Scott Whittle & Terra App

From idea to launch: Scott Whittle and the Terra app

Scott Whittle came to me with a compelling idea — a location-based app called Terra, designed to help outdoor enthusiasts discover and share hidden gems near Cape May, New Jersey.

He had the vision, the drive, and the technical background. What he needed was design direction: how to turn a concept into a product people would actually want to use.

The challenge

Building a product as a solo founder means making hundreds of design decisions with no team to sanity-check them. Scott needed someone who could:

• Help him validate the concept and define the core user experience
• Guide the visual design and interaction patterns
• Prioritise ruthlessly — what to build first, what to leave for later
• Avoid the common mistakes that sink early-stage apps

What we worked on together

Over several months of 1:1 sessions, we worked through the full product design process:

User research & concept validation — defining who Terra was really for, and what would make them choose it over alternatives.

Information architecture — structuring the app so users could navigate naturally without thinking about it.

UI design — building a visual language that felt appropriate for the outdoors context: grounded, trustworthy, and easy to use in the field.

Portfolio & pitch materials — helping Scott present Terra professionally to potential investors and collaborators.

Scott’s words

“All the generalized knowledge in the world can’t help you as much as a mentor with decades of practical experience. Rachael can guide you through all the tricky decisions in the design process and focus on what’s important for your project specifically. She’ll show you what’s critical, what’s not, and what you haven’t even thought of yet. The information she provides is in a whole different category, and it’s invaluable if you want to do anything professional with your design.”

— Scott Whittle, Terra app · Cape May NJ, USA · 2023

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