Planmo

Problem

Problem

Planning hangouts with close friends often becomes more complicated than it should be. Group chats become crowded with messages, people have mismatched schedules, and existing tools such as calendars, polls, or event platforms can feel too formal, impersonal, or work-related. As a result, simple plans often lose momentum and never actually happen.

Research

Research

The research focused on understanding how small friend groups currently coordinate plans and why existing tools fail to support casual social planning. Interviews with users who had experience with tools such as Google Calendar, when2meet, Partiful, Luma, and HowBout revealed that users want planning to feel simple, private, and low-pressure. The team also studied competitors such as Partiful and Luma to identify an opportunity to combine playful social energy with clean, minimal usability.

Solution

Solution

Planmo solves this problem by creating a casual, private, and friend-centered planning experience. Instead of making users create formal events or share full calendars, Planmo helps close friends quickly find shared availability and coordinate plans in a way that feels lightweight and natural.

“The final direction used a time-first, group-availability approach, because research showed that finding a time when everyone is free was the biggest barrier to making plans.”

Result

Result

The project resulted in a clear product concept, tested user flows, and a visual design system that balances simplicity with personality. Although the project page does not provide quantitative launch metrics, the main outcome was a validated design direction: a playful, minimal planning app that helps close friend groups move from “we should hang out” to an actual plan.

Thoughts

Thoughts

Planmo shows that social planning is not only a scheduling problem but also an emotional and social experience. A successful tool for close friends needs to feel casual, trustworthy, and fun rather than structured like a work calendar. Through this project, the key design challenge was finding the balance between usefulness and playfulness: helping users coordinate efficiently while keeping the experience relaxed and personal.