Case Study
An iOS app where you can find the best local recommendations for photography all in one space.
Planning made easy.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Designing an app for Photographers
Among the various types of mobile apps, those dedicated to photography stand out as a particularly popular category. Photo and video sharing have become central forms of entertainment and communication, with a growing number of applications helping people stay connected through their visual social networks. As a result, UX designers frequently work on interfaces tailored to this purpose.
In this case study, I’ll introduce Scout, a mobile photography guide that helps users discover the best spots for photography in a given area. Filled with inspiring photos and practical tips, Scout offers technical advice to help users capture their best shots.
Project
Project: Capstone @ BrainStation.
Timeline: 3 Months.
Role: UX Researcher, Interviewer, Sketcher, Information Architect, Designer, Branding Developer.
Platform: Mobile.
Tools: InVision, Figma, Adobe Photoshop.
Prototype will take you to the Figma webpage
Exploring the Problem
Scout acknowledges that creatives spend a lot of time researching, scouting and planning for their potential locations using many different services. Geo tagging has allowed for an increase of visitors of all walk of life to the same location, causing overcrowding and erosion to the environment. Photographers have been pushed to seek more remote locations increasing in time consumption and less time to work on the craft.
Preliminary Research
There is a growing number of amateur photographers, and an increase of portable mobile devices.
Number of Instagram images per specific hashtag
#landscape 161.95 m
#travelphotography 136.73 m
#travelgram 134.23 m
#naturephotography 134.43 m
#wanderlust 125.12 m
Banff National Park saw nearly 682,000 visitors in July 2018
Many avid outdoor goers are being forced to change their own habits. They will go to parks during off season, or the "shoulder seasons" of spring and fall to avoid large groups.
Hikers from years past, who would arrive well-prepared, have given way to another kind of tourist: the kind that doesn’t care about the outdoors. “They saw a picture on Instagram or in a magazine, and they want that photo,”
Hypothesis
I believe that by creating a personalized photo guide network of like-minded outdoor photographers and videographers they will challenge themselves to find new locations that are not as overused. They will work together to better one another in skill and preserve the environment for future generations.
This is a long term goal and I will know this is true when I am able to see a growth of the network and more outdoor creatives taking up the conservationist mindset over likes.
User interviews
User interviews have provided the necessary information to validate the product.
During the interviews I found out that users spend a large portion of their time, days and at times weeks, researching potential locations. They use google maps, Instagram, 500px, flicker, google search, forums, and will drive around and scout potential spots, before they commit to a specific location, time, and season. I was able to find their pain points, frustrations and inspirations.
Key user interview insights
User Development
Persona
With the data, I combined some of the most common pain points, motivations, and behaviors to form a primary persona and photo planning research for this project.
Experience map
Using my interview results, I built out an experience map to gather better visualization for my persona Nic and what areas would be the best to operate. There are two points within the emotional experience that was from feeling excited to overwhelmed and vice versa. Once at the beginning and once near the end of her planning journey. I took on the challenge to kill two birds with one stone and started looking at possible solutions that will make the process more streamlined.
Problem Space
Outdoor Photographers and videographers have a new wave of social media creatives that are overtaking the landscape in a destructive way. There are real consequences of the environment in the long term, people happily leaving with their photo hardly have any immediate sense of the true damage left from their behavior.
How Might We
How might we enable photographers/videographers to have a trusted network for sharing their locations and technical skills, while still maintaining the sanctity of the landscape.
Task Selection
Looking at the experience map, there are two points of opportunity. During the beginning when searching for locations and the middle when at the new location. I thought deeper into ways of assisting both scenarios, and by putting myself in the shoes of the user such as Nic, I created User Stories to highlight the potential capability of the app to help with the process.
I created 38 user stories and was able to group them into specific Epic stories. I chose to move forward with the following.
Epic
Find a unique outdoor photography locations and viewpoints, that have been vetted by the best in the industry.
Task Flow
The task flow I created for Nic focused on finding a specific location he heard about, finding something he likes about it, viewing the information and then adding it to be saved for later use.
Design Studio
Inspiration Board
Gathering inspiration for the app was bit of a challenge, as there are no apps that I have been able to find that are accomplishing the task i am looking to do. I began by looking at travel apps, photo sharing apps and took upon photo guide books in order to help me develop my idea.
This gave me a better sense of direction for my sketches and the next steps.
Wireframes: Sketches, Lo-Fi wireframing.
I began with exploring different ideas of how a user may want to complete the task of searching for a recommendation, as well as how they would like to save the specific location.
The following sketches were the initial idea that I have had for the task flow diagram. From the Home Screen the user can select a location or search for one. Pick a said location and get the in depth information and they can make the choice of saving it for later.
Some ideas came from the inspiration board and they would get refined as I was sketching and working on the process, some ideas would come from my daily app use.
After Sketching out the wireframes, I moved into Figma and created mid-fidelity wireframes.
User Testing
Midway through this project I conducted usability testing through a google meet. I used the mid fidelity prototype, as this would give the user some sense of what the app was about but not influence their interactions and feedback based on any future ideas for the app.
The initial test was focused on how easy it was for a user to find the location that they wanted. I was particularly interested in seeing what pain points the users would experience through navigating the features.
If the users were successful in navigating the first steps, I would proceed with the second section. This is where i was interested if the information provided in the specific location was enough to allow the user to make the choice needed to save the spot or skip it.
Round 1
During the first testing 4 out of the 5 users were not sure what to do or where to go. They were scrolling through the page but didn’t click the search option. This could be due to the prototype just being that a prototype and they were not sure what functions would work.
Before After
Revisions made
The search bar was moved to the top and the Recommended text was moved to the bottom and changed to a welcome title. This separates the two fields and minimizes the confusion as to where the user is on the screen. Smaller tags were added to indicate what the user was seeing in their feed.
Cards were fixed by removing the shadows and rounded corners, in order to give more real estate space to the image. In addition a few key points of information was added underneath the image card indicating the amount of points of interest in a location.
The bottom navigation bar was missing an indicator as to where the user is on the screen and it was added by highlighting the area.
Before After
Revisions made
Images were added to give a better understanding of what the app would look like. During this section it would not interfere with the testing, however since there is minimal text it adds to user testing experience.
The search location was categorized based on distance from the current user location, this gave it the perception of how the filter would work, as something they would be used to same as other apps they use.
The indicator at the bottom navigation bar shows where the user is within the app, and the journal icon was switched to search to keep up with consistency.
Before
Revisions made
Once the user navigated to the selected area of choice, they were met with a large amount of information.
I quickly came to the realization that users were inundated with a lot of information on this screen, and were not sure how far they would have to scroll, and they were not able to quickly scan the content to see if it is relevant for them.
I felt that the information was important, giving the user technical information about how to take the photo as well as how to get to the location and the viewpoints.
After
After
I broke down the information into sections.
I added a Title card image when the user picks a location they want to explore. It serves as an inviting and captivating cover, but also prompts the users to explore more.
Once the user moves to the next screen they are met with potential different spots the area has to offer. this is split into scrollable cards, that will have images to accompany and give visual feedback to the user if they want to get more information about it.
Once the user selects a location within the main spot, they are then given the information about that area.
This is where the user will now receive information about the location, the viewpoints it has to offer, how to get to them and the technical guide on how to take the best photos in that location.
Images show the different viewpoints and what users can expect to see on the trail, while guiding them on how to get there.
Important Trail information was added at the top for a quick reference, as well as the map.
Round 2
I added a few information cards at the beginning on of the app similar to onboarding but it was to give users information about the app.
Since the prototype has changed a lot from the first version i also added a third section for the user testing that i wanted to explore.
During the second section which was the Search, 3 users were stuck in how to find the location from the story. Their instinct was to scroll around, however with a very minimal prompt they did select the search field.
A few users wanted to save the location so that they could quickly access it in the field or for later reference.
Before After
Revisions Made
The Killarney Provincial Park copy was moved higher to fill up some of the empty space. Trails copy was added to indicate to the user what they were viewing. A map of the trail was also added in the right corner.
.The image card was made bigger to showcase the location and allow for a summary copy to be placed on the image. The trail name was made bigger for easier reading aswell.
Since only one image is visible with this revision, there are carousel indicators at the bottom showing where the user is in the carousel.
Before After
Revisions Made
The image was made full screen, and the name and relevant information was set near the bottom.
A card was added and is partially visible so that the user would know to access it.
Once the card is active, the relevant information is visible, as well as a map and a star for the user to be able to save the information as needed for later reference.
Brand Development
Visual Identity
The design needed to be outdoorsy and as clean as possible, outdoor photography is about finding simplicity in the chaos. I chose a combination of serif font and sans serif, that felt like you’d see in a travel magazine, and the large pictures across the whole screen ensured to not fight with each other for attention.
TYPOGRAPHY
COLOURS
Visual Design
The visual design of the app has my own personal style, a signature. I wanted a straightforward structure where you can’t get lost: a homepage that houses users most recent searches and recommendations based on history and location. The user is always going to have an option to use the search bar for anything they may want to explore on their own.
Wordmark
The app’s wordmark represents a very familiar action that photographers go through when researching their locations. to photographers as part of their routeine decided to go with the Recoleta type for the wordmark as many users would feel familiar with the type, using other travel apps, reading magazines and blogs of the same genre.
App icon
While working on a splash screen, I created a loading animation, where I used elements that would be familiar to anyone in the outdoors. At the end of the animation I had a pine tree and circle, and this became the logo for the app.
I used the logo and the wordmark in combination for the app icon. Adding the topographic overlay as the background brought all the elements together to give a more compelling icon that would attract outdoor enthusiasts.
Responsive Website
This is an exploratory design for a responsive website build to market the brand Scout, and inform potential users on what the app is about and why they should use it. I kept the design simple with every image having a purpose to bring out the value of the platform.
Multi-platform
If I had to reimagine my app to be on another platform, I would choose desktop.
Looking back at the user interview sessions of my researching phase I knew that many photographers spend a lot of time planning and researching their potential location. They have all said that they use their laptops or desktops, when researching
, but always wanted that information with them on the go if possible.
The Tarot Cards of Tech
My classmates and I challenged ourselves in thinking of different scenarios by randomly picking cards from “The Tarot Cards of Tech” deck and this was what I ended up.
The Smash Hit
What happens when 100 million people use your product?
It would cause the same problems as what I am trying to solve. If that many people got a hold of information about how to get to some of the most unique and hidden spots in an area, it would continue to cause environmental erosion and overcrowding. I would have to speed up the process of dedicating this app as an exclusive to photographers only, by verifying them through a portfolio submission. The app is suppose to help photographers find unique and hidden spots, but only the ones that care about the environmental conservation from the start.
Learning Outcomes
Next steps
Throughout this journey, I mainly focused on getting the task flow to a state where users were able to easily complete their search and finding their ideal location for the day. If given more time, I would explore creating other landing pages within the platform to really pull in the extent of what the App can provide for its users. I would like to explore how the community would interact within the platform, and share valuable information.
Learnings
This project has been intense and challenging, but I wouldn’t change anything about it as I have learned a lot from it. The biggest takeaway is to always keep the potential users of this platform in mind when creating the app for them. I found out that often as a designer, I was heading in the direction that I would think is best or makes most sense, but when it comes to testing or discussing with other designers I am able to see a different perspective or something new that could benefit the design. Always design for function not aesthetics first, the aesthetics are only to be applied when everything else works as it should.
Trust the process
During this learning process, there have been numerous times where I was questioning the purpose or the reason behind certain steps in UX designing. I have learned that every step no matter how small. I often found myself trying to add too many things in the designs, this could be due to over research and thinking these things made sense, only to find out that the users during testing didn’t care for them. This process really allowed me to embrace the ambiguity of this career field, something that was often echoed by my educators and TAs.
Feedback
Coming from a photography background I was not new to feedback, however I did have to learn not to take it personally. Entering the field of design was new to me, I anticipated a lot of challenges, unknowns, potentially times of confusion, but I didn’t allow this to prevent me from learning and growing. After all I am here to design for people and the best way to know if it will benefit the design is getting feedback. I learned the feedback is not about me, but the design, and the ultimate goal of the design is to help people. Letting go of ego, and processing feedback was very helpful during this project, and I strongly believe it made my design a lot better.