Trade the schematic globe for a soft-focus aerial photograph — heavy blur and grain, no faces, no detail. It sets a mood; it doesn't compete.
Atlas and Chamber both keep the globe present. Lens swaps it out: the entry screen opens onto a cinematic photo backdrop (golden-hour coastline, mountain dusk, monsoon valley — cycled per session). Chips become postcards with a 28×28 thumbnail apiece, so each one previews the place it offers. The actual 3D globe surfaces only in the results state, where it earns the screen by carrying real geographic information. Most photographic of the four — closer to a National Geographic interactive feature than a planning tool. Highest emotional payoff, but biggest production cost (real photo set must be curated).
Tone · Cinematic, photographic
Globe · Demoted to results state
Accent · Brass + photo grading
Typography · Brass-underlined display, italic dek
01 — The Lens
Photo, then geography.
Entry leads with mood; results lead with map. The transition from photo backdrop to 3D globe is the visual story.
Departing · Noida
Where will you drift next?
Pick a feeling. We'll find you four places that match it.
Something like Bali but quieter…
Best in MayWeekend escapeBeach escapeHill stationsSurprise meGo abroadUnder ₹25KOff-beat
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01 · Invitation
Photo first. Title second.
A soft-focus golden-hour coast fills the frame. The headline lands cinematically over the haze. Each chip carries a 28×28 thumbnail — "Best in May" gets May, "Beach escape" gets a coast, "Hill stations" gets pine. The chip becomes a postcard preview, not a label.
Step 03 · Pick your vibes
What's your vibe?
Tap as many as feel right.
Adventure
Beach
Culture
Food
Wellness
Roadtrip
Wildlife
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02 · Question chain
Vibes as postcards.
Backdrop morphs to a different mood per step. Vibes become 7 postcards in a 2-column grid — each shows the place-feeling visually. Selected state earns a brass border + check medallion. Multi-select reads at a glance.
India ×Budget ×Beach · Culture ×
0195
Bali
Indonesia · 7h flight
0291
Krabi
Thailand · 5h flight
0388
Hoi An
Vietnam · 6h flight
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03 · Globe explore
Photo dissolves into globe.
The atmospheric backdrop fades; a real 3D globe takes the upper 60% with photo pucks. Cards below are full-bleed photo cards with brass numerals (01, 02, 03 — borrowed from editorial sequencing). The carousel reads horizontally at glance, vertically when expanded.
Indonesia · 7h flight · 95 score
Bali
Where the rice paddies meet the surf — a four-day breath of warm rain, banana-leaf offerings, and slow ferries to Lombok.
AllEatsCultureNatureStays
Padang Padang at sunset
Tegalalang
Tanah Lot
Ubud market
Nusa surf
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04 · Destination detail
Cinematic editorial spread.
Hero photo eats 65% of the frame. Italic title sits over the falloff gradient. Below: a tall hero tile with caption pairs with smaller satellites in a 2-row grid — magazine-style. Brass CTA at the foot is the only colored chrome.
02 — Notes
Why Lens works.
Most users don't know what they want when they open the screen. A photo is a faster on-ramp to "I want that" than a chip grid is to "what does each chip mean."
Risk
Editorial photography is a content cost, not just a code cost. We need 6–8 curated atmospheric photos (CC0 or licensed) that survive heavy blur+grain without becoming muddy. Lower budget alternative: programmatic gradients (the mockup uses these — they hold up surprisingly well).
Opportunity
Backdrop can rotate per session, per time-of-day, or per user's saved-vibe. A user who always saves Beach reels gets coastal dusk; a Wildlife saver gets monsoon valley. Personalization without a chip change.
Production note
Real photos shipped as static assets in apps/mobile/assets/lens-backdrops/. Heavy blur (12–16px native) is cheap on iOS, doable on Android with @react-native-community/blur. Grain layer = a single 256×256 noise tile tiled.