BLAZE
MOBILE APP
crowd-sourced hiking trail conditions.
PROBLEM SPACE
Trail conditions can make or break a hike. Hikers need a way to quickly access accurate, timely and detailed trail information.
SOLUTION
An app that provides real-time trail conditions—empowering users to make educated decisions before hitting the trail.
MY ROLE
UX Design, UI Design, Usability testing, Prototyping, User Research and Project Management.
DURATION
eight-week sprint | February-March 2021
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, Maze + Google Drive
understanding hikers.
I wrote the research plan, script and moderated each discussion. After conducting four remote user interviews with hikers ages 18-85, I was able to identify users' shared goals and pain points when hiking.
shared pain points + goals.
All hikers, regardless of age and experience, want accurate and up-to-date trail information.
Hiking is more than just exercise. It is a spiritual, emotional and deeply personal experience.
Trail conditions are most important to hikers as it impacts the comfort and confidence in a hike.
“Being able to successfully plan a hike is, is that makes for like, a really good experience.”
“Hiking is just kind of peaceful, like, meditative.”
“I don’t want to travel 40 minutes in my car to show up I got a flat trail with no view.”
what should we build?
Building two user personas and mapping the user's journey in detail, I moved into sketching the first iteration of frames. Based on user research results, I was able to identify the app's main feature, a live trail map with real-time trail reports. I quickly drafted a variety of layouts and designs.
I then created a 2x2 hierarchy from my initial sketches, which allowed me to determine which element was most important for the user while simultaneously being the more affordable and lowest effort to create a complete product.
how should we build it?
Working from sketches, I built wireframes to determine the app's navigation and reporting flow. Research showed that users want to find hike information quickly. At this step, I worked to balance simplicity, clarity, and urgency in the initial wireframe designs.
When prototyping my initial wireframe (left), the map was a point of failure. The report button was hard to locate, and it was not intuitive to use. I then changed button placement and added text to define essential actions more clearly. I built the second map screen (right) with that feedback and brought it back for additional testing.
Map Wireframe Version 1 + 2
user testing.
I conducted remote interviews where I monitored the user completing three tasks within the prototype. I tracked points of failure and moments of hesitation to understand better where the prototype was ineffective.
75% of users said that they prefer a low to no text interface.
50% were confused by the map and reporting feature.
Tracking moments of failure or hesitation.
“The map does not function the way I thought it should”
“Photos and icons would help. I don’t want to have to read to understand where I am going”
“Icons did not make any sense, were not intuitive”
User testing proved that the report feature was underdeveloped. I quickly explored new reporting flows through sketching and wireframes. After one or two passes, the reporting function saw a successful re-design with a new navigational flow and cleaner look.
iconography matters.
50% of test participants felt visual cues would streamline reporting and navigation. I went back to the drawing board to build icons inspired by the National Park Service's sign and map symbols. These are images familiar to hikers and used by trail signs across the United States.
Redesigning for Success.
The second round of user testing proved that the reporting feature re-design and new iconography helped users move quickly and confidently through the app.
After multiple rounds of user testing, we saw a 71% decrease in the time user’s spent making a report.
UI visual design.
Build a sense of trust, modernity and wonder.
User research showed that hiking is a spiritual and deeply personal experience. To conveyed the sense of wonder experienced in nature, the UI was designed with deep natural hues, real images of hikers and simple iconography.
high fidelity version.
what’s next?
Conduct a comparative study of hiking apps and websites currently on the market.
Conduct more rounds of usability testing to evolve the current design.
Research current trail databases to find patterns in data to organize a custom database for Blaze.
Build out trail maps for the National Park Service's trails. To improve the accessibility of vital information within our national trail systems.
This was an independent project as a part of my part-time UX Design Bootcamp with General Assembly.