Trophy Fishing
Designing a comprehensive mobile app for fishing enthusiasts of all types.
Role
Lead UX/UI Designer, and Researcher for the customer side of the application
The team consisted of one more lead designer for the charter/business side, and a UX project manager.
The problem
Challenge:
Due to frequent weather changes in lakeside climates, it is difficult for fishermen and hobbyists to stay up to date on real time conditions. Need the ability to see real-time charter availability and openings in a specific area. Different types of fishermen will have different preferences for experiences, fish types, fishing season, and skill level. Families of fishing enthusiasts would benefit from alternative activity suggestions in the area while their family members are participating in fishing experiences.
Problems:
-
Lack of up-to-date weather and water conditions.
-
Ability to filter options based on fish species and experience level.
-
Trip history is important for returning customers.
-
Multiple bookings per day are difficult for individual charters to manage on their own.
-
Lacking the ability to compare the pricing of different charters and trip types.
-
People will likely want to rebook with the same captain/charter again if they have a positive experience.
-
People will want to see reviews/catch photos for different fishing groups/trip options.
Audience:
There are four main types of target users.
Casual Recreational: This segment of users may have some fishing experience, but generally do not fish often and need additional guidance. This group includes people on vacations looking for a fun, kid-friendly outdoor experience. Some individuals in this group may fish more frequently, but do not own their own boat, or live further from water access.
Experienced: This category includes hobbyists that are seeking fishing knowledge in a new region that they are less familiar with. Some may be trophy fishermen with specific species or seasonal interests. Others may be traveling from out of town and cannot reach specific fishing areas without boat access.
Social Groups: This group includes wedding-party-goers, groups looking for unique experiences, or business trips seeking team bonding. Additionally annual travelers that are visiting an area they are familiar with, but are looking for something new to try.
Charters and Outfitters: Users would be captains managing solo fishing operations, as well as owners of small boat fleets needing a way to easily coordinate multiple boat tours at a time on any given day. Others may be outfitters that offer complete package guided trips as well as gear rentals, or fly fishing guides that travel to more remote areas.
Pre-existing context
Initial meetings gave the design team an overview of the client's personal charter website, as well as what they would be seeking to expand in creating a mobile application, such as information for family activities, shipwrecks nearby and their histories, fixing issues of weather reporting inaccuracy, lake conditions, and lodging recommendations.
Competitive Analysis:
Through the competitive analysis I explored other similar mobile applications. There was a lack of location specific fishing apps, as most were more broad, and did not include charters. These were focused instead on creating social hubs for users to post their catches, baits, and locations.
Design process
The key points of the application are the trip planner, access to charters, and the weather and water condition hub. Additionally, I created pages to highlight local activities, food, and hotels nearby to the region, as well as providing customer review ratings, and links to their external websites for easy booking.
Design Breakdown:
An onboarding survey is essential for the personalization of trip recommendations, and suggestions. I created a comprehensive survey to gather data on their interests, fish types they prefer, experience level, who they are traveling with, and what kinds of fishing they are interested in participating in. (boat fishing, kayak, shore, etc)
User profiles include the ability to change email and password information, privacy settings, as well as access onboarding survey data, and change notification preferences.
The application comes with a "freemium" setup. Allowing people to access the majority of features for free, but could pay a subscription price for more customizable features and additional perks.
A list of recommended restaurants, their ratings, is provided, along with individualized pages, and links to their external websites or Yelp review pages.
This screen is the home base and primary hub, with access to the charter pages, recommendations for places to stay, restaurants, weather/water conditions, and activities for friends and family. After logging in for returning users, or after the onboarding survey for new users, they will be routed to the home screen.
Similarly to the restaurant list, hotels are provided along with website links to externally book them through websites such as Expedia, or the hotel's own websites to find the best prices available
Through a fully customized search users will be able to match with the best charter or trip offers possible. They will also be able to plan custom trips and save them to their profile, to keep track of upcoming fishing trips. Key inputs for the search include the target species of fish for hunting, the dates and location of the trip, and how many people will be participating. They can also choose the duration of time that they would like to spend on a fishing trip, or make an entirely custom trip from scratch, that they can invite others to.
The charter page fulfills the primary purpose of the application, and showcases charter options, along with their locations, and the types of tours that they offer at a glance. Users will also be able to book or contact charter operators from within the application.
Here, users have access to the trip planner, which includes a tailored charter search as well as a more detailed custom trip planner, access to previous trips and saved plans, a weather check so that they can plan ahead for preferable weather conditions, and a community page where users can post their catches, and best fishing spots/experiences.
The Outcome
TBD