PROJECT OVERVIEW
SCUBA is an app that offers diving conditions, a search function for dive shops and sites, and travel and dive deals for scuba divers. My core responsibilities for this project include user research, design, and testing of the core features of the app.
Role: School:
UX Designer Student CareerFoundry
Teammates: Tools Used:
Mentor, Meredith Cohen & Tutor, Steph Buno Sketch, Invision, & OptimalSort
UX Designer Student CareerFoundry
Teammates: Tools Used:
Mentor, Meredith Cohen & Tutor, Steph Buno Sketch, Invision, & OptimalSort
THE CHALLENGE
There are a lot of frustrations scuba divers face from leaving their home to entering the water. As a UX designer, the challenge is to focus on the correct problems and design a product that will provide divers with an optimal diving experience.
DESIGN PROCESS
Stanford Design Thinking Process
1. Empathize
Problem Statement using Proto-Persona
Robert needs a way to determine diving conditions because he has been frustrated spending a chunk of time putting on his gear, going through the safety checklists, and entering the water only to find out that the visibility is poor.
Decided to perform competitive analysis on other diving apps to see if they solve this problem.
Competitive Analysis
Scuba Diving Apps: iScubaToo & PADI had some functionality issues....
1. No data for showing interest, visibility, and difficulty levels. All shows "0".
2. No reviews listed
3. Slow loading speeds - screen is blank for a few seconds.
4. Error message: 404 Error
2. No reviews listed
3. Slow loading speeds - screen is blank for a few seconds.
4. Error message: 404 Error
Saw no viable solution to the problem statement with providing diving conditions.
User Research
During the discovery phase of my project, I conducted 4 live interviews with scuba divers in order to get a better understanding of problems divers faced and their motivations for diving.
Stanford Model Design Thinking Process
2. Define
These insights led to a revised PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Scuba divers need a way to receive a comprehensive status of diving conditions and discover diving spots based on sea life because they enjoy having dives where desired sea life is visible.
The interviews showed that not only do divers want to be able to see clearly underwater, but also they want to be able to see cool things, sea life, etc.!
USER PERSONAS
Based on the interviews, I created 3 user personas:
1. Nicole, the new diver, wants to know when conditions are at a beginner level to dive in to see cool sea life.
2. Barry, the boat diver, prefers boat diving over shore diving because he thinks he can see a wider variety of sea life.
3. David, the vacation diver, likes to travel and visit new sites to discover new sea life to see underwater.
Each have their own motivations, goals, and needs to help me understand my target audience. 
User Journey Map & User Task Flows
I devised user journey maps for each persona to map out thoughts, emotions, and opportunities as they go through the user task flows and ensure their needs are satisfied.
Information Architecture
I used a card sorting software service called OptimalSort to come up with a defined site map for the navigation structure of SCUBA.
Key Takeaways:
1. The similarity matrix showed that cards for weather conditions and vacation travel were grouped in the same category by majority of participants.
2. 50%-66% of participants grouped “deals” with “profile, log in, and sign up”. This was unexpected and unforeseen. I imagine it’s because users are used to seeing deals as incentives for signing up new accounts. This drove me to explicitly label the page for deals as “travel & dive deals”, not just “deals” to be more specific.
Stanford Design Thinking Process
3. Ideate
LOW FIdelity & MiD Fidelity Designs
I started with low fidelity sketches to help me rapidly change designs and have an idea of how to translate my user stories, interview insights, task flows, and site map. These sketches are especially useful in communicating initial design ideas with the team or with users to get early user feedback.
After several rounds of testing, I iterated and improved the design with user feedback and created mid fidelity designs in Sketch. See example user flow for adding new locations:
Mid-Fidelity designs using Sketch
Stanford Design Thinking Process
4. Prototype
PROTOTYPE
I created a prototype with the Mid Fidelity Designs, which allows users to experience content and interactions with the interface and allows testing of the main interactions similar to the final product.
Prototype Invision Link: https://invis.io/RYN8703VS34
Stanford Design Thinking Process
5. Test
USABILITY TESTING
I conducted 6 moderated in person tests for mobile version of the SCUBA app. The overall goal was to test that the user understands the main features and functions of the app and to record points of friction.
Tools Used: QuickTime Player for face and screen recording.
I used the rainbow spreadsheet template to help me organize findings and extract valuable user feedback.
Issue #1:
Diving conditions missing required diving condition parameters: water temperature and thermocline depth.
Fix:
Include “water temperature” and “thermocline depth” on home page. Note: Home page displays dive conditions.
Evidence:
3 out of 6 participants brought up this concern. The fix is appropriate because it will inform scuba divers and set expectations on the water temperature and the thermocline depth (the point at which the next layer of the ocean decreases in temperature).
Issue #2:
Posting sea life for viewing on dive shop page does not make sense; available sea life should be posted on dive sites only.
Fix:
Remove "Sea Life at Site" on dive shop pages. Only include sea life information on dive site pages.
Evidence:
Originally thought because dive shops may be the near the dive site, it would be acceptable to show available sea life for viewing on dive shop pages. This is not the case, as 2 out of the 6 participants were confused on why they were seeing sea life on dive shop pages.
Issue #3:
No indication of point of reference for popular dive spots suggestions. Users asked "Are popular dive spots based on the location I set at the home page or my GPS location?"
Fix:
Change title “Popular Dive Spots Around You” and add function to choose where to search from. (Ex: My location).
Evidence:
3 out of 6 participants asked if the suggested popular dive sites were based on GPS location or the location set on the home page. There is no clear indication of where the suggested dive spots or search results are searching from.
Issue #4:
Users did not like how there was no "review reservation" page before booking was confirmed.
Fix:
Add an additional page that summarizes what the user is booking for the dive deal package, while also including confirmation number and payment info.
Evidence:
2 out of 6 participants felt it was too sudden to have their reservation booked after adding credit card without seeing any review information page of what is actually being booked with the dive deal package.
Issue #5:
Not enough information on dive deal.
Fix:
Include more information on dive deal package including images of diving at the site, hotel accommodation, meals, transportation, and location.
Evidence:
3 out of 6 participants were unclear on what they were booking for the dive deal.
What I've learned
1. Problem statements can, and will most likely change by validating or invalidating assumptions.
Ex: I learned that divers care about searching for a dive site first, before dive shops in the task flow.
Ex: I learned that divers care about searching for a dive site first, before dive shops in the task flow.
2. The design can always be improved. Things I'd continue to test and improve if given more time:
- test status icons on home page to see if it's intuitive for user to understand and click
- merge search tab and deals tab into one and allow user to only search for sites, shops, or deals.
- test status icons on home page to see if it's intuitive for user to understand and click
- merge search tab and deals tab into one and allow user to only search for sites, shops, or deals.
3. Do the prep work for usability tests: have consent forms, test scripts, and test plans when conducting usability tests. They help set expectations with the participant and help provide a safe space for them to test.
POLISHED UI DESIGN:
