an existing user to find a restaurant, for example, would take them 3 steps / taps.