AllTrails: Adding a Feature & Improving Usability
This product featuring changes and additional features to the AllTrails app aims to improve usability, increase user preparedness, and promote conservation and safety while participating in outdoor activities.
Objective
Adding a Feature
Timeline
July - Oct 2023
Role
Product Designer
Team
Research Participants
Tools
Figma
Figjam
Dovetail
Calendy
Zoom
Background
The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to many individuals picking up new hobbies, especially recreational activities. This has resulted in countless new and inexperienced outdoor enthusiasts leaving parks and trails covered in trash and other items that negatively impact the environment. Source: NPR These new outdoor enthusiasts have also caused an increase in emergency calls due to individuals on trails becoming lost, sick, or injured. However, many of these mishaps are preventable just by researching trails and bringing the right equipment, according to Kevin Moses, Shenandoah National Park's supervisory ranger. Source: VPM
Problem
More and more individuals are participating in outdoor activities each year. However, without the proper gear, knowledge, and preparedness, injury and other serious problems are much more likely to occur and fragile ecosystems are put at risk.
Solution
Create a Leave No Trace 7 Principles feature and reformat the trail page layout so information is easier to find.
Research
Competitive Analysis
To start my research, I compared AllTrails to similar products and noted what features were similar and different. This gave me an understanding of what was already out there. This exercise made me realize AllTrails was the only product out of the four with a main focus on being outside with nature rather than navigation or exercise.
Affinity Mapping from User Interviews
I conducted 6 user interviews with individuals that participated in outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and backpacking. I asked them what they usually researched before heading out on a trail, what information was hard to find, what equipment they brought, what safety measures they took to stay safe, and what mistakes they had made and seen others make on trails.
Interview Insights
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4/6 of research participants found unique trail aspects hard to find
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3/6 of research participants found current weather and temperature changes throughout trails hard to find
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6/6 of research participants have made and seen others make preventable mistakes while on trails due to either lack of knowledge or experience
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6/6 of research participants did at least one action to protect trails while participating in outdoor activities
These insights made it clear that the project’s main focus would be trail page usability and providing safety and conservation guidelines.
Define
Persona
I then noted all of the most common needs, goals, motivations, and pain points from the affinity mapping I created.
Analyzing Existing Features/Content
Before deciding on additions and changes to make, I wanted to analyze the existing content on a trail page to see what was working and what wasn’t. I decided to evaluate the Old Rag Mountain Loop trail page. My reasons concerned how it’s the top trail on AllTrails in Virginia (my state) and even one of the most popular 50 trails on the entire site. I then used evidence from my affinity mapping and comments on the trail page itself to back up my reasoning and decisions.
Additions & Changes
Following this I prioritized adding and editing existing content and features while keeping in mind impact vs effort and my persona. Later on, I ended up scrapping some features/content that seemed too complicated and/or not worth the effort to tackle. This scrapped content included reformatting the entire tag/filter system and redesigning instead of removing the FAQ section when it is just repeated information already on the trail page.
Design
Design Patterns & UI Inspiration
To make sure the new content and features looked familiar to users, I put together some design patterns and UI inspiration as a reference. I additionally put some existing AllTrails UI together to make sure my additions and changes would blend in seamlessly with the rest of the app. I was really inspired by AllTrails’s newly released National Park feature and heavily referenced its UI for the Leave No Trace 7 Principles guide. Beyond this I used some carousel images from the desktop version’s homepage as a guide for lighting, mood, and content for the images I choose on the Leave No Trace 7 Principles guide to look consistent with the brand.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
To create low-fidelity wireframes, I printed and cut out sections of the Old Rag Mountain Loop page as a reference then redesigned and made iterations to make content less dense and easier to find. This is when I decided to use the content from Leave No Trace’s 7 Principles guide since the 7 principles include the essential 10, trail etiquette guidelines, and conservation guidelines. AllTrails is also a partner of Leave No Trace so it felt fitting for them (and me) to “collaborate” on a feature.
Due to AllTrails already having an established identity and UI kit, I skipped the mid-fidelity phase and jumped straight into high-fidelity wireframes.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Highlights
All Wireframes
While I can’t add in or create missing user generated content on every trail page, I addressed my users’ pain points by designing the new Old Rag Mountain Loop trail to be more organized. I broke up dense information
so hopefully no important content would be overlooked. I then took the content from Leave No Trace’s 7 Principles website and redesigned it so
that it was more on brand and like a “collaboration” between Leave No Trace, AllTrails, and I.
Test
Usability Testing Results
To test my product, I conducted A/B testing on the original Old Rag Mountain Loop page and the trail page I designed and asked participants to find the same 4 things within each page. (Though I accidentally chose 2 things that were right next to each on the current trail page for task 2 and 3) It became clear that users were able to find things on the new trail page due to the test results and their feedback. I also got participants to look through the Leave No Trace Feature and give their thoughts and opinions on it.
Prioritizing Usability Testing Revisions
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Add X&Y axis to the Trail Traffic feature
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Rename paces 1-3 to be more understandable
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Add dropdowns within the description sections
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Rearrange and rename tabs
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Redesign the LNT ad on trail page
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Make LNT Principle pages more digestible
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Add an overview of each principle on LNT main page
Due to time constraints, I prioritized iterating issues that 50% or more of users addressed. This ended up being the Trail Traffic feature and the estimated time it takes to finish a trail feature.
Revisions
Conclusion
Overall, I feel that the outcome of the new trail page made a huge impact on the current app and its usability. (I often forgot that these changes weren’t actually added to the app while using AllTrails after creating this project.) I also think that the Leave No Trace Feature felt like a real feature added in. All of the research participants knew basic Leave No Trace guidelines, but weren’t aware of them being more than just word of mouth or common knowledge so I feel that this would be a great resource for users.
Future Considerations
Things I would do differently in hindsight:
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Find a better way to do usability testing - I had research participants join the Zoom call on their phone, share the AllTrails app on their screen, leave the meeting, then come back into the call via desktop to test my prototype.
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Pay more attention to where things are located in relation to each other during A/B testing (as I mentioned earlier, I accidentally chose 2 things that were right next to each on the current trail page for task 2 and 3)
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Find more research participants and conduct more user interviews and usability testing
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Use more screenshots of content that would be hard to recreate/wouldn’t be clickable initially to work smarter, not harder
Next Steps
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Continue working on usability test revisions
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Add more content to the Leave No Trace feature
