TrekTech
UX Design • User Research • Wireframing • Mockup • Prototyping
TrekTech is a camping supply app that offers personalized recommendations based on your trip details. I developed this app as part of my Google UX Design certificate course.
Project Overview
The Problem:
Inexperienced or first time campers often don’t understand what they need to for comfort and safety while exploring the great outdoors.
The Goal:
To create a helpful, informative and inclusive app to guide people of all outdoors experience levels.
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
User Research • Personas • Problem Statements • Journey Maps
User Research: Summary
Explored websites and online forums to discover common themes and questions that spoke to challenges of individuals taking their first camping trip. Found notable gaps in knowledge surrounding camping basics—choosing the right gear, setting up a campsite, and staying safe outdoors. Identified concerns tied to safety and the unfamiliarity with the outdoors influencing how these individuals approached the decision to camp.
It became clear that some city people were apprehensive with the discomfort that comes with outdoor settings— staying comfortable, sleeping arrangements, maintaining hygiene, or encounters with insects and wildlife. This discomfort played a significant role in shaping their perception of camping. Speaking to the motivations, for some it was a longing for nature, to escape the energy of the city, some sought the thrill of adventure or the chance to develop new connections.
User Research: Pain Points
Pain Point
Not knowing or understanding the basics of camping and outdoor survival.
Pain Point
Difficulty in finding reliable and accessible information on outdoor activities, trails, and equipment.
Pain Point
Apprehensive about encounters with unknown complications.
Pain Point
Lack of knowledge about outdoor activities, equipment, and safety measures, creating limitations.
Persona
Problem Statement:
Andrew Ridge is a city dwelling art student who needs help choosing and purchasing supplies because he would like to go camping for his first time.
ANDREW RIDGE
Age: 20
Education: Art Student
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Family: Lives with family
Occupation: FT Student
Deeply connected to the city, Drew has an urge to explore the world beyond. He wants to experience nature and explore outside of the urban landscape, particularly the Rocky Mountains but does not know what he needs to make his adventure as comfortable and successful as possible.
'I paint my canvas of life with the hues of urban energy, fueld by a craving for the unexplored"
Goal
Wants to purchase camping gear for his first time camping in the mountains.
Frustration
As a first time camper, he does not know what gear he needs.
User Journey Map
Our camping gear app will let users research and understand their specific needs which will help inexperienced or first-time campers by giving them gear recommendations and a checklist to help ensure that they are well prepared for their adventure. We will measure effectiveness by reviewing the purchases made by users and monitoring user activity.
Paper Wireframes
The primary goal is to create an app with a user-friendly and easy-to-recognize interface. To achieve this, I drew inspiration from popular mobile apps like Walmart, Amazon, Cabelas, and Temu, among others.
Digital Wireframes
Our camping gear app will let users research and understand their specific needs which will help inexperienced or first-time campers by giving them gear recommendations and a checklist to help ensure that they are well prepared for their adventure. We will measure effectiveness by reviewing the purchases made by users and monitoring user activity.
STARTING THE DESIGN
Paper Wireframes • Digital Wireframes • Lofi Prototype • Usability Study
LoFi Prototype
Users land on the homepage where they can choose to get access to the gear assistant feature. Users then create a profile, answer a few questions about their specific needs. Once complete, they add the information for their trip and the feature offers gear recommendations based on the users profile and specifics of the trip.
Usability Study: Findings
The focus of the usability studies was to gain insights into how effectively user could navigate through the app, comprehend its features, and accomplish the intended tasks.
Round 1 Findings
Users were excited to use the feature but found the process a little complicated.
Users said alerts weren’t noticeable.
The hierarchy needed to be adjusted, placing feature on top of home page for noticeability.
Round 2 Findings
Simplifying and consolidating the feature made the user flow easier to understand.
Making the alerts more noticeable and adding alert messaging was a good solve.
Adjusting the hierarchy was more beneficial to UX than I anticipated.
REFINING THE DESIGN
Mockups • HiFi Prototype • Accessibility
Mockups
The homepage layout remained faithful to the low-fidelity design, but I adjusted the hierarchy to highlight the guide feature.
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
Chose fonts and typography styles that are easy to read and resizable. Avoided using overly decorative fonts that may be difficult to read for users with visual impairments.
Implemented hierarchical structures to enhance accessibility, particularly for individuals using screen readers.
Used tools to see how the app looks to people with different types of color blindness. This helped me ensure that all text, buttons, and indicators are clear and easy to see, regardless of someone's color vision.
HiFi Prototype
GOING FORWARD
Takeaways • Next Steps
Accessibility Considerations
Takeaways
Impact
"Very cool, I like this a lot. This would be super helpful for me”
- Study Participant
What I Learned
The most valuable thing I gained was understanding the importance of every single step in the process and recognizing not only their interconnectedness but also their impact on the final product.
Having loosely mapped out the interface layout, my focus turned to the homepage, highlighting the new feature, promotions, and camping destinations.
Going forward, I've structured additional pages to ensure a straightforward and accessible user experience.
Test the app on various devices and screen sizes to ensure responsiveness and compatibility.
Implement more accessibility features to ensure the app is usable for all users.
Collaborate with developers to ensure seamless integration of design elements and functionality.
Mockups
At first, I used a survey to gauge users' knowledge of the outdoors. However, I found that simplifying the questionnaire and integrating it directly into the profile setup was a more intuitive process.
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
