localeStorage

UX/UI Design • User Research • User Testing • Information Architecture • Icon Design • Illustration

A concept application for communal guides to outdoor experiences making travel planning easy and safe

Project Info

The capstone of my interaction design specialization, localeStorage is a comprehensive case study in new-product development. I met with users to identify needs, storyboarded & prototyped solutions, wireframed and mocked-up the interface, and tested users to find and fix pain points.

Needfinding

I interviewed four people to learn about their recreational outdoor activities and observe their trip-planning process to identify user needs for my application. I observed interface breakdowns and user fatigue in the multi-site planning process people went through to find potential locations, vet them for activities and difficulty, as well as execute on the trip. Identifying breakdowns and opportunities from this exercise informed the app's direction and grounded it in user issues.

Storyboards & Paper Prototypes

View Sketches →

To establish real world value, I sketched a pair of storyboards and complementary paper prototypes—forming a basic structure and flow for the application's interface.

Both storyboards and paper prototypes were peer-reviewed via heuristic evaluation online. I provided and received feedback that was iterated upon during wireframing.

Wireframes

View Development Plan →

Working through low-fidelity, I was able to iterate rapidly on ideas and sketches. I drafted the app's main pages, layout, navigation, and functions to build a solid base for high-fidelity mockups.

Mockups

View Prototype →

Building off wireframes, I created mockups for the applications core flows that I would later test. Inspired by Pastebin, I wanted the application's visual character to be downplayed—allowing the user to focus on location discovery and trip preparation.

Testing

View Usability Test →View AB Test →

Using my mockup prototype, I conducted usability and AB testing to iterate on the application further. For both usability and AB tests, I created a task list and recorded observations. During usability testing, I observed a number of small improvements I could make within the app and identified a common behavior that I later AB tested. I found users were consistently accessing the hamburger menu (☰) to create a new post when not on the home page (even though there was no button to do so) and those tested with a 'New Post' button inside were more successful and finished the test quicker by a statistically significant margin.

Reflecting

At the time I completed this project, it was my largest achievement as a designer. It was the case study experience I craved and the foundation to grow as an interface designer—having taken me through a full cycle of new-product development. I grew over the course of this project and have grown since then—utilizing the skills I learned in the interaction design specialization to drive positive change for real users and solve problems using a full spectrum of tools and tactics.
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Re-examining this project years later, I can spot areas for improvement: focus the needfinding process, examine a more diverse range of use cases, transcribe a user journey map, form a component library, and tighten up text hierarchy as well as spacing.