Building Trail Bound: From Idea to Nearly Finished
When I first started creating Trail Bound, my hiking log journal, it was just a collection of loose ideas about how I wanted hikers to record their adventures. Over the past few weeks, those ideas have taken shape in the form of a polished, almost-complete PDF. This stage of the process has been all about refinement; tightening the layouts, finalizing the visual style, and making sure every page feels like it belongs to the same family. The hiking log pages, which are at the heart of the journal, now balance function and creativity, offering hikers a space to track essentials while leaving room for sketches, notes, or reflections.
Moving beyond drafts and into finalized designs was a turning point. The pages are cleaner, the prompts feel intentional, and the journal as a whole carries a more cohesive rhythm. It’s beginning to look less like a student project and more like a real product that hikers could carry with them and genuinely enjoy using.
Tools That Built the Vision
Most of the heavy lifting has been done in Adobe InDesign, which gave me the flexibility to build templates that are consistent yet adaptable. Canva came into play when I needed quick visuals and mockups for branding, especially as I prepared promotional imagery. Setting up my storefront through Squarespace has also been a big part of this phase, since Trail Bound needed not just a product body but also a public-facing home. Balancing the design of the PDF with the storefront and Etsy shop pushed me to think about brand identity on a bigger scale. It wasn’t just about making a journal anymore; it was about building something that feels professional, approachable, and fun all at once.
Designing With Variety in Mind
One of the trickiest parts of this journey has been figuring out how to keep the journal from feeling repetitive. Because so much of the product relies on log pages, I had to find ways to make them dynamic without losing structure. To solve this, I experimented with different reflection prompts, adjusted layouts, and sprinkled in extras like trivia, seasonal reflections, and even a road trip tracker. These touches make the journal feel alive and surprising, encouraging hikers to keep turning the page instead of feeling stuck in a loop.
Feedback That Shaped the Product
Sharing the journal with my housemates, Riley Seaburg and Emma Skibel, has been one of the most rewarding parts of this process. Their feedback confirmed that the new designs feel more polished and cohesive than earlier drafts, but they also reminded me that versatility is key. That encouragement pushed me to keep iterating, and their excitement made the process feel collaborative rather than solitary.
Bringing It All Together
At this stage, Trail Bound is about three-quarters complete. The bones are in place, the style feels unified, and the storefronts are live, even if not fully launch-ready yet. What remains is a matter of finishing touches: building out additional hiking logs, polishing details, and making sure the experience flows smoothly from first use to final reflection.
Looking back, I’m proud of how far the journal has come, from a sketchy idea into a nearly finished product. Building Trail Bound has been about more than just designing pages; it’s been about shaping an experience that captures both the stats and the stories of the trail.
See more of my Product Development Journal
