NPS

Into the wild

A speculative redesign for a fresh, intuitive experience of the National Parks Service App.

UX Research

Interaction Design

UI Design

National Park Service

In our 5 week speculative redesign for the National Parks Service App, we aim to highlight the wonders of the world in US National Parks. Recognizing that the current app has shortcomings in this goal, we implemented features such as a trip planner, national park news, and a revamped map.

Duration

6 weeks

Role

UI/UX designer

UX researcher

Tools

Figma

After Effect

Team

Jingzhou Ma

Alicia Betty

Stephanie Chou

Steve Wu

National Park Service

In our 5 week speculative redesign for the National Parks Service App, we aim to highlight the wonders of the world in US National Parks. Recognizing that the current app has shortcomings in this goal, we implemented features such as a trip planner, national park news, and a revamped map.

Duration

6 weeks

Role

UI/UX designer

UX researcher

Tools

Figma

After Effect

Team

Jingzhou Ma

Alicia Betty

Stephanie Chou

Steve Wu

Overview

My Part

  • Streamlined team collaboration with regular checkpoints, synchronized updates, and comparative analysis of similar apps.

  • Designed user-centric experiences by building clean information architecture, reusable Figma components, and optimized user flow prototypes, while also conducting extensive field research in the mountains.

Challenge

  • Short Timeframe: Limited duration prevented creating a full component set and required tightly scheduled interviews, impacting research depth.

  • Components: It is my first time designing and making interactive and reusable component, and it would be challenging to understand how it works in the beginning.

Problem

NPS can improve!

The current National Parks Service App is overwhelmingly unorganized and does not encourage exploration of their natural spaces.


It has many non-unified design system and countless unnecessary nesting of pages that need to be reduced. Moreover, there are many dead ends, inconsistent UI elements, and confusing flows that decrease adventurers' confidence in navigating the app. None of these contribute to the NPS's goal of encouraging the planning and visiting of their national parks.

Final Design

A brand new app

Our final deliverable is an unified NPS app, featuring intuitive navigation, visually appealing design, and optimized content tailored to enhance user engagement and satisfaction.

Landing

Dive into the NPS app and start to explore places to travel.

Explore

New NPS app empowers users to effortlessly explore parks with featured suggestions and search function.

Plan your trips

Users can seamlessly plan their adventures with customized and well-crafted itineraries, including details such as location, group size, and more.

Locate

The app provides features like destination recommendations, activity suggestions, and multiple map modes, along with the ability to download maps in advance to ensure users stay on track even without connectivity in the park.

Never lose your pass

Find your pass easily in the new NPS app. You never have to go through your email or any other places!

News and articles

Users can explore updates on wildlife, such as seasonal migrations, discover events like guided hikes or educational workshops, and stay informed about important park news, including trail closures or safety advisories.

Process

Week 1-2

Research

Competitive Analysis

Problem Analysis

App Teardown

Week 3

Ideation

MoodBoard

Brainstorm

UX Strategy

Week 4-5

Design

Design System

Information Architecture

Components

Prototyping

Week 6

Optimization

Refinement

Research

Into the WILD

Our team conducted comprehensive user testing by employing the app during an entire field trip that encompassed a hiking experience, thoroughly evaluating its performance and user satisfaction in a real-world outdoor setting.

Competitive Analysis

Examining the current space of trail and National Park apps.

Instead, they get lost in a lack of information, arbitrary definitions that measure trail difficulties, and confusing UI. We recognized that with these shortcomings, come improvements we can consider when redesigning the National Parks Service App.

National Park Service

The app excels in park discovery and activity options, making it easy to find parks. However, the user experience could be improved by consolidating preview and activity cards, refining search functionality, and ensuring consistent hierarchy and wording.

The app excels in park discovery and activity options, making it easy to find parks. However, the user experience could be improved by consolidating preview and activity cards, refining search functionality, and ensuring consistent hierarchy and wording.

The app excels in park discovery and activity options, making it easy to find parks. However, the user experience could be improved by consolidating preview and activity cards, refining search functionality, and ensuring consistent hierarchy and wording.

The app excels in park discovery and activity options, making it easy to find parks. However, the user experience could be improved by consolidating preview and activity cards, refining search functionality, and ensuring consistent hierarchy and wording.

Viator

Strong card-based design with well-placed icons and visual contrast makes for a smooth search experience. However, it lacks in-depth park details and has too many booking buttons, making navigation cluttered.

Strong card-based design with well-placed icons and visual contrast makes for a smooth search experience. However, it lacks in-depth park details and has too many booking buttons, making navigation cluttered.

Strong card-based design with well-placed icons and visual contrast makes for a smooth search experience. However, it lacks in-depth park details and has too many booking buttons, making navigation cluttered.

Strong card-based design with well-placed icons and visual contrast makes for a smooth search experience. However, it lacks in-depth park details and has too many booking buttons, making navigation cluttered.

Playground Buddy

Intuitive navigation allows users to click icons to explore playgrounds with photos and amenities. However, the UI is confusing, as it includes all green spaces, not just playgrounds. The branding does not align well with the target audience, and the map system lacks clarity while also not supporting Apple Maps.

Intuitive navigation allows users to click icons to explore playgrounds with photos and amenities. However, the UI is confusing, as it includes all green spaces, not just playgrounds. The branding does not align well with the target audience, and the map system lacks clarity while also not supporting Apple Maps.

Intuitive navigation allows users to click icons to explore playgrounds with photos and amenities. However, the UI is confusing, as it includes all green spaces, not just playgrounds. The branding does not align well with the target audience, and the map system lacks clarity while also not supporting Apple Maps.

Intuitive navigation allows users to click icons to explore playgrounds with photos and amenities. However, the UI is confusing, as it includes all green spaces, not just playgrounds. The branding does not align well with the target audience, and the map system lacks clarity while also not supporting Apple Maps.

National Park Trail Guide

Offers a unique mapping system and park activity options but needs better organization. Sorting features are ineffective, button functions are unclear, and it lacks key trail logistics such as trailheads and hike details.

Offers a unique mapping system and park activity options but needs better organization. Sorting features are ineffective, button functions are unclear, and it lacks key trail logistics such as trailheads and hike details.

Offers a unique mapping system and park activity options but needs better organization. Sorting features are ineffective, button functions are unclear, and it lacks key trail logistics such as trailheads and hike details.

Offers a unique mapping system and park activity options but needs better organization. Sorting features are ineffective, button functions are unclear, and it lacks key trail logistics such as trailheads and hike details.

HMW
Provoke adventurous experiences while providing clear informational guides for general park visitors that wish to cultivate a memorable national park visit?

HMW
Provoke adventurous experiences while providing clear informational guides for general park visitors that wish to cultivate a memorable national park visit?

HMW
Provoke adventurous experiences while providing clear informational guides for general park visitors that wish to cultivate a memorable national park visit?

HMW
Provoke adventurous experiences while providing clear informational guides for general park visitors that wish to cultivate a memorable national park visit?

Ideation

3 Opportunities

There are plenty of design opportunities that can better align with NPS's goals. Here we narrow them down into three main opportunities.


With a focus on provoking an adventurous spirit. Adventurers should feel inspired to visit national parks in person and immerse in the stunning environment.

  1. Restructure

Restructure the information architecture to create a smooth navigation process.

  1. Encourage

Provoking an adventurous spirit to encourage a trip to National Parks

  1. Energize

Redesigning the UI to create a clean, modern look and give it energy.

Identity

To provoke an adventurous spirit, we curated a style guide and moodboard.

Contrary to the original UI design, we aimed for a sleek design which would highlight the stunning environments of national parks and encourage adventurers to explore in person.

Iteration

Refining our approach and establishing a cohesive visual language.

Our team then spent two weeks iterating on the design, each developing our own understanding of the app. Some of us explored innovative user interactions, such as a vertical navigation bar, while others focused on modular design.


Once we had developed our individual ideas, we worked to merge them into a unified, cohesive design—the most challenging part of the process.

Our team then spent two weeks iterating on the design, each developing our own understanding of the app. Some of us explored innovative user interactions, such as a vertical navigation bar, while others focused on modular design.


Once we had developed our individual ideas, we worked to merge them into a unified, cohesive design—the most challenging part of the process.

Our team then spent two weeks iterating on the design, each developing our own understanding of the app. Some of us explored innovative user interactions, such as a vertical navigation bar, while others focused on modular design.


Once we had developed our individual ideas, we worked to merge them into a unified, cohesive design—the most challenging part of the process.

Our team then spent two weeks iterating on the design, each developing our own understanding of the app. Some of us explored innovative user interactions, such as a vertical navigation bar, while others focused on modular design.


Once we had developed our individual ideas, we worked to merge them into a unified, cohesive design—the most challenging part of the process.

Home

Explore

Activity

Comparison

Fully redesigned NPS

I'm proud to say we addressed many of the design opportunities that prompted us to redesign the NPS app in the first place. Feel free to play around with our prototype!

Conclusion

What I learned?

It would be very important to plan things out and have a fundamental structure determined in the beginning of the process. It would make the work flow a lot faster.

If I had more time...

Our team would develop more functionality for the app, such as badge collection, emergency support, group planning, and etc.

Projects

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Projects

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Overview

Problem

Final Design

Process

Ideation

Iteration

Conclusion

Overview