User Experience, User Interface Design
Summer 2023
Soli: Inspiration and Community for Solo Explorers
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As a summer intern at Viget, I led an end-to-end mobile application's visual strategy, branding, and UI design. Our seven interns were tasked with researching, designing, and building a product in nine weeks. We began brainstorming the problems that we face, one of which is getting out and exploring our area - We found it hard to know what exactly to do, and it’s all the more intimidating doing so on your own.
SUMMARY
TIMELINE
Three Months (June-August 2023)
ROLE
Visual (UI) Designer
SKILLS
Visual Design Strategy, Design Systems, High Fidelity UI Design, Prototyping
TOOLS
Figma, Figjam, Adobe Illustrator, Whimsical
DESIGN CHALLENGE
Create a product for independent explorers to share and discover genuine recommendations and experiences.
As an intern group, we had the opportunity to design and develop an original capstone project. Most of us were new to the DC area and observed that we all struggled with knowing what to do for fun. We desired to break away from the over-curated and promotional confines surrounding digital travel and exploration platforms, including social media.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Meet Soli, helping independent explorers build confidence and find inspiration.
Soli is an app designed to inspire solo explorers to stop waiting and start experiencing the world around us. Soli helps users find and share guides, which are collections of activities curated by real people.
Insights from users aged 20-35 show that young adults want to explore an area independently but lack confidence and do not know where to begin.
PART I: DISCOVERY / USER RESEARCH
Led by UX research intern, Darby Krugel, our research process began with six informant user interviews and surveys to highlight critical areas of importance to users. This shaped our information architecture and wireframes.
1. People are interested in solo exploration.
“I don't know if I've ever been to an unstructured, unguided experience on my own...If I saw another person went somewhere alone, I'd probably feel more comfortable and be more keen to do it.”
2. Users look for authentic and trustworthy recommendations
“I tend to look at the volume of ratings. So if something only has one rating, I pretty much completely discount it.”
3. Users want tools that are simple to use
“I use a map to scroll or zoom in and out of places that I'd be willing to drive to.”
4. Users are hesitant to post online recommendations.
“There’s already a bunch of reviews that were going to say the same thing as me. What could I share that they couldn’t find on their own, you know?”
Guides are a sequence of activities for that day posted by independent explorers. Users can post a guide, explore based on location and activity filters, and view the profile of the guide creator.
PART II: WIREFRAMES
UX RECOMMENDATIONS / DESIGN CHALLENGES
1: Convenience is key: The importance of including location information.
In our early ideation phase, we envisioned an interactive map within the application to help users quickly find guides relative to their location. Due to development constraints, we could not embed a functional map for the MVP. Since this is an essential user feature, we implemented location-based filtering and a button for each activity that redirected users to Apple/Google Maps.
2. Determining the validity of a post itself: What guides do users trust?
People care to know if the information they receive is credible but also appreciate being able to post without having their identity attached. This led to a unique problem. To strike a compromise, users can determine the validity of a post by viewing the creator’s profile to learn more about the guides they post and how frequently other users have saved their guides. Usernames can be anonymous.
PART III: DESIGN - VISUAL DESIGN STRATEGY
Authentic, Inspiring, and Empowering. Crafting a Brand for Solo Explorers
I led the visual design strategy and UI for Soli. This began with voice and tone activities, mood boards, and a competitive analysis of visual design strategies utilized by competitors.
I recommended emphasizing authenticity and human quality in the interface through visual elements. Differentiate from competitors through typography treatments and graphics that do not allude to tech or social media—vital utilization of inviting imagery and colors.
Visual Strategy and Branding: Rediscover Your Autonomy
This strategy reminds explorers of their inherent creativity and resourcefulness; personal guides communicate a sense of authenticity. I designed the logo and brand for Soli, building upon strategy two, “Rediscover Your Autonomy.” The logo cleverly utilizes a location icon, which serves as a repeated brand motif in the application. The font and color choices are playful, welcoming, and intended to inspire adventure.
Strategy One: Explore Fearlessly
This strategy is playful and bold—it embodies the essence of community and empowerment, inspiring a feeling of confidence across independent explorers.
It Looks: Bold, Organized, Energetic.
It Feels: Empowering, Independent, Secure
Strategy Two: Rediscover Your Autonomy
This strategy reminds independent explorers of their inherent creativity and resourcefulness; whimsical guides communicate a sense of authenticity.
It Looks Personal, Whimsical, and Lighthearted.
It Feels: Inspiring, Liberating, and Authentic
Design to development: Creating a comprehensive design system
PART IV: HIGH FIDELITY
I created a UI kit and style guide to help aid in a smooth design-to-development process, which was a great learning experience for me to envision how the components and elements I created can be practically transferred for a developer.
Usability Testing: Revising the tagging system to aid in user comprehension
PART VI: USABILITY TESTING
In our initial wireframes, we generated a series of tags and iconography with tags that needed to be clarified based on the results of our usability testing. The UX Strategist Avery Antal and Product Designer Tammy Ding and I worked together to create a tagging system with the highest measure of objectivity possible.
Create a Guide
Easy and user-friendly way to share guides by uploading a photo or location and optionally sharing personal anecdotes about your experience using prompts. Before users share their guide, they add tags to summarize the experience for others to find easily.
Search and Discover
Browse through day-guides to discover new things to do based on a filtering search of your location, time available, and types of activities you’re interested in (tags).
View Guides and Profiles
A critical feature for users is to view the creators' profiles to determine whether the guide is credible. The number of saves is included in guides to show how many other users have viewed and been interested in a guide. Profiles themselves are customizable.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Constraints are a playground for creativity.
One of the significant challenges of working on this project was learning to work within and embrace constraints. Designing a functional project aimed at MVP development meant working within a tight timeline in which active communication was essential. Initially, I advocated heavily for implementing an interactive map feature for the MVP, but it was impossible to create within our scope. As a team, we had to get creative in innovating ideas that addressed the needs of our users and were feasible, which led to a lot of enjoyable brainstorming.
Cross-collaboration with a diverse team.
I learned through this project that I enjoy being both a leader and a facilitator of productive conversation. As a big-picture thinker, I bring an enthusiasm that helps team members flow with an exchange of ideas. On the other hand, I also practiced being an active listener and leaned into how my role as visual (UI) designer coincided with the roles of my peers. Across the project's timeline, certain areas called for one person to take the lead and the next to pick up with the framework built by another.
Shoutout to my phenomenal team and mentors, who made this internship an incredible experience and helped facilitate my growth :)
Robert Koch (UI Developer), Sadie Finn (Project Manager), Anya Parekh (Backend Developer), Avery Antal (UX Strategist), Tammy Ding (Product Designer), Darby Krugel (UX Researcher)
My lovely mentors, Katie Frohbose and Ismael Lopez.