Green Adventure
UX/ UI Dedicated Mobile App and Responsive Website
Green Adventure (GA) is a cross-platform tool to help people share with and rent out outdoor activities equipment. GA’s Primary Target users include adults who are interested in outdoor activities and would like to learn more about sustainability and ways to do eco-friendly outdoor activities.
Project Overview
Product: Mobile App and Responsive Website Design
Project Duration: July 2022- August 2022
My Role: UX Researcher, UX Designer
The Problem: According to the United Nations ’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change and good health and well-being are two of the world’s grandest challenges by 2030. GA designer has noticed that item sharing is an environmentally friendly way of consumption, so people can share and rent out outdoor gear. This enables people to try more new outdoor activities with less budget and less carbon footprint, which also reconnect people to nature and improve their health and well-being.
The Goal: UX for Social Good! Design an app and responsive website that help people to rent out and share outdoor gear with peers and improve education on the topic of environmental sustainability and eco-friendly outdoor activities.
The GA App Final Design
17 Sustainable Development Goals, Photo Credit: un.org
The Buyerarchy of Needs, Photo Credit: Sarah Lazarovic
Understanding the Users
User Research
Summary
I conducted a user research and interviewed with 10 people, age between 18 to 65, to better understand potential users and their needs. I was wondering to know how often they do outdoor activities, usually what type, how often, how they plan for new activities and prepare required gear, and if they have any challenges, limitations, or preferences. The followings are a few of common reported pain points.
Pain Points:
• Budget: Purchasing a variety of professional outdoor gear is expensive
• Space: Lack of enough space for keeping some outdoor gear that is used once in a while or bulky items
• Access to required gear: Having access to outdoor gear in different locations and occasions for a short time use
Persona: John
John
“I love to try different outdoor activities, but professional gears are so expensive and I do not have enough room for them”
Age: 19
Education: Student
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Family: Live with two roommates
Occupations: Full-time student and part-time retail Associate
Problem Statement:
John is a working student who needs a way to rent/ borrow sports and outdoor gear because they want to save money and space while trying a variety of fun and healthy activities outside.
Starting the Design
Initial Paper Wireframes of the GA App
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Green Adventure app. To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of planning for an adventure and searching for gear and the booking process.
Usability Study
The followings were the main findings uncovered by an unmoderated usability study on 5 participants in the US remotely:
Search Filter:
Being able to filter the search results based on distance, price, etc.
Added to Cart:
Notify users that the item has been added to the cart and show the number of items in the cart on the navigation bar
Wishlist:
A Wishlist that users can add their preferred gears to it (for future adventures)
Refining the Design
Before - After the usability study
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like providing a search filter section to make the search process easier. Also, I added the “Add to Wishlist” or “Like” button to each gear of search results, so users can save their preferred items for future adventures.
Before - After the usability study
Additional design changes included making the checkout process easier. The GA app highlights items added to the cart and notifies users by animation, notification box, and showing the number of items in the cart on the navigation bar.
Mockups and High-Fidelity Prototype
After all of the previous phases, I added imagery, icons, and text in order to create mockups and high-fidelity prototypes.
Final Mockups of the GA App
Responsive Design, Screen Size Variations
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit the specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Accessibility
When designing, I made sure to include accessibility factors in the design process.
• Used both icons and text to help make navigation easier.
• Double-checked color contrast of primary color and buttons on WCAG to make sure of text legibility
• Consistent Layout and Template throughout the app and different screen sizes of responsive website
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact: Users shared that the app helps them to plan for new adventures easier. One quote from study participant feedback was that “the Green Adventure app could make adventures I wished to try easier to happen and I am excited to try more environmentally friendly ways of outdoor activity”.
What I learned: Although working on a social good project seems complicated, by placing users and users’ needs front and center, we could come up with practical solutions and eventually make meaningful changes toward social good.
Next Steps
• Conduct research on how successful the app is in reaching the goal of easily sharing and renting out outdoor gear.
• Add more educational resources for users to learn about environmental sustainability and eco-friendly outdoor activities.
• Provide incentives and rewards to users for completing green steps toward sustainability.
