contextual trek finding

Client: TrailFinder
Role: Concept Development, Competitive Analysis, User Testing, Archetype Identification & Wireframe

I've been an avid backpacker and outdoorswoman since I was 18 hiked the American Rockies. My love and my work have combined forces to build this useful app, which I'm really excited to move forward with. 

There was an unfulfilled need in the market for a product that focused on getting a user on the trail and off his couch. Finding the right trail for the context is one of the off-putting and time consuming parts of the process. There are so many maps and books and blogs out there to tout this trail or that trail over the next, but there is still not one that could give you the trail you need when you needed it. For example, do you know what the best options are within 4 hours of your city (with limited time) for hiking trails for families and pets? This project is at the intersection of user needs and making nature more accessible to society. 

Competitive analysis, key user interviews and synthesis in process have led us to some interesting results that pushed and evolved our original hypotheses. It's been really rewarding coming in with all the new ideas to make this product more useful and rewarding to use.

Through a contextual questioning process, the app finds sets of trail data that fit the parameters and filters of the user for easy to digest and searchable information. Am I going for a morning trail run? Am I finding a weekend backpacking trail? Or am I taking a month off to hike a part of the John Muir Trail? Bookmarking allows for simple recall of best trails and keeps a record of trails hiked or trails your friends loved. Currently, we are in the user testing phase and research phase.