Connecting the climbing community and encouraging new climbers
ClimbConnect is an app designed to help climbers meet others based on their availability, skill level, climbing preferences, and more.
01. Introduction
It’s impossible to do some types of climbing alone.
Now, with the help of ClimbConnect, users can find other climbers nearby with similar skill levels, gym memberships, availability, climbing preferences and more.
Goals
01.
Connect climbers based on skill, availability, memberships and other relevant information
02.
Encourage new climbers by allowing them to engage with members of the climbing community
03.
Create an online resource for climbers to engage with each other before potential meet ups
02. Research
Market Research
This kind of resource on the market is scare. Other apps on the market are either exclusive to certain climbing gyms or are lacking the resources to connect climbers by their preferences and skills.
User Research
A survey was sent to multiple student groups focused on climbing, as well as posted in locations where climbers frequent (climbing gyms, social media, etc). The goal was to collect real data and do user research on a personal level.
This research formed the personas used and shaped the foundation of the app.
Disclaimer: unfortunately, with the resources available this data became skewed towards frequent climbers
Survey Highlights
68% always or mostly climb with others
25% climb indoors only and 64% climbed mostly indoors
Most people prefer climbing with others
60% prefer always or mostly climbing with others
64% are unhappy with their ratio of indoor to outdoor climbing
It can be especially hard to find fellow outdoor climbers
32% want to climb with others more often
There was also a strong emphasis that people would prefer an outdoor focus, since it’s easier to organically meet climbers in a gym setting. Other valuable written responses that suggested features to be implemented, such as profiles including availability and memberships.
Safety features need to be implemented
Personas
The survey also collected personal data that was used to create 2 personas.
Tony is an experienced climbing looking for others that enjoy his preferred type of climbing (Lead) that his friends aren’t certified for. He’s also looking for people to climb outdoors with.
57% said they would climb more with an app like this and 32% said maybe
Main Takeaways
People are frustrated at the limited types of climbing when solo
People would feel encouraged to climb more using an app with these features
Jess is a newer climber who’s tired of bouldering and auto belays. She’s looking for belay buddies who are at a similar skill level with a similar schedule that belong to her climbing gym.
03. Wireframes
The wireframes focused on organizing the information architecture of the app and solidifying key features. The main features consisted of user profiles, messaging, posting, and a home feed.
04. Style Guide
With the target audience being climbers, the style guide aimed to present a natural and outdoorsy feeling.
Color Palette
Typography
Logos
Buttons
Navigation Bar
The color palette incorporates different shades of green to reflect the colors of nature. The logo incorporates a figure eight knot that’s used when tying in to climb. The typography is a Latin sans serif similar to Roboto.
05. Iterations
A quick first prototype was developed to meet deadlines for user testing. The feedback from testing was invaluable to the development of the second iteration.
Profile
Information looks like buttons
Availability graph is too complex
Change from 24 hour time
Connections/following doesn’t feel clickable
Feature Suggestions
Add a nearby feature
Should be able to tag (@) people in posts
Design
It looks pretty busy/overwhelming
Preferred the input buttons with labels
Make more colorful and exciting
Positive Feedback
Suggested connections
Certifications on profiles
Logo and color palette
Availability
Searching by locations
Feedback
I was able to prototype these designs, including some additional features not shown, such as searching connections and editing profile.
Some of the most important and influential feedback
06. Final Mock Up
The final mock up incorporated feedback from all of the user testing feedback. The final prototypes were developed to be fully interactive. The prototype can be found here.
07. Final Take Aways
The knowledge gained from this project was immense.
The entire project was created using Figma variables, auto layouts, components, and it was fully prototyped in Figma. It was also my first experience doing direct user research through surveys as well as comprehensive user testing through fully developed prototypes.
Special thanks to Ting Zhou, my wonderful professor who guided me when I needed advice as well as Heejoo Kim, my inspiring professor who pushed me to become a better person and designer. I truly could not have achieved this without their support, advice, and kindness.
Photos from the DMD Senior Exhibition April 2024
