Tuluminati
Have you ever found out a friend was in the same city… only after they left?
Here’s how that invisible-overlap frustration turned into a product
Intro
Overview
Tuluminati is a mobile app for the global jet-set community, built around Justin Kan’s hypothesis that people miss chances to meet friends while traveling. The goal was to validate this idea and design a seamless way to surface missed connections
Platform
iOS
My role
Product design leader and Strategic design partner
Who did I collaborate with?
I worked in a tight-knit team of five, collaborating closely with the developers, product manager, QA, and Justin Kan. We operated in a fast, iterative cycle, with regular collaboration sessions and direct input from Justin to move quickly and efficiently.
Scope of responsibilities
I led Product Design, combining strategic thinking with hands-on execution. I deeply understood both user needs and business goals, proposed new features, and facilitated decision-making around what to build. I advocated for users through ongoing research and customer development, and designed flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity interfaces across the product
CHAPTER 0
Start with Clarity
I conducted in-depth interviews with our target audience to uncover real behaviors, pain points, and motivations. These insights helped shape our early product decisions and turned directly into new feature ideas
Rapid Redesign of basics
To move faster, I addressed foundational UX issues that were slowing us down — replacing unstable custom components with native iOS patterns for better stability, consistency, and development speed
CHAPTER 1
Behavior-Based Shareables
From in-depth interviews, we learned users were already sharing their travel plans — through Instagram stories, group chats, and long message threads listing dates and cities. We turned this organic behavior into shareable trip cards and public pages — designed for effortless sharing, discovery, and social reach.
A visual share card designed for social media — so users can invite friends to follow their trips on Tuluminati
Users can share a live link with all their trips — no extra messages or lists needed
A tour-style poster that turns your trip list into a personal highlight reel
CHAPTER 2
Connect People
We focused on the core value of connection — finding simple, seamless ways to help users discover and meet each other throughout the product
A clear city view that shows which friends will be there, making it easy to connect in real life
We surface trips found in the user’s calendar and highlight friends connected to that city
When users add a trip, they instantly see who will be there and who has been there before.
CHAPTER 3
The Power of Seamless
After a one-time calendar sync, users don’t need to open the app. Our AI detects trips automatically and sends a simple notification — showing who might be there too
Evgeny
Bondarev
Los Angeles, CA
© 2024 Evgeny Bondarev. All Rights Reserved.
Made with love and V60-brewed, light-roasted coffee from Ethiopia
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Last updated by Evgeny on Apr 23, 2025, 5:15 PM PST