Problem Statement
Outdoor enthusiasts often struggle to find reliable guidance for local adventures without turning to formal institutions or costly services. Similarly, many skilled individuals lack a platform to monetize their expertise and passions. Open Air sets out to solve this by bridging the gap between explorers and mentors, offering a rewarding, direct connection and learning experience.
Community Strategy: Putting the Human Back in Nature
The community strategy for Open Air is centered around transforming modern lifestyles that often trap individuals in monotonous routines into vibrant explorations of nature. This strategy underscores the need to pivot from artificial, tech-heavy social constructs to authentic self-expression and discovery in the outdoors. By empowering individuals with opportunities to engage in outdoor adventures, Open Air fosters genuine connections and rebuilding community in a more organic sense. The platform aims to ignite curiosity and adventurous spirits through a mission-driven, reward-based system that connects curious explorers with passionate local enthusiasts. This approach not only encourages people to step outside their comfort zones but also to forge enduring relationships with diverse groups. Ultimately, the aim is to cultivate a community that values curiosity, connection, stewardship, and well-being, bringing the human essence back to nature. Read our community strategy
here
Curiosity + Connection + Stewardship + Wellbeing = Open Air
Objectives
Primary Goal
Create a user-friendly platform enabling seamless connectivity and interactions between adventurers and coaches.
User-Centric Design
Prioritize intuitive navigation and diverse functionality to cater to both novice and experienced users.
Scalability
Ensure the platform can efficiently handle a growing user base anddiverse activities.
Research and Insights
We created a Qualtrics survey form to collect user and product viability data from IYA students, friends, family members, and online participants via Cloud Research (a survey participant recruitment platform) totaling over 120 participants. This research drover our product strategy and confirmed our market viability. View our data analysis presentation
here User Personas and Journeys
Developing detailed user personas was a critical step in understanding the diverse needs of our potential users. Through application of our extensive user research, we identified two core personas for Open Air. Here is an example of one, his name is Carlos:
Wireframing
Wireframes played a crucial role in constructing the foundational skeleton of the user interface. Embracing the themes of maximalism, we crafted wireframes that not only highlighted visual aesthetics but also streamlined the user journey. The design laid a coherent path for users, guiding them effortlessly from exploration to enrollment in classes. By mapping out the entire user experience, the wireframes served as a guiding blueprint, ensuring that the class sign-up process was intuitive and engaging. This meticulous planning allowed us to visualize and iterate rapidly, enhancing both the functionality and delight factor for outdoor enthusiasts connecting with local expert coaches.
Design Elements
Our design philosophy for Open Air embraced maximalism, utilizing playful colors to underscore the spirit of adventure and play in nature. The logo, crafted with geometric shapes, cleverly mirrored natural elements while stylizing the "OA" in Open Air. We chose the Poppins font for its clean yet lively appearance, enhancing the whimsical essence of our design. To bring personality to our pitch deck, we developed distinctive avatars and incorporated custom buttons as reusable components. This ensured a consistent and cohesive visual style throughout the app, maintaining both functionality and aesthetic appeal.
Solution
The final product was a dynamic, responsive app prototype that successfully communicated the class booking process and community groups aspect of the app. Check out our full Figma prototype
here
Key features include:
Activity CatalogA rich repository of guided adventures tailored to user preferences.
Seamless Booking Workflow
Integration of a user-friendly booking system.
Community Engagement
A space for user reviews, ratings, and shared experiences, fostering a vibrant and active community.
Next Steps
After doing initial user research, designing a prototype, and building a community strategy, viable next steps to validate the concept further include:
Pilot Testing
Conduct small-scale pilot programs in select locations with real users to test key functionalities of the prototype. This will offer insights into real-world usability and allow for refinement based on feedback.
Engage Early Adopters
Reach out to potential users and offer them access to the prototype for a brief trial period.
Gather feedback to further validate the product-market fit.
Iterate on the Prototype
Use the feedback collected from user research and pilot tests to refine the UX design.
Consider iterations that address the most common pain points and enhance user delight.
Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Focus on developing core features that are critical to the user experience and can demonstrate value. The MVP should be lean yet functional enough to solve any user problems discovered in upcoming UX research.
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