Persona & Prototyping Design Ideas

Persona

Before brainstorming for our platform design, we focused on our targeted users and tried to understand their needs. We used our interview data to create the persona, including their background information, behavior patterns, goals, and pain points. Here is the persona.

Journey Map

To better understand our users, we imagined how users discover platforms from their perspectives. We created a journey map to visualize their interaction with the outdoor platform.

Storyboard

After identifying our user patterns, we start to narrate our user story. We create two storyboards to illustrate ideas about how users' problems arise and how a new platform can meet their needs. These scenarios are inspired by the interview we conducted. The first storyboard shows the user's pain points and how they might find the new platform. Sara fails to invite her friend John to go hiking together. At the suggestion of friends, she decides to look for somebody through an online platform. She finds “LetsHike” that our team designed and starts her new journey. Then comes the second storyboard. She used the app “LetsHike” that our team designed and successfully found a suitable match, Lizz. Lizz posted her recent hiking plan under the trail detail page. They connected mutually in the app and chatted about the meetup details.

Sketches

After brainstorming and discussion in our group, we used the sketch to design which functions or features should be included in the prototype of this program.

Wireframes

Here are our wireframes based on our competitive analysis and interview insight. We first decide our main functions on the navigation bar, which includes "Home," "Find," "Community," and "Profile," based on our competitive analysis, and then add some typical features based on our interview insight.

On the home screen, We want users to have insight into anything they can do with this app on the home screen, so we included entries and quick looks for each part of our app. "Popular" is a quick look for the "find" tab, where the user can view more trail information and local resource for different outdoors. On the "Find" page, we include the "recommended" function as many applications did. It can quickly help users to find what their want based on their interest collection. Based on our interview result, we provide many useful nearby resources for the user when they are conducting outdoor activities. For example, we add "interactive map" in the "find" section because some interviewees reported that they hope the application could include specific locations of nearby resources, such as restrooms or restaurants. We also add a feature called "Ask an expert" that allows the user to get helpful advice when they get into trouble in the wild.

Then back to the home screen, "Find a partner" is a quick look for the "Community" tab, where the user can find partners and communities. Our interview reports that people are preferred to go outdoor with friends instead of doing it alone. Therefore we make partner recommendations for the user to find one another quickly. The interview also reports that most people like to share their outdoor experiences on social media. So we also provide a space for users to post and share photos. In addition, because the interview is conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, some interviewee reflects their worries to the COVID-19 situation. Considering this, we add a real-time COVID-19 response to the bottom of the page.

"Activity Record" is a quick look for the Activity Record function in the profile tab, where the user can also view their other personal information like their friend list, saved activities, reviews they posted. We also create an additional page design for the details of activity tracking. The overall idea is to connect the app to wearable devices, like Fitbit, Apple Watch, etc.

Lastly, but most importantly, we include an in-app chat function. Based on our competitive analysis, few applications have direct message features, which is very important for the user to communicate with others. On the right top of the home page, a message icon would direct the user to the direct message screen. Through this feature, users can chat privately with others and expand their connections.