Meet

InstaAdventure

This platform decreases gear waste and increases accessibility to outdoor activities by reducing the cost and connecting users with freelancing guides.

Project Overview

Roles

User Experience Designer

User Experience Researcher

Visual Designer

Project Specification

Duration: 6 weeks

Tools:

Figma
Mural
Adobe

Deliverables

Competitive analysis
User interviews and surveys
Personas
User journey map
Low-fidelity wireframes
High-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Design system
Usability tests and findings

Project Plan

Project Proposal

Many individuals are eager to experience outdoor activities, yet they face significant barriers due to the financial commitments required for gear and the difficulties of finding a supportive community. This creates an exclusionary environment where only a privileged few can fully engage in outdoor pursuits.

Imagine a scenario where cost is not a hindrance and forming connections is seamless. What if access to gear and a welcoming community were readily available to everyone, regardless of their financial status or existing social circles? The current solutions fall short in addressing these fundamental issues, leaving a substantial portion of enthusiasts on the sidelines.

InstaAdventure's proposed solution is to create an inclusionary environment with a sharing economy mobile application. By connecting gear owners looking to share their equipment with those who aspire to explore new activities, we're breaking down financial barriers. This platform simultaneously creates a space where individuals can bond over shared passions, fostering an inclusive and supportive community.

How Can We Help These Users?

User Research

Our research involved observing the limitations of current rental processes and exploring how these constraints impact our target users. We utilized semi-structured interviews and think-aloud techniques to understand how existing gear rental solutions align with user needs and delved into their perspectives, frustrations and aspirations. This exploration guided us in gauging interest and shaping the minimum viable product, putting users at the heart of our approach.

Following our user-centered research, each team member meticulously reviewed the data encompassing interview notes and observation particulars. Collaboratively, we engaged in discussions to share interpretations, takeaways, and unforeseen revelations derived from participants' feedback.

Our analysis involved a thorough thematic examination, unearthing recurring patterns, noteworthy insights, and overarching impressions. Our collaborative efforts progressed into the strategic organization of sticky notes, clustering them into coherent categories sharing common themes.

Transparency in Cost and Location

Users voiced dissatisfaction with current platforms due to hidden costs and the inconvenience of seeking localized gear. In response, our application will prioritize early cost transparency and incorporate a refined mapping feature, mirroring the successful model of platforms like Outdoorsy. This will empower users with swift and informed decisions.

Shift in Community Focus

Participants' feedback prompted a strategic pivot in the community aspect of the application. Instead of merely connecting users for activities, we are embracing a more pragmatic role by linking new users with skilled guides and instructors. This shift stems from the valuable insights shared by users and aims to address real-world needs.

Elevated Trust through Reviews

Safety and trust emerged as concerns, particularly in peer-to-peer rentals. To foster reliability, we're drawing inspiration from platforms like Uber and Lyft, introducing lender reviews akin to driver ratings. This will grant users invaluable insights into the trustworthiness of lenders, reinforcing security in the rental process.

Gear Visibility and Lender Control

Enhancing gear visibility emerged as a common theme. Lenders will be mandated to provide real photos of their items, enhancing transparency in gear condition. Furthermore, lenders will have control over rental requests, driven by the trustworthiness established through reviews. This empowers both lenders and renters with a sense of agency.

Certifications and Liability

User concerns around liability underscored the significance of proper certifications for instructors, particularly in high-risk activities like climbing. The application will require certified climbing guides to ensure safety and competence, aligning with industry standards and user expectations.

Maximized Gear Utilization

An exciting finding emerged from users with unused gear; they showed keen interest in renting it out. This revealed an untapped market of enthusiasts who cherish their gear and want to share it. This insight bolsters our belief in the application's potential and aligns with our mission of maximizing gear utilization.

Building upon our observed interactions with users during gear rental processes, we crafted a comprehensive hierarchical task analysis. By dissecting each task into its constituent actions and sub-actions, we've gained a granular understanding of user behavior. This analysis empowers us to optimize the user journey, streamline interactions, and ensure a seamless and intuitive experience within our application.

1.1 Search internet for available options.png

Meet the Users

We identified 3 main personas that embody our target audience.

Interview Brainstorm_2023-05-08_20-03-43.png

Electrician

Gary the Guide

"I really want to be an AMGA rock guide so I will be able to teach people about what I love."

Has worked the same job for 18 years
Passionate about all things outdoors, and loves to share this with others
Avid rock climber - very involved in the climbing community, and has already completed many trainings
Craves freedom and flexibility to enjoy his hobbies and share his experience with others

Student

Ross the Renter

"Backcountry skiing is expensive to get into and a gear rental system would be helpful!"

A student in Utah who works a campus job at minimum wage
Ross cant afford to purchase gear for all the activities he wants to try
Ross loves skiing, and is interested in back-country, but wants to try it before investing so much money into gear
He has limited knowledge about backcountry. He needs someone to show him the ropes

Interview Brainstorm_2023-05-08_20-03-27.png

Mechanical Engineer

Lexi the Lender

"I have gear that I only use for trips to the desert. I don't need most of my gear everyday."

Works full time, and has to travel for work, but loves to spend time outdoors when her schedule allows
Serial hobbyist who has invested a lot of money into gear - some of which sits around collecting dust most of the time
Would love to get some money back on her gear investments by supporting people interested in the activities she loves

Ideation

With personas cultivated from user research, we embarked on the ideation stage for InstaAdventure.

Grounded in user needs, we crafted an intuitive information architecture. This structure empowers users by providing seamless access to vital functionalities and content. Our approach ensures that interactions align seamlessly with their expectations.

Next, we worked on translating our vision into a tangible form. We utilized paper prototypes and storyboards, which allowed us to envision user journeys, interactions, and interface layouts.

From personas to paper, our ideation process embodies a harmonious blend of empathy, creativity, and strategic thinking.

This story board is created with the "Gary the Guide" persona in mind. He is coming to the app to create a guide profile page so that he can connect with people in his community who want to learn from his expertise.

Cognitive Walkthrough and Usability Refinement

Our aim with this evaluation was to gauge the user-friendliness of the application for novices and assess its alignment with user goals. Fellow classmates took on the role of evaluators, scrutinizing the guide, renter, and lender task flows. Through the lens of a cognitive walkthrough, they explored the application, identifying concealed, missing, or unclear elements. Their feedback offered invaluable insights into the user experience.

Evaluators were equipped with a toolkit of materials, ranging from paper prototypes and task descriptions to user persona profiles. A comprehensive spreadsheet guided evaluators through a set of cognitive walkthrough questions, each step evaluated for usability.

Post-evaluation, we examined the usability issues surfaced by evaluators and assessed their severity. Armed with insight, we refined the paper prototypes with user-centered improvements.

High Fidelity Prototype Development

Before delving into the high fidelity prototype, we established a comprehensive style guide. This guide served as a blueprint for consistency and cohesiveness across the application. Drawing inspiration from the essence of our application—dedicated to nature enthusiasts—we selected a palette of greens and blues. These colors resonate with themes of trustworthiness, growth, health, and strength—values at the core of our app's identity.

Incorporating these chosen colors, we sculpted a visual identity that radiates the application's essence. The harmony of greens and blues infuses the interface with a sense of calm and harmony, mirroring the tranquility of nature. Complementing this palette, we opted for a simple yet easily legible font, ensuring a seamless and comfortable reading experience for users.

Our high fidelity prototype came to fruition through work in Figma. With the style guide as our compass, we embarked on the journey of transforming ideas into a dynamic and interactive user experience.

The guide task flow displayed caters to guides seeking to provide personalized training, enabling them to step away from large corporations and offering the flexibility to define their own schedules. The insights gleaned from our paper prototypes played a pivotal role in shaping this task flow. We've taken these learnings and infused them into every step of the guide's journey, ensuring a seamless and intuitive process.

Designed to facilitate seamless gear rental from individuals in the user's area, this flow aims to fulfill user needs by providing transparent information, eliminating hidden costs, and enabling convenient access to outdoor activities.

Our prototype targets users who seek cost-effective outdoor gear options and greater accessibility. By enabling rentals from local individuals instead of large corporations, we empower users to embrace the outdoors without a hefty financial burden. The core aim is to provide an alternative that not only saves money but also aligns with the natural spirit of sharing within communities.

User Testing

Experimental Plan

This phase involved a controlled experiment, observations, and insightful interviews, all aimed at refining the user experience.

Eight participants engaged in our user testing, navigating our Hi-Fi prototype through carefully constructed scenarios. The experiment focused on the renter flow, comparing the application to existing solutions. This controlled environment allowed us to measure key variables that illuminate the user experience. Additionally, each participant embarked on the task of setting up a guide profile. This exercise assessed completion time, lostness, usability, and user satisfaction. These metrics provided a comprehensive view of the effectiveness of our design.

Results and Insights

The feedback we received not only shed light on areas that required enhancement but also reinforced the value that our application brings to its users. Here are some key insights:

High usability and low lostness

Guide and rental tasks on InstaAdventure showcased above-average system usability results and a lostness score below 0.4, indicating that users navigated the tasks without undue confusion.

High value and room for growth

Users demonstrated genuine appreciation for the application's value, although some areas emerged as opportunities for enhancement:

Refine error handling
Providing users with clearer guidance on next steps
Layout of calendar and time selector

InstaAdventure is remarkably faster than REI

InstaAdventure boasted a 55% decrease in mean completion time for the gear rental task when compared to REI

Final Takeaways

Listen to Users!

Removing my own personal bias was particularly hard for me with this project as I identify with the target user group. However, along the way, I often realized that my assumptions about users were not accurate. Always listen to your users first and foremost!

Scope Creep

Brainstorming was a super power of this team, however, we struggled to let go of some ideas so that we could focus on the main tasks. We found ourselves re-focusing several times throughout the process, realizing that we did not have the time or resources to create an app that does it all.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

I had the pleasure of working with a team that functioned like a well-oiled machine. We complimented one another's strengths and weaknesses in ways I could not have anticipated. I learned how essential it is to have a team that cultivates collaboration at every step.