About TreadLightly
TreadLightly is an informational and safety app designed with outdoor enthusiasts in mind. It's your ultimate companion for exploring local sporting and hiking trails with confidence and peace of mind. We understand the challenges that outdoor enthusiasts face when seeking real-time information about animal sightings, wildfire activity, and trail hazards. TreadLightly was created to fill this void and revolutionize your outdoor experience.
Overview
1. User Research and Empathy: Interviewing 5 participants.
2. Persona Creation: Defining user needs and challenges.
3. Ideation: Challenging assumptions using a mind map.
4. Prototyping: Low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes.
5. User Testing: Validate and refine the high-fidelity prototype.
High-fidelity prototype using Figma.
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EMPATHIZE
Stage One: Define the Problem Statement & Create Empathy Maps
Problems Addressed by TreadLightly:
- Lack of information on animal sightings
- Insufficient knowledge of trail hazards
- Limited awareness of wildfire activity and other weather conditions
Problem Statement:
The lack of a comprehensive safety and informational app for sporting and hiking enthusiasts poses a significant challenge to outdoor enthusiasts, who require up-to-date information about animal sightings, wildfire activity, and trail hazards while exploring local trails. Existing apps fail to provide a unified platform that consolidates this crucial safety information. Thus, there is a need for the development of 'TreadLightly,' a safety and informational app, to address this gap and enhance the safety of outdoor adventurers.
Interviews:
My primary focus is on developing an app that provides valuable insights into the current condition of hiking trails. According to the latest Hiker Demographics and Statistics [2023], 28% of hikers fall within the 20-30 age group, while a substantial 56% are aged 40 or older. Additionally, research in App Age Demographics [2023] indicates that individuals in the 18-24 age bracket tend to use mobile apps more frequently than any other age group. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of user needs and preferences, I plan to conduct interviews with a diverse range of participants aged 20 to 60. This approach includes engaging with three interviewees aged 20-30, reflecting the high app usage trend, and two interviewees aged 40 and above, representing the significant hiking demographic. Furthermore, I will ensure a balanced mix of male and female interviewees, recognizing that hiking is an inclusive activity enjoyed by people of all genders. The five interviewees are:
- Josie is 20 years old and female. I selected her because she enjoys hiking, hunting, and falls within the age range with the highest app usage. I chose Josie to better understand her safety needs when she engages in outdoor activities.
- Chris is 21 years old and male. I selected him because he enjoys hiking and falls within the age range with the highest app usage. I chose Chris to gain a better understanding of his preferences for using a safety app to research various trails.
- Jessica is 28 years old and female. I selected her because she is an avid hiker who participates in a variety of outdoor activities. While Jessica does not fall within the age range with the highest app usage, she is part of the 28% of hikers aged 20-30. I primarily chose her because she excels in safety precautions and animal awareness.
- Tracy is 55 years old and female. I selected her because she belongs to the 40+ age range, which constitutes 56% of hikers.
- Terry is 64 years old and male. I selected him because he falls within the 40+ age range, which represents 56% of hikers.
Survey Questions:
- What outdoor activities do you partake in?
- Do you partake in these activities in groups/alone/both?
- What safety precautions do you take when you are hiking/partaking in outdoor activities?
- Do you already have any sort of hiking/outdoor app or have you used one before?
- Do your friends have any sort of hiking/outdoor apps that they can reference?
- What media do you consume around hiking trails?
- How important do you think animal safety is?
- Are you actively aware of safety measures when you are partaking in outdoor activities?
- Are your friends concerned with animal safety while hiking?
- Were you educated on animal safety before partaking in outdoor activities?
- What would make you feel more safe when hiking and doing outdoor activities?
- When you feel safe, how does it make you feel/what do you want to do?
- How do you prepare yourself to feel safe?
- When you feel unsafe, how does it make you feel/what do you want to do?
- What things do you forget(or don't have access to) that have made you feel unsafe when hiking?
Empathy Maps:
Based on the interview questions above, I created an empathy map for each interviewiee to further empathize with my users.
Key Findings:
Based on the statistics I found, I selected a broad range of ages for interviews regarding my hiking app. Given this, all of the interviewees already had some form of safety protocol in place before partaking in outdoor activities. The most frequently mentioned safety protocols by the interviewees include bear spray and firearms. Another common theme that each interviewee mentioned was the necessity to access more information about hiking trails. I consider this a crucial finding that would enhance the safety and confidence of all interviewees during their hikes.
I discovered some notable differences between the interviewees aged 20-30 and those aged 40+. The interviewees in the 40+ age group emphasized the importance of planning and researching their hikes. While the interviewees aged 20-30 also acknowledged the significance of planning, it wasn't as prominent as it was for the 40+ age group. Additionally, none of the interviewees in the 40+ age group reported having used any hiking or outdoor apps before. These findings are particularly valuable given that 56% of hikers are 40 years old or older. This suggests that the 40+ age group has a strong inclination to plan and research their hikes but lacks a hiking or outdoor app as a reference.
USER'S NEEDS AND PROBLEMS
Stage Two: Creating User Personas & Business Model
Persona:
I created a single user persona by reviewing the empathy maps for the 'Empathize' stage. Many of the interviewees' thoughts and feelings were the same, so I combined these ideas into one persona. This persona is named Emerald Ellis, who is a 30-year-old National Park Ranger. To view the details of this persona, please see the images below.
Business Model:
Key Findings:
Emerald Ellis is the single persona I created by combining insights from various empathy maps. At 30 years old, she works as a National Park Ranger and has a deep love for spending time outdoors. Emerald's strong passion for nature and her preference for experiences that align with her job define her character. Her story emphasizes the importance of tailoring solutions to individuals like Emerald, who serve as key representatives of the needs of hikers and those in similar outdoor settings. Crafting experiences that resonate with her can greatly enhance user satisfaction and engagement in these environments.
IDEATE
Stage Three: Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas
Mind Map:
I crafted a mind map that played a pivotal role in organizing my ideas. I thoughtfully utilized a variety of colors to distinguish between branches and strategically employed variations in boldness and word sizing to highlight the concepts I wanted to prioritize. Within this mind map, "outdoor sports," "safety," and "national parks" emerged as the central ideas orbiting around the app, forming its core. Simultaneously, the branches "theme," "design," and "colors" were devoted to exploring the app's thematic elements, creating a cohesive and visually appealing user experience. Lastly, the "keywords" branch became a repository for the words and phrases that encapsulated the app's goals and motivations, providing a clear roadmap for my UX design journey. This visual tool proved to be invaluable in providing a comprehensive overview and guiding the project's direction with clarity and purpose.
PROTOTYPE
Stage Four: Create Solutions
Low-Fidelity Prototype:
My low-fidelity prototype consists of three main pages because I want the app to be as simplistic as possible, considering the wide range of age demographics using it.
High-Fidelity Prototype:
I created my high-fidelity prototype using Figma. Below is the first iteration of the app before I conducted user testing.
10 Usability Heuristics:
Below is a list of usability heuristics I included in my high-fidelity prototype.
- Visibility of system status is displayed by the colored icons indicating what page the user is on.
- Match between the system and the real world is shown with the graphics of the maps and pins.
- User control and freedom can be achieved with the "Other" button on the "Report" page that allows a user to create their own report.
- Consistency and standards are shown throughout the entire app with a consistent color theme and font.
- Error prevention is displayed by several functionalities of the app including the "Edit Profile" button, the edit location icon, and the back arrow.
- Recognition rather than recall can be shown on the "Report" page by the "Animal Spotting" button and the "Trail Hazard" button. These buttons give the user the ability to preform less recall.
- Flexibility and efficiency are shown with large buttons and straightforward navigation that makes the experience easy to understand.
- Aesthetic and minimalist design is displayed with a simple user interface that utilizes whitespace.
- Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors can be seen with the "Help" button on the "Home" page.
- Help and documentation are shown by an intuitive design.
UX Design Laws:
While designing the prototypes, a couple of UX Design Laws came into play. The laws that I focused on include Miller’s Law, Von Restoref Effect, and Hicks Law. Miller's Law states the average person can only hold about 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory at a time. Hicks Law states that the more options available to a person, the longer it will take to decide which option is best. I used Miller's Law and Hick's Law together when creating buttons and listing notifications for the app. For the "Notifications" page, I listed 5 viewable notifications, and on the profile page I listed 3 buttons, so making a decision on what to click will be easy for the user. The Von Restoref Effect is the proven psychological theory that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that defers from the rest is most likely to be remembered. I used this effect on the "Profile" page with the "Report" button. I wanted this button to stand out because it is one of the main functionalities of the app.
TEST
Stage Five: Try Out Solutions
Background Summary:
I brought back the five participants from Stage One and tested how quickly they could perform a small task using the prototype. To conduct these tests, the participants utilized my high-fidelity Figma prototype on my computer, and I recorded each participant with my mobile phone. These tests were conducted during the daytime when participants were energized.
Methodology:
I instructed each participant to report an animal sighting. I employed a timer to record the duration each participant took to complete this task. After conducting this test, I encouraged them to explore the app further, documenting each person's specific focus. The participants were Josie (female, age 20), Chris (male, age 21), Jessica (female, age 28), Tracey (female, age 55), and Terry (male, age 64).
Results:
- Each participant successfully reported an animal sighting in under 40 seconds.
- Each participant got stuck on the notifications page for a substantial amount of time.
- Each participant's results are as follows:
Josie:
- Reported an animal sighting in 30 seconds.
- Got stuck on the notifications page for 26 seconds.
Chirs:
- Reported an animal sighting in 13 seconds.
- Got stuck on the notifications page for 10 seconds.
Jessica:
- Reported an animal sighting in 26 seconds.
- Got stuck on the notifications page for 22 seconds.
Tracey:
- Reported an animal sighting in 29 seconds.
- Got stuck on the notifications page for 25 seconds.
Terry:
- Reported an animal sighting in 40 seconds.
- Got stuck on the notifications page for 37 seconds.
Statistics:
I created a Python graph that plots the results. The x-axis contains the participants involved in the task and the y-axis is the seconds it took them to complete the task. The red solid line is the seconds it took for each participant to complete the task of reporting an animal sighting in the TreadLightly app. The red dotted line is the amount of time each participant took looking through the notification page. The mean of the completed task data set is 27.6 and the standard deviation is 9.7.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
Updates:
Considering the test data, I changed the profile page icon on the bottom navigation bar to a plus icon. I moved the new plus icon to the middle of the navigation bar so users are more likely to click on it. I implemented these changes because this is the page where you can submit a report, and reporting an animal spotting, trail hazard, or other issue is the key functionality of the app.
Before Update:
It was hard for the users to find the "Report" button because they were confused about the profile icon in the bottom navigation.
After Update:
I changed the profile icon to a plus icon and moved it to the center of the navigation bar.
Final Prototype: