Where to,
together?
Ana wants
Decide by
Ranks mostly by the least happy person, so nobody gets their worst trip.
Your group is going to
Picked for costs that suit everyone and proper warmth. Ben compromises most, at 65% happy.
Lisbon69
Marrakech69
Mexico City68
Crete68
Kyoto67
Dolomites51
Copenhagen51
Reykjavík36Johannes Specht's “Plan That Trip. Now.” took third place at Figma's Makeathon by tackling a familiar mess: narrowing down a holiday destination for a group.
6 winning Figma Makes, Figma blog ↗Group decisions tend to follow the loudest voice or the average. An average can hide one person who'd be miserable, and that person usually notices, and remembers.
Make the trade-off visible. Everyone's happiness sits on one track per destination, and a single switch changes the rule: “Most happy” uses the average, “Fairest” mostly follows the least happy person (an idea known as least misery), using the average only to break ties.
Who it's for, what they need, and how it works on a phone.
// 01 · Framing the problem
01
Someone says “we should go away”
Excitement, but no owner yet. The idea can die right here.
02
Everyone throws ideas in the chat
Ideas pile up with no structure; quieter people stop replying.
03
One person makes a shortlist
The organiser carries the work and quietly picks favourites.
04
A poll decides
Majority wins. Someone ends up somewhere they never wanted.
05
Booking and the trip
Resentment shows up later: “I never wanted to go here anyway.”
The dip at step 4 is where Wherever lives: replacing “majority wins” with a decision that's visibly fair.
| How groups decide | Quick | Captures what each person wants | Shows the trade-offs | Protects the least happy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group chat poll | ||||
| Shared spreadsheet | ||||
| One person decides | ||||
| Wherever |
// 02 · Proto-personas
Wants: Sun, sea and slow days.
Ana, the organiser
Goal
Get everyone to agree without it turning into weeks of messages.
Frustration
Ends up doing all the research, then gets blamed if the trip isn't great.
What Wherever gives them
A link she can send once. The app does the shortlisting and the explaining.
Wants: Mountains, cold air, packed days.
Ben, the adventurer
Goal
A trip with something to actually do, not just a beach.
Frustration
Always outvoted by the beach crowd, so he stops caring.
What Wherever gives them
Fairest mode protects him. If a place makes him miserable, it can't win.
Wants: Cities, food, keeping costs low.
Chloé, on a budget
Goal
Come along without having to say “I can't afford that” in front of everyone.
Frustration
Budget talk in a group chat is awkward, so she says yes and worries later.
What Wherever gives them
Budget is set privately and counts as a hard limit, never just a preference.
Wants: A bit of everything.
Dev, easy-going
Goal
Spend thirty seconds on it, then show up.
Frustration
Doesn't want to fill in a long form or read forty messages.
What Wherever gives them
Four sliders, done. The answer arrives as one card he can react to.
// 03 · User stories, on the board
Must have · MVP
Organiser
As the organiser, I want to send one link so that I don't chase everyone in the chat.
Friend
As a friend, I want to set my preferences in under a minute so that joining isn't a chore.
Friend
As a friend on a budget, I want my budget kept private so that I don't have to say it out loud.
Group
As a group, we want to see everyone's happiness per place so that trade-offs are visible.
Should have · v1.1
Group
As a group, we want a fair mode so that nobody gets their worst option.
Organiser
As the organiser, I want to lock the shortlist so that people stop adding new places.
Friend
As a friend, I want one veto so that I can rule out a place I really can't do.
Could have · later
Group
As a group, we want real flight prices and dates so that the answer is bookable.
Friend
As a friend, I want to see why a place won so that I trust the result.
Organiser
As the organiser, I want to share the result as an image so that the chat can react to it.
// 04 · On your phone
Wherever
Summer trip,
4 friends
Shortlist · 8 places
+31 · Start a trip, share a link
Ana · step 1 of 1
What do you want from this trip?
BudgetMid-range
WeatherHot
PaceEasy
SettingMostly wild
🔒 Your budget is only used for scoring. Nobody sees it.
2 · Your four sliders
Summer trip
3 of 4 are in.
Waiting for Dev.
Leading so far
Lisbon
3 · Live while friends answer
You're going to
Lisbon
Picked for costs that suit everyone and proper warmth. Ben compromises most, at 65% happy.
4 · The reveal
// 05 · How I'd test it
Question 01
Do people understand “Fairest” without explanation?
Method5-second test on the result screen with 5–8 people.
Good signMost can say, in their own words, why Lisbon won.
Question 02
Is four sliders enough to feel heard?
MethodModerated sessions: friends fill in prefs, then react to the pick.
Good signNobody asks for “another option” to express what they want.
Question 03
Does private budget change what people enter?
MethodA/B: budget visible to the group vs. private.
Good signPrivate budgets come out more varied (people stop rounding up).
Question 04
Will groups trust the pick enough to book?
MethodDiary study with 3 real friend groups planning a real trip.
Good signGroups book the top two picks instead of going back to a poll.
Dots, not one score
Each destination shows every friend as a coloured dot from 0 to 100. A high average with one dot far behind reads as a warning without any extra copy.
Say who compromises
The result names who gives up the most. It's a small piece of social honesty that makes the conversation easier, not harder.
Budget is a limit, not a taste
Going over someone's budget counts double, because that's a different kind of “no” from preferring warmer weather.
The answer takes over the page
The top pick isn't a row in a list: its photo fills the background and its name is set huge, like the cover of a travel magazine. When the ranking changes, the whole page changes with it, so you feel the decision instead of reading it.
Editorial, not dashboard
Condensed display type, small mono labels and paper-coloured cards over full-bleed photography. The planner reads like a travel journal you're filling in together, which suits a decision that's meant to be fun.