DayHiker Mobile Application
designing A better way to search for great hikes
Duration
One month
Role
This project was created and executed entirely by me
Tools and Methods
Comparative analysis
User research through surveys and interviews
Design strategy and concept design
Iterative prototyping and usability testing
Interaction design
UI design
The Problem
There are a wide variety of factors that hikers consider when choosing a trail, such as the length of the trail, difficulty, and crowds. Taking all of these factors into account means that searching for a place to go can be time-consuming.
The Solution
Create a set of search filters that will make it easier for hikers to find exactly the kind of experience they want.
Process
user surveys
What do hikers want?
In order to determine the parameters of the search, I needed to get a sense of what people want. I sent out a survey to people in the outdoors and tech community to determine what the most important factors are in searching for hikes.
personas
Users as trail guides
I interviewed 7 different users from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels and used them to develop a persona that would act as a guideline for my design decisions.
prototyping: version #1
My first iteration was a two-page set of questions that hikers must answer in order to see results. This tested reasonably well with users, but following the adage that the best form is no form, I wondered if there was a way to improve this by simplifying it.
comparative analysis
I looked to Yelp and Airbnb for examples of how other companies had approached searches that include a large number of filters.
Yelp and Airbnb search filters
Final Product
let’s explore
The new version has one page of filter options that users can choose to edit, or stick to default options that were selected based on survey feedback.
Next Steps
The new iteration needs to be tested with users to verify that it is intuitive and easy to use. Stay tuned for usability testing results.