ROLE
User Research, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Motion Design
PROGRAMS
Figma, After Effects, Illustrator
COLLABORATORS
Alicia Beatty, Mike Ma, Steve Wu
DURATION
5 Weeks
The current National Parks Service App is overwhelmingly unorganized and does not prompt exploration.
There are many dead ends, inconsistent UI elements, and confusing flows that creates a loss of confidence in navigating the app.
There are plenty of design opportunities to explore.
01 Restructure the information architecture to create a clean, straightforward navigation.
02 Provoking an adventurous spirit to encourage a trip to National Parks.
03 Redesigning the UI to create a clean, modern look and give it energy.
Neither competitor app truly showcases the wonders of
the world.
Instead, they get lost in a lack of information, arbitrary definitions that measure trail difficulties, and confusing UI. There are improvements we can consider when brainstorming how to redesign the National Parks Service App.
Our main priority was to make an informative yet easy-to-navigate app.
Above all, we want to unveil fresh, engaging experiences for park visitors.
We curated a set of signature experiences we believe should lead the app’s redesign.
We brainstormed what users were missing and sorted them.
We noticed that basic information, such as park overviews and considerations, were not easily seen, if present at all. This was a massive roadblock in our pursuit of encouraging adventure.
These user needs informed our concept card ideation...
...with a focus on provoking an adventurous spirit. When a user experiences our app redesign, they should feel inspired to visit national parks themselves and see the stunning scenery. We decided to incorporate fun facts, an editorial experience, and a trip planner.
Our Redesigned Information Architecture
When working on the user flows, we realized that the map page should be easily accessed in multiple contexts. Therefore, users can access the map throughout the park, trail, or trip plan page.
Style Guide & Moodboard
Contrary to the original UI design, we aimed for a technical yet simple design, something that would highlight the stunning images of national parks and adventure. We used a mint green as highlights but otherwise left it clean.
A Look Back To The Beginning: What Did Our Redesign Improve?
For one, we completely redesigned the information architecture. It now consists of three to four flows, each with unique features to explore.
Presenting...The Final Product!
Challenges and Notes
Realistically, this wasn’t a linear path to success. This was an arduous yet thrilling 5-week journey to address a problem at its roots and change it for the better. We had features we wanted to stick with to the end (such as a unique global navigation bar), but that came with its own challenges. There were also times when we realized our signature experiences didn’t match our UX pillars, and we had to reorient ourselves and readjust them.
The Right Job, For The Right People
For a 5-week redesign challenge, we were extremely efficient. Part of this is because the group we curated took advantage of everyone's strengths and challenged us to improve our weaknesses. I for one, focused on the User Experience and motion design opportunities, leading me to polish the UI and create the concept video (at the very top of this study). Steve and Mike had strengths in development and were able to create a fully functional prototype, and Alicia used her research experience to frame us in the right mindset when we needed to engage in design thinking. Ultimately, I'm very satisfied with everyone's involvement in the team!
Conclusion & Thoughts
Personally, I'm not ready to finish this project. The time constraint meant we had to prioritize certain features and set aside others, and in the future I hope to develop those further. Ultimately, this was an amazing experience with a great team. Shoutout to my teammates and Bill Flora for guiding us through the process!
