Powder

Each year more people discover the enjoyment of skiing and snowboarding. The market size of US ski and snowboard resorts topped $4.6bn in 2022 and is expected to grow 7.2% in 2023.

With a consistent influx of participants the market is well positioned for innovative, convenient, and unique products.

View Prototype
View Prototype

My Role

UX/UI Designer

Timeline

2023, 2 Weeks

Team

Designer
Project Manager

Tools

Figma
Adobe Photoshop

Problem

Skiers and snowboarders have scattered resources for mountain and snow information, making finding fresh, un-touched snow a difficult task.

Solution

Develop a product that allows users to see in real time the snow/trail conditions from various resorts/mountains. The user can see what trails have been used and then compare trail usage to see where untouched snow may be found.

Solution

Interactive Prototype

Research & Design Approach

Design Thinking

We used the design thinking approach as our framework for Powder. We wanted to start with a growing, passionate industry that has lacked innovative digital solutions. We wanted to iterate on the solution to continually define, ideate, prototype, and test until we arrived at a unique/useful solution for the user.

Research

Searching for the Powder

We wanted to know how skiers and snowboarders find information about mountain conditions, specifically related to fresh snow/trails. To do this we ran a competitive analysis, conducted users interviews, and carried out secondary research with the following goals.

• Understand the process of how people currently find mountain snow information.
• Understand what people look for when/if they check on snow conditions.
• Understand what the user’s needs/wants are.
• Understand the constraints/logistics of sourcing resort information
• Understand the current solutions available for individual users and resorts

Research

Competitive Analysis

After analyzing a range of resort-provided applications and independent snow/weather applications, common threads could be seen. Find full report here

• Large resort apps included GPS location and provided useful snow/mountain information, but lacked granular information and usability.
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• Independent products had detailed weather information and improved usability, but lacked resort/mountain specific information.

Research

Secondary Research

To gain better insight into the current products we researched their user experience by looking at customer feedback, reviews, and personal usage. We were surprised by the amount of issued voiced by users across the apps.

The main issues/complaints are:
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• Lack of functionality and usability
• The product not working as intended or not working at all
• New product version rollouts with bad execution
• Overall lack of useful innovation across products/platforms.

Research

User Interviews

Number of participants: 4
Demographics: 23 to 32 years old
Find full interview report here

Interview Outcomes

After combing through the interviews and organizing them using an affinity map, a handful of common needs began to emerge that had strong correlation with our competitive analysis, and customer reviews. Find full affinity map here

Key points:
• Unable to see if a specific trail or area is going to be crowded
• Not seeing updated or accurate information on the resort apps
• Not knowing the conditions of certain trails ahead of time
• Spending too much time waiting
• Tough finding fresh snow unless lucky

Research

User Persona

To aide in understanding the potential user base, a user persona was created to synthesize the research findings.

Research

Determining the Problems

The research was boiled down into actionable questions. These were the building blocks of our design.

User
• How might we help skiers more efficiently navigate the mountain?
• How might we help skiers and resorts better align their visual data/information?
• How might be provide more efficient tools for information on snow conditions?
• How might we help customize the skiing experience for each individual?

Building the Solution

User and Task Flows

We created the following user and task flows to better validate/invalidate assumptions made during the research phase. The main feature we wanted to emphasize was trail usage rates. Find full report here

Building the Solution

Wireframes

Based on our research we decided to focus our attention on developing our minimum viable product with the following key screens. We wanted to convey ease of use and combine resort/trail usage rates with trail snow totals. Find complete wireframes here

Building the Solution

Initial Design

The prototype design was crafted using the initial wireframes and design schemes based on outdoor applications. Full design here

Building the Solution

Usability Testing

The goal of the usability testing was to determine the following:

• How the participants interacted with Powder mobile application
• How long it takes the participants to perform the task
• Identify confusing areas or issues participants have while using the navigating/using the application

Type of test: Moderated usability test (in person and via Zoom)
Number of participants: 4
Demographics: 23 to 32 years old
Find full testing report here

Testing Outcomes

After analyzing the testing results, user issues emerged with the prototype.

Imperative to fix:

Users wanted a quicker way to see the ski trials with the least usage and most snow
• Add recommended trail information using usage to snow ratio

Users had difficulty tapping the trail on the trail usage page
• Increase size and usability of the trail usage page

Important to fix:

Users wanted to see more of the mountain in the interactive map
• Adjust the map to include more functionality such as scrolling

Increased functionality across all screens and features.
• Updated final design to incorporate necessary functions and UI

Building the Solution

Final Design

Based on the testing outcomes a final design iteration was crafted. We addressed the testing outcomes by completing the following revisions. Full revision report here

Revision 1: Add recommended trail information using usage to snow ratio

Users wanted a quicker way to see the ski trials with the least usage and most snow.
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After the revision:
• Recommended trail info was added to assist in the selection process
• Users can now see the trails with the least runs and most snow

Revision 2: Increase size and usability of the trail usage page

Users had difficulty tapping the trail on the trail usage page
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After the revision:
• Increased the size of trail usage information
• Increased the section spacing and updated the UI

Revision 3: Adjust the interactive map to include more functionality, i.e. scrolling

Users wanted to see more of the mountain in the interactive map
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After the revision:
• Scrolling is available on the map
• Map is touch responsive for trails and lifts