NEXUS
is a navigation platform that provides personalized, emotionally resonant journeys.
It connects people with hidden narratives and walkable wonders of urban environments.
Who is NEXUS for?

Target Market

Digital nomads are professionals who have a remote or hybrid working lifestyle, often traveling or relocating frequently while maintaining their work routines. They have certain preferences over their destinations.

for example, they are

who hold

84.16M in United States within 2024 [1][2][3]
510.4M worldwide within 2024 [3][4][5]
[1] 2024 Digital Nomads Trends Report: Nomads are Here to Stay. (2025, April 25). MBO Partners.
[2] IIE Open Doors. (2024, November 18). International Students - IIE Open doors. IIE Open Doors / International Students.
[3] Kaynas, C. B. a. R. (2025, March 25). Telework trends. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[4] Tagliaferri, C. (2023, October 26). 45+ Exciting statistics about digital nomads in 2023. ThinkRemote.
[5] Usman. (2024, August 8). Gartner forecasts 39% of global knowledge workers will work hybrid by the end of 2023. Prismware.

Painpoint

#1: For digital nomads, they express vague emotional needs and expression

Intent-based Routing from interviews with 11 digital nomads from Cambridge and Tokyo, 90% thought they could not express emotion needs well Therefore, users often struggle to recognize or articulate what they're feeling or what kind of environment they need, making it difficult to initiate meaningful exploration.

#2: When they finally realize, it takes them high effort to translate feelings into action

effort to translate feelings into action When users know what they want, they must manually research and filter through scattered information, which is time-consuming and often frustrating.

#3: current applications efficient-driven applications could not take care of them

application example Q: "Can you explicitly express how you feel about the places you visit?" A: "...difficulties in finding clearn toilets..."
A: "lack of local insight as in resulting in going to touristy spots"
A: "Sometimes you just don't want to get straight where you're going – you want to explore the city – [but] Google doesn't allow you to do that" Existing map and navigation apps prioritize speed and efficiency, offering no support for personalized needs. Users have to adopt their behavior to the app.
solution

Design Thinking

How to include personal context, allowing digital nomads to save time translating mood into navigation information?
NEXUS uses AI to turn natural-language mood prompts into personalised, theme-based walking journeys that match each user's current feelings and constraints.

mood-based search
design-thinking-1
trust on AI
design-thinking-2

Painpoint Solution

Feature 1: Mood-Based Search and Interpretation
feature-1
Feature 2: Theme-Driven Navigation
feature-2
Feature 3: Personalization through Feedback Loop
feature-3

Final Design

Mood-Based Location Search and Route Calculation
final-1
Destination-Based Theme-Driven Navigation
final-2
Feedback Loop
final-3

Go-to-Market Strategy

+ Consumer‑facing subscription app (Product)
+ B2B partnerships (data insights for tourism boards & real‑estate)
market-1

Reflection

What NEXUS achieved

Validated the Core Need
Confirmed through pre‑surveys and 11 in‑situ interviews that digital nomads crave mood‑based, experiential routing rather than efficiency‑only navigation.
Proof‑of‑Concept Prototype
Built and field‑tested an MVP that can parse a mood prompt, pull POI metadata, and generate a thematic walking route.
UX Iterations and Branding Strategy
Coded transcripts and surveys into clear themes and iterate based on the feedbacks.
Actionable Roadmap
Prioritized fixes (clearer map guidance, content accuracy) and stretch features (social sharing, memory log, context‑aware suggestions) tied directly to user feedback.

Next Steps

Polish Core Usability & Multimodal Experience
Implement turn‑by‑turn clarity and audit and clean POI data to eliminate mis‑labels.
Voice commands for mood selection; haptic or audio turn prompts; Optional AR overlay for visual way‑finding.

Advance Personalization
Ship the ratings/thumb‑up feedback loop and implicit behavior tracking.
Offer opt‑in import of saved places to jump‑start cold‑start learning.

Community Layer
Launch the Journey Log with timeline view and "1‑year‑ago" re‑engagement prompts.

Pilot Launch & Metrics
Soft‑launch in one walkable city; track route completion rate, mood‑match NPS, and discovery delight score. Iterate quickly against those KPIs.
try it out here ↗