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GramCity
Find insta-worthy locations anywhere
For this Google Venture style rapid design sprint, I spent one week creating a location finder app designed to help people easily find the most instagram-able locations to take photos in any city.
The Problem
Every day, people stumble upon beautiful locations everywhere but don’t always know where or how they found it. People also don’t have an easy process to share their favorite photo spots with friends and family.
Solution
GramCity is a mobile app that wants to help users find and share the most instagram-worthy locations to take photos wherever they are.
From tourist attractions to architecture and art, Gramcity wants to make it easier for people to find and share physical places and locations to take great photos.
Role
Solo designer responsible for mapping, sketching, building, prototyping, and testing the app’s overall ability in providing travelers with a positive and engaging experience.
User Research
After watching several videos of user interviews, I started getting a thorough understanding of the problem, as I heard a number of different users share stories and insights about their experience traveling and how they go about planning their trips when exploring new cities.
Sample Questions:
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Tell me how you find cool new places to take photos at?
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Have you ever traveled out of your way to take a single photo?
User Insights:
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People want bold visually stunning colors for background shots
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Some users are time-conscious and want the convenience of finding great photo locations nearby wherever they currently are
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If users are visiting a new location as tourists, they want best of both worlds:
People want bold visually stunning colors for background shots
Speak-easy like locations hidden from the masses
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Some users experience FOMO and end up passing great locations without even noticing. Would be great if they were notified of nearby photo spots while they are physically out and about.
User Personas
After hearing various insights from avid travelers, I quickly devised 2 personas based on the stories and feedback shared. This allowed me to stay connected and further empathize with the intended users and to clearly identify their goals and frustrations.
User Mapping
Once I had a good grasp of my user’s goals and pain-points, I imagined possible design solutions. I began to brainstorm and draft multiple variations of a user map, which I believe best addressed the problem and conveyed my solution.
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Understand user goals when traveling
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Provide users a list of various locations based on interests
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Ensure users receive important details related to the location
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Implement map feature displaying nearby attractions from user’s current location
Lightning Demos
Day 2 of the design sprint was dedicated to sketching, but before doing so I needed to spend some time conducting secondary research.
I examined 5 different products and selected three to draw my design inspiration from.
Sketches - Brainstorm
Using the crazy 8s method, I began to sketch possible solutions to my most critical screen- the location page. This was a fun exercise that helped me generate and discard potential features and solutions that could become the building blocks for a clear and delightful experience.
Sketches - Brainstorm
Creating a three-panel board helped narrow down the critical screens within the app:
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Interests/categories
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City locations
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location page (“Go’’ button leads to map/directions).
Once the user selects interest, they will see a number of top rated spots and see more details behind the location once they tap the area. After reviewing the location page details, users can head directly to the location by tapping the “Go” button.
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Storyboarding
Once my sketches were organized into a cohesive manner, a clear and structured experience began to surface. When users provide their travel interests such as where they want to go and what type of places they want to explore, they will be given a list of cool locations that best match with their search preferences.
After selecting a location, they will have reached the most critical screen. The location page will provide an image of the physical spot as well as short description and certain planning details such as accessibility or fees involved.
High-Fidelity Mockups
After fleshing out my storyboard, day four of the sprint was dedicated to building and prototyping my solution. Building the high-fidelity mock-ups came rather fast with the help of Marvel App as well as the list of my users’ needs prioritized based on trends and similarities.
Prototyping
The goal of the high-fidelity prototype was to demonstrate a simulation of the user flow and functionality of the product. My focus was to remain user-centric and design screens and features that specifically solve my users’ goals and needs.
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A list of locations based on the city & interests selected by the user.
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A clear description of the hotspot with the exact address of the location.
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Additional information useful to tourists travelling to new cities.
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A map feature that displays local attractions near the user’s current location.
Usability Testing
On the final day of the sprint, I scheduled a series of usability sessions with 5 individual testers lasting 15 minutes each.
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Biggest takeaways from the sessions:
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“Wish I could tap more buttons and see other cities and locations”
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“I like how you can see real photos of people who have gone to the location”
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“The map is a cool feature; I like how it shows little snippets of what’s around”
Test Findings:
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All users successfully navigated through the red routes.
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Most suggested to increase the font size on city pages.
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Users wanted to explore further and would’ve liked more interactive elements.
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Users would’ve liked a section to check out reviews & ratings for each location.
Reflection & Future Steps
Although far from complete, GramCity gives users a clear solution to easily find locations and examples of the best photo ops in any city. Although basic in its UI, the map feature received the most praise as it provides a convenience factor which allows users to capitalize on seeing nearby attractions while saving time in the same process.
If given more time, I would build out the ratings feature further and include a space for users to both add & see real reviews of the location they’ve visited which would add a more trustworthy feel to the product.
This was a fast-paced and exciting challenge creating a conceptual product from ideation to a working prototype in just five days. As an avid traveler myself I resonated with the problem and enjoyed making a product that strives for efficiency and clear direction in the travel space.