Freelance Design
As a seasoned designer with over a decade of diverse experience. Specializing in graphic design, exhibit design, 3D rendering, and UX/UI design, I leverage design as a powerful problem-solving tool.
Cortney Wiersma
Cortney Wiersma
Freelance Design
As a seasoned designer with over a decade of diverse experience. Specializing in graphic design, exhibit design, 3D rendering, and UX/UI design, I leverage design as a powerful problem-solving tool.
Backpackers have access to a diverse range of trails, from easy to challenging, that cater to their outdoor adventures. However, the suitability and characteristics of these trails can vary significantly, presenting a challenge in selecting the most appropriate routes for their needs. This study aims to understand how backpackers navigate the trail selection process and explore ways to streamline the research and decision-making, thereby reducing the time and effort required.
Our goal is to develop an IOS app that empowers backpackers to research and create routes optimized for their unique travel needs for a trip.
We intend to survey hikers and backpackers through social media groups as well as our professional contacts.
To gain a better understanding, I would like to know how they currently plan their trips and routes.
To provide a high-quality user experience, it is important to understand the key features (such as navigation and packing lists) that are most valuable to users.
Identify and address the key pain points experienced by users when planning a backpacking trip.
Our team gathered quantitative data on trip planning behaviors; we surveyed approximately 40 hikers and backpackers. The questions spanned their preferences for trail features, information resources, and potential backpacking app functionalities. Our team took these findings and compiled the data into the affinity map below:
Majority of our users are beginners and rely on their mobile devices. They use multiple resources to research their trip.
Important factors are landmarks/ scenery, trail difficulty level, amenities and lodging available along the trail.
Challenges the user currently faces is finding the best routes, estimating travel time and distance, and accessing real time trail conditions.
Age: 32
Income: Middle class
Occupation: Librarian
Education: Undergrad
Location: St. Paul, MN
Relationship Status: In a relationship
Jaime, a beginner hiker, enjoys going on hikes with her partner every couple of months. She is a meticulous planner, meticulously organizing her trips down to the last detail, from the drive to the trailhead. Although Jaime is an organized trip planner, she is less enthusiastic about the packing process. Additionally, she dislikes dealing with inaccurate or outdated information during her trip planning. One of Jaime's favorite aspects of hiking is mapping out specific scenic viewpoints and waterfalls along her trails.
We believe that creating an app that marries travel itineraries with GPS mapping will help backpackers immensely in planning their journeys to their chosen destinations while adding optimized experiences along the way.
In our survey of backpackers and hikers, we found that most desired more information about the trails, such as landmarks and available amenities/sites as well as the distance and difficulty of the routes. To assist novice backpackers in selecting the most suitable trail, we proposed incorporating a waypoint feature to highlight amenities and sites along the routes, as well as a trip duration calculator to estimate the time required for each journey.
We examined the features of four competing outdoor trail and planner apps and considered which features we found appealing or lacking, all while keeping our own app development in mind.
As a team, we used the MoSCoW method to prioritize features in the app ranging from what we absolutely must have to what we won’t have based on the results of our survey. We chose to prioritize detailed information on the trails, waypoints to show where important amenities are located, and trail reviews as well as a few others.
We utilized the user journey map to show how a novice user discovers our application when looking for an application that will help them plan their trip. Here we have Jaime, a novice backpacker that is looking for an app that will give her all the details of a hike, but also allow her to build a usable itinerary. The process also captures her emotions during each step.
We focused on two user flows; in the first one the user goes through the process of searching for a trail or campsite and adds it to their itinerary. In the second, the user clicks through a saved itinerary to bring up a map view for a specific hike.
Established clear rules and specifications for the consistent use of brand colors, typography, and visual elements.
Developed a centralized repository of icons, images, and other branded assets to ensure easy access and maintain visual consistency.
Developed a library of consistent, standardized page components such as the header, navigation, and cards to promote efficiency and cohesion across the design.
We chose earth tones, to provide a sense of warmth and comfort. These colors are linked to earth, wood and natural elements that suggests a connection to the earth itself.
We chose Edu SA Beginner as a header text for it gives that guide feel with it rounded organic edges. Lexend serves as our primary font for its readability and large font family.
To maintain user familiarity, we selected icons that were consistent with those commonly used at state and national parks.
We select visuals that depict the trail or service to engage users and inspire their next adventure.
Click around prototype here
One of the challenges was combining everyone's ideas into one cohesive design. A challenge was synthesizing everyone's unique erspectives into a unified design.
We collaborated closely on this project, and everyone contributed effectively to their respective parts. We began by researching similar applications together, discussing the most liked features and sending a survey to backpackers and hikers.
Once we finalized the structure, we moved on to wireframing. Each of us designed a page independently and then shared our concepts. We provide constructive feedback and remained open to suggestions from one another.
What worked particularly well for us was the balance between independent thinking and collaborative refinement. The continuous exchange of feedback and openness to others' ideas played a key role in the project's success. We also tested different versions of our designs with individuals outside our team, collected their responses, and used that input to further enhance the design.
The next version of this application will include:
Some predefined trails that are famous in the location selected by the user. User can either directly use those trails or customise them as per their preferences.
Create a community forum where users can engage with one another and grow their passion for backpacking.
Incorporate a warning feature that allows users to notify others users of trail issues, such as downed
trees or falling rocks.
Users can download the map and view them offline when they are on the trail.