Snowledge

CONNECTING WITH THE CLIENT

They hired me and I hired them.

The co-founders of Snowledge and I met in a coffee shop and connected right away. I like to work with inspiring people because it is important for the success of the project. The quality of our professional connection leads to greater innovation and creates more opportunities to build on each others' expertise.

I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information to comply with my non-disclosure agreement. All presented information has been adjusted and does not necessarily reflect the views of Snowledge.

GOALS AS A DESIGNER

My goal was to create a brand new app while incorporating the features and services from the existing application.

My initial approach was to understand the business objectives and the user ‘Skier’ needs. I had many questions for everyone as part of my onboarding process in the project.

I loved my first meetings with the team. I felt like I was able to really understand their values and expectations. We collaborated easily in sessions and practiced Design Thinking early on in the UX process.

THE PRODUCT AND THE COMPANY

Snowledge is a sports app that tracks skiers' activity when they are at the resort and collects stats for personal analysis. It also has a social activity feed that enables users to engage with other skiers.

The app has been in the Apple Store for over a year and has more than 10K users. At this point, the company needed to scale the product and monetize new services.

The business goal was to win partnerships with Ski resorts by offering them a platform and visibility to Snowledge users.

The product goal was to become more modern and to create a more appealing experience than the competition.

- The problem -

How might we help skiers and resorts engage with other skiers?

How might we make users ski with the Snowledge app and promote it?

- The goals -

• Enhance the ski experience.

• Connect skiers and resorts with other skiers.

• Delight users with the look and feel of the app.

• Improve major concerns and pain points.

These problems and goals helped direct the focus of our team.

It was very useful to have predetermined these foci so that, when needed, we could redirect ourselves to what really mattered.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT

The current features needed to be reviewed and new ideas needed to be implemented.

The best way I found to manage the product and all the features was to first, have the stakeholders agree on the Information Architecture (main menu).

This allowed us to break down the app in 5 sub-experiences.

(Explore, Social, Life Activity, Profile, and Groups)

THE PROCESS TO DECISION MAKING

a path to a confident solution

I was able to design solutions and to defend my design decisions by showing my thinking process.

For those screens that were most challenging and innovative, I needed to do a design exploration. I created three options and explained why one option was better than the others.

CONCEPTUALIZING

Evolving the old feature to a new experience

3 PERSONAS

Anna

The avid skier

‘Ana is an avid skier and she cares about stats more than anyone. She also wants to know the snow conditions and which lifts are open on every resort so she can decide where to go.’

Mark

The father

‘Mark likes to ski with his family. He appreciates knowing the snow conditions but most importantly, he wants to track where his family is at all times.’

Sylvia

Marketing at the resort

‘Sylvia is responsible for marketing at the resort. She keeps all the information updated and posts photos of the resort. For her, it is very important to be able to send offers, contests, and announcements.'

We created 3 personas for the team in order to create empathy for our users. This was a good reminder of whom we work for and their primary needs.

MENTAL MODELS

We used mental models with sticky notes to lay out all the tasks and needs for the user. We did surveys to discover new needs and increase the task list. After grouping those tasks, we were able to match them with features.

USER JOURNEY

We interviewed skiers at resorts and asked them their favorite features and pain points of the current app.

We learned that they loved the tracking feature and being able to connect with other skiers. This showed us that we were doing things in the right direction.

We also learned their concerns about battery, open lifts, and finding their friends.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

from IA to Main Menu

USER INTERFACE

Through our team discussions, I gained more understanding of the user, the market, and the business. This enabled me to be empathic and clear as I was iterating concepts in my mind and sketching the first wireframes out.

I needed to have in mind the design system in order to consolidate all the components and compositions.

Designing screens is not an easy task. Thinking ahead at the ‘atomic design’ level is more complicated but also a good design practice.

Once we got the approval for going forward with developing the features, I delivered the mocks to the developer team.

INTERACTIVE DESIGN

I needed to design the interactive experience when the user starts the ‘Live Activity’. There is a lot to think about when designing these interactions. Animation and transitions are the details that define an app and create a more delightful experience.

I used Origami Studio to create the interactive prototype.

I wanted to engage the skier in an immersive experience.

THE RESULT

The co-founders are very happy with the result of the designs. It helped them to raise capital and get new contracts with resorts by showing the mockups.

The product is constantly growing and adding new features. I am still helping them because I believe in the success of the project and the team.