"Gram City" Design Sprint Challenge

Challenge by Bite Size UX: https://bitesizeux.com/springboard/

Day 1: Understand & Map

“Gram City”: the goal of this design sprint is to help users find the best spots to take photos of whether they are, or where they plan to go. There are two different personas: Sarah, a person who plans out their trips, and Nick, a person who spontaneously will look for photo spots near him as he or she lives their daily lives. In this design sprint, my goal is to provide a solution that will be helpful for both personas.

User Stories

Day 2: Sketch

Lightning Collections

Instagram: The first app I decided to look at is Instagram, which this Design Sprint is named after (Gram City). Images for Gram City should reflect Instagram’s grid, because that’s where these images will end up being posted on. In addition, the “location” page shows both “top” and “recent” images from other posters that have already been there.

Trip Advisor: I also took a look at Trip Advisor, as it is helpful for people to make plans for a vacation. This matches the need of one of our persona’s, Sarah. Additionally, the consolidation of a location search feature with a compatible map application will come in handy.

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Others: Yelp, Amazon: lastly, Yelp was another app I needed to look at- similar to but a little different than Trip Advisor. Lastly, I thought of Amazon’s “Best Seller” and “Amazon’s Choice” badges as an inspiration for the social aspect of example images. There could be a badge that says “verified” or “starred” to signify that image’s popularity or credibility.

Crazy 8 Sketches‍

The critical screen would be the “search results” page, which shows the image locations that a user can go to after searching a specific location or for their current location.

Day 3: Decide & Create

The solution I’ve come up with provides users with a familiar feel similar to that of Yelp, Trip Advisor, and map applications. However, because the application is for users to find photos for posting on social media platforms like Instagram (hence the name, “Gram City”), these screens have square images that match the “Grid” view of Instagram profiles. 

• Screen 1 includes a few suggestions from the app— another way to engage users.
• Screen 2, the critical screen, has a map on the top 3rd of the screen and a list view on the bottom 2/3rds. 
• Screen 3 provides a detailed view of a specific location. It includes tips from other previous users, and photos taken by others from that location. There is a “Most Recent” tab, and “Top” tab (inspired by Instagram). Is there room for a 3rd tab?
• Screen 4 is a popup that confirms add to Itinerary.‍
• Screen 5 is a final screen that shows the itinerary, but not critical to this case study.

Day 4

Prototype

URL: https://xd.adobe.com/view/30188cbc-0624-4099-945b-18846def97fc-654b/?fullscreen&hints=off

I ended up with two red routes in my prototype to test. Route A is a safe, “yelp”-like design. On the other hand, Route B is a more experimental design, which came about during the Crazy 8 design activity on Day 2— it’s more of an interactive design inspired by modern swiping dating apps.

Route A

Route B

Day 5

User Testing

I ran a A/B test with 5 volunteers (you can see detailed notes of those interviews here). My goal for testing was to see how the users react to the prototype itself, but also how they feel about the differences between A and B. 

Task provided to user: It’s your last night of vacation away from home. You want to find a nice photo spot as close to your current location as possible that has a waterfall specifically to go visit tomorrow morning.

Main findings from user tests:

• A is very necessary for overall usability- it fits those with a specific goal in mind but B is much more interactive, it brings more options for those who may be open to trying new things. 
• It would actually be ideal to have both options somehow designed into the app. A for main search, B as an extra feature for discovering new places. 
• For B, an undo button could be useful after skipping.
• For B, to double down on the dating app inspiration, a user could fill out more information on what they like or are looking for, so that the results in the B format are fitted to their specific preferences.
• Tags could use a much better visual design to stand out more. 
• A Filter/Sort should be added in the list views. 
• The tips idea can be developed more, to help users not just find the location of the photo spot, but also know how difficult it is to access (do you have to hike? How do you park? Does it cost money to enter?)

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