OutThere
A product created to support campers
Getting accurate information about camping locations can be difficult. More people are spending time outside. Campers may feel overwhelmed by planning or have bad experiences camping. Campers do not have a single point of access for accurate information that would help them meet their goals of camping often and safely.
Above is a display I designed in Figma. Please see below the research and work behind OutThere.
For research purposes I asked potential users to photograph tools which they consider to be necessities while camping in the back-country.
Insights.
These are the insights I gained during interviews conducted with campers.
1. Camping off trail challenges core human instincts and builds confidence in other aspects of life.
2. The pain is worth the experience, to reach something alien and unlike earth.
3. Safely spending time in the outdoors requires knowledge and the right supplies. Relying on a community is necessary.
4. The preparation and time necessary for planning a trip is difficult and unmanageable to do alone.
5. Camping is a necessity when wanting to reach specific destinations.
Competitive analysis
We conducted a competitive analysis to provides strategic insights into competitors design solutions. I used this to help me create a product that gives the camper a superior experience by understanding our competitors' product.
Personas.
We created personas to create realistic representations of our users for to make purposeful design choices. These personas are based on qualitative and quantitative user research. We conducted 4 interviews of campers to identify their needs and experiences.
Persona 1: David
Persona 2 : Kelly
David’s Journey Map.
We created a visual representation of the David’s camping trip. We wanted to share the story of David’s experience camping with touch points, emotional responses and thoughts.
Storyboards.
In our UX research process, we used storyboards to shape our user journey while using our product. We used research to tell a story about Kelly and her experience camping. Please see below the story boards I created for our persona Kelly
Storyboard 1: Kelly and her family are hiking to their campsite. Kelly receives an alert on her watch that there was an avalanche near her campsite. The family regroups and finds another site to say at. The camping trip continues.
Storyboard 2: Kelly is at work on a Friday and is wanting to plan a last minute camping trip. She can do all of this on her phone using an application.
Information Architecture.
We used information Architecture to ensure we were structuring the flow of our product in an resultant and sustainable way.
Wireframe Prototype.
We created a prototype to test the functionality of our design. We tested three user flows with our lo-fi prototype. Potential users were asked to pick a campsite, plan an activity, and add a natural resource to their personalized map. The example below illustrates the path scenario flow a user takes to book a camping trip.
Below is the prototype we used for our experience evaluation. The feedback we gathered from our users shaped the changes we made in our final design.
Annotated Wire frames.
We annotated our wire frames to provide context of how our product will work. These design choices were created following our Experience Evaluations with potential users.
Low-Fidelity Prototype.
These design choices were created following our experience evaluations with potential users.
Reflection
Throughout these eleven weeks, we built personas, user journey maps, wireframes, prototypes, conducted interviews, competitive analysis, and implemented other key user experience design methods to create OutThere. If we were to do this project again, we would prefer more time. We would spend more time doing research conducting usability testing and improving our prototype.