Role
User Interface & Experience Designer
Collaborators
4 UI/UX Designers
Duration
10 Weeks
Skills
Visual Design
User Testing
User Research
Journey Mapping
Prototyping
SUMMARY
The Problem Statement
How might we make the trail more than just a path – where every step laces up new connections and builds a community in motion?
The Solution
For this project, we designed a detailed prototype aimed at helping hikers connect with the right people and communities, making it easier to explore new and unfamiliar trails with confidence.
BACKGROUND
Our team was incredibly passionate about the outdoors
During the Northwestern Medill Bay Area Immersion Program, I collaborated with 3 fellow designers on a passion project. We chose to explore the outdoors—specifically hiking—focusing on novice hikers like ourselves, as we navigated the unfamiliar terrain of San Francisco.
Hiking Space
Help Novice Hikers
USER RESEARCH
How might we turn fear of the unknown into excitement for the unexplored for first-time hikers?
With this question in mind, we explored the key frustrations and challenges hikers of all levels face, particularly when starting out. Through interviews, we gathered valuable insights, including the following notable quotes:
JOURNEY MAPPING
As a team, we developed two user journey maps for novice and expert hikers
Using these journey maps, our team collaborated to guide our ideation and brainstorming process. After analyzing both maps, we identified a common frustration among hikers: the challenge of finding the right community.
We then did further team discussions to rethink our problem space
One of our teammates shared a powerful quote that became a pivotal moment for our project, shaping our discussions and ultimately guiding our decision to pivot our idea in focusing on all hikers and to create a platform that grows with individuals during their hiking journey
“There’s something about an app that grows with you as you use it”
– teammate Libby Raymond
REVISITING THE PROBLEM
We were able to pivot our idea and rethink our user base
We shifted our focus from solely assisting novice hikers in navigating the hiking space to addressing a broader yet more niche challenge: helping hikers of all experience levels find communities and connect with others through hiking.
Help novice hikers navigate the hiking space
Help all hikers find the right community and connections through hiking
BRAINSTORMING
We created user flows to understand how users will navigate the application
Once we identified a more specific problem, we began ideating and brainstorming user flows to determine the most effective way to meet the needs of our product and ensure a seamless experience for users.
INITIAL IDEAS & USER TESTING
We each individually came up with designs for features of the application to be tested on users
After mapping out the user flows, we designed screens for various features that could be integrated into the mobile app. We then tested these screens with different hikers, gathering valuable feedback, including the following insightful quotes from the tests:
LOW FIDELITY
We consolidated our ideas into one single mobile application
Based on the insights from our testing sessions, we consolidated all the designs into a single mobile app. I took the lead on the user interface, starting with the creation of a low-fidelity mockup to lay the foundation for the app’s design.
FINAL
We were able to deliver a high fidelity final prototype for our presentation
With Libby’s help in completing the high-fidelity onboarding screens and my work on the remaining high-fidelity designs, we successfully delivered a final prototype that captured our team’s passion for the outdoors.
Sharing our ideas with designers provided valuable feedback on our prototypes
Once we completed the final prototype, we had the opportunity to present our ideas to designers from Atlassian and New Computer (Ex-Apple Designer). This experience was invaluable, providing us with constructive feedback that helped refine and improve our ideas.
CONCLUSIONS
Design is an incredibly iterative process. There are no linear paths
Throughout this project, I learned one of the most valuable lessons: design is never a linear path. It’s filled with ups and downs, and requires constant pivots to better meet the needs of real-world users.
Learning to work with a multi-disciplinary design team
Working with a diverse group of individuals, each with different majors but a shared interest in design, taught me how to navigate varying backgrounds and perspectives. While it was challenging at times, it was also incredibly rewarding to merge our unique ideas and experiences into cohesive solutions.