Whimsy Walks
Project
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Overview
Whimsy Walks is a nature walk designed to help people get outside and enjoy the surrounding areas nearby. The site was designed originally during the Covid-19 pandemic to offer people some kind of connection to their communities after having been shut inside for so long. Currently, Whimsy Walks locations are based in the Seattle area including Ravenna, U District, Maple Leaf, Roosevelt, and Green Lake. Locations and sites are listed on the website and visitors can visit each site to check out some of the interesting and beautiful things around the neighborhood.
Project Goal
In looking to expand Whimsy Walks, our team was tasked with redesigning some of the existing features on the website as well as adding new additions to help Whimsy Walks improve its user experience and expand to become a larger scale project.
My Role
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
Solution
Mobile application
(mid-high fidelity prototype)
Research Phase
Hunt Statement
Our team decided to focus primarily on the artists and how a redesign could benefit them and their engagement with their local communities. We wanted to know more about local artists and how current resources are beneficial and/or detrimental to them, in order to uncover new opportunities to increase community engagement. To do this, we would conduct a survey with local artists and residents, who are in North Seattle, to gain insight into their pain points and gaps in their needs when it comes to technology and community integration.
Field Observations
The first part of our research was to explore the Whimsy Walks ourselves. Our team went to visit some of the sites that were shown on the Whimsy Walks site. In our field observations, we observed that it was rather difficult to follow what was written on the website due to many reasons. The first thing we noticed was that many of the sites were not kept up to date which caused some of them to be hard to find. The images on the site did not match what some of the sites looked like.
Left: Image from the Whimsy Walks site of the Bamboo Garden in Maple Leaf. Right: Photo taken at the same location of the Bamboo Garden during our field observations
Right: Screenshot from the Whimsy Walks site; there is no indication of any direction to take between sites
Something else that our team struggled with was figuring out which site to go to next. The site just throws all of the locations at the user and there are no specific directions for the user to take. We were hoping that there would be some more direction so we didn’t have to spend so much time figuring out how to get to the next location
Privacy was also a concern. Since we were walking through neighborhoods, we didn’t know if there were some areas that we should not cross through or perhaps they were dangerous areas that visitors should not enter. This is true especially for sites that are on private property.
Left: Photo taken at the Carousel House location. Right: Photo taken at the Iron Sculpture location.
Survey & Interview Reports
Overview
Our Whimsy Walks research focused more on understanding how local artists and residents felt about social media. We targeted local artists and residents residing in Seattle as the main demographic. Our data was collected through Google Forms and we also conducted an interview with our primary stakeholder, the owner of Whimsy Walks, Gregory Engel. We wanted to uncover opportunities to increase community engagement and awareness about Whimsy Walks.
Purpose of Research
The goal of our research was to find out whether social media was beneficial or detrimental to local artists. We wanted to focus on social media as the scope of our project. The first question that helped guide our research was, “What methods are local artists using to get more engaged with their community and how effective are these methods?” With this question, we wanted to understand if artists were using any online platforms or resources to showcase their artwork and to uncover their unmet needs in order to help them find ways to publicize their art. The next question we wanted to explore was “How might we help local artists gain more exposure and more benefits from being actively engaged with their local communities?” Many artists are not very familiar or confident in using social media. By investigating this question, we wanted to alleviate some of the stress for them through a technological solution. Lastly we looked at “What type of information should be displayed on social media in order to help engage local residents with artists?” Our initial field observation findings indicated that people were intrigued by the artwork displayed around participating Whimsy Walks neighborhoods, but weren’t sure of the meaning behind it. We hope to discover ways to make the art more informative for residents and visitors from outside the neighborhoods.
The goal of our research was to find out whether social media was beneficial or detrimental to local artists. We wanted to focus on social media as the scope of our project. The first question that helped guide our research was, “What methods are local artists using to get more engaged with their community and how effective are these methods?” With this question, we wanted to understand if artists were using any online platforms or resources to showcase their artwork and to uncover their unmet needs in order to help them find ways to publicize their art. The next question we wanted to explore was “How might we help local artists gain more exposure and more benefits from being actively engaged with their local communities?” Many artists are not very familiar or confident in using social media. By investigating this question, we wanted to alleviate some of the stress for them through a technological solution. Lastly we looked at “What type of information should be displayed on social media in order to help engage local residents with artists?” Our initial field observation findings indicated that people were intrigued by the artwork displayed around participating Whimsy Walks neighborhoods, but weren’t sure of the meaning behind it. We hope to discover ways to make the art more informative for residents and visitors from outside the neighborhoods.
Survey
For our survey, we focused on getting artists to complete our survey. We asked our participants about their experiences using social media. We also asked them about their preferences about sharing their work and how they might want their artwork to be showcased. Finally we asked them a few questions about the Whimsy Walks website.
Notable Survey Data
Facebook (25%)
Out of 6 possible platforms, all our participants chose either Instagram or Facebook when asked which social media platforms they currently use.
"Instagram's create mode is easy to post photos/collages and scan other photos quickly"
"Instagram is best for visual artists"
Instagram (75%)
40%
20%
20%
20%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
When asked if they were comfortable with using social media on a 1-5 scale, most participants responded with a 1 2 or 3 out of 5. Only 20% of participants said that they were comfortable using social media.
Frustrations:
"Overuse. Addictive nature. Feeling pressure to be creative online as a performance"
"Sad amount of lies and mistruths spread and believed online"
"Rude or contemptuous comments"
We also asked participants about their thoughts on the existing Whimsy Walks website.
"Love it! Interesting, inventive and informative."
".. these seem more like Whimsy Points .. I don't see any walking routes"
"The destinations are really nicely documented and easy to scroll through"
"I'm not sure if they are close enough to each other to string together a walk"
Interview
We conducted a short structured interview with the owner of Whimsy Walks, Gregory Engel. Our goal of the interview was to get insight on his personal thoughts on the project and understand how he envisioned the project moving forward. We wanted to know what direction he wanted to take the project into from a long term point of view. This would help give us direction in designing solutions for our redesign.
Research Findings
Our team decided to design a mobile application that would mimic the community aspects of social media to help users be engaged with the local communities. We focused on creating a way to help artists gain more recognition and exposure for their work. This might help them to be more connected to their community and help them share their work. Finally, we also wanted to include all the technical aspects that will help visitors plan their visit to Whimsy Walks sites.
About the Whimsy Walks site itself, we found that users felt that the current site was more of a list rather than a curated walking route. Users did not understand whether or not the locations listed on the site were in close vicinity to each other. Other critiques of the site noted the lack of neighborhood search, limited neighborhood range, and information about the surrounding area such as restroom locations, kid or pet friendly walking areas.
Recommendations
Our team decided to design a mobile application that would mimic the community aspects of social media to help users be engaged with the local communities. We focused on creating a way to help artists gain more recognition and exposure for their work. This might help them to be more connected to their community and help them share their work. Finally, we also wanted to include all the technical aspects that will help visitors plan their visit to Whimsy Walks sites.
We drew inspiration from the existing social media platform Instagram. Instagram is a platform where users can easily share photos. We also wanted to allow users to be able to easily share their artwork. Having a curated platform for Whimsy Walks where artists can share their work will be beneficial to both artists in being engaged with the community and visitors looking for new areas to explore.
From our research, our group determined the following user requirements:
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Application process for artists to get onto Whimsy Walks, artists will provide information so that their work can be included and Whimsy Walks and their information will be available for visitors to see on a profile page
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Profile page for each artists so that visitors can learn about their work. This will help artists get more exposure and showoff their work. These pages will also include links to any other types of media the artists might have such as social media, a portfolio, personal website, etc.
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Profile pages for each location. Each point of interest will have a profile page of its own that shows more information about it. Artists will be able to show whatever information they want about their artwork on its respective profile page. These location profile pages will be linked with their artists.
Design Phase
Site Map
We first created a site map of the app so that we could easily organize how the navigation of the app worked. Although we designed two versions of the site map, one for artists and one for visitors, we will be focusing our design on the artist version of the app. An artist should have access to more customizable features since they will be using the app to display their work. The site maps will help us move forward with our design to the next step: wireframing.
Wireframes
I was responsible for designing the artist profiles. Our focus was on the artists and we wanted to create something where artists would be able to express themselves however they choose. Our solution was a customizable profile where they could have information promoting themselves and also showcase their work. The requirements of the profile feature were customization, personalization, display of works, and also benefit artists in getting them more exposure.
In my design, I added an edit profile option where artists are able to edit their own information and show others who they are. Artists are also able to edit their contact information and add links to their other social media or platforms. There is also a tab for the artist's work on display. Finally, I added a favorites tab for both artists and visitors to mark certain artists or artwork to be viewed again at a later time.
Wireframes for the profile feature of our app
Flow Diagram
We also created flow diagrams to help us piece together the navigation and which pages would link to which pages. This is sort of a combination of our wireframes and the site map. This would be the final iteration of low fidelity design before we began working on the final prototype.
Prototype Design
Our design is divided into 4 main sections: the homepage, walks, community, and profile. These sections are represented with the 4 buttons in the footer. Our main focus was on the community and profile sections of the app since these are most closely related to the artists. We wanted to provide as many custom features that could help artists share their work and get them more involved in the community.
Login & Homepage
The login feature is designed for artists to be able to login and create their profile. Regular visitors will not be required to login.
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The homepage of the app displays featured, new, and most popular sites from around your location. Having the featured and new sites on the homepage will help visitors discover new sites to explore. Having a variety of featured sites will also give the artists more exposure.
Routes
Based on the feedback we received about the current Whimsy Walks site, we designed a feature that would help visitors go on walks by creating a predetermined route for them. Having a curated route will save visitors a lot of time in figuring out where to go.
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There are several categories of routes for users to choose from
Community
The community tab is meant to be sort of a browsing platform where users can look through various artworks to explore what they enjoy. Similar to the homescreen, nearby sites will be showcased on this tab, with a larger variety of selections to choose from.
We also added a digital extension to instagram where artists could link their instagram posts as artwork in the whimsy walks app. Clicking on one will bring the user to the instagram app.
Clicking on a site will show the user more information about the site along with its location and its artist. If users are interested they can learn more about the artist and view their works as well by visiting the artist’s profile.
Profiles
The profile section is designed to be a tool for artists to use so that they can create their own profiles and tailor it to show whatever they want. Artists can add contact information, as well as any other platform links on their profiles.
We also included an anonymous option for artists who want to remain anonymous. Our research showed that artists might want to remain anonymous due to the toxic nature of social media.
Whether you are an artist or a visitor, all users have access to a favorites option where they can mark their favorite locations to view at a later time.
Accessibility
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Finally, we included accessibility options in a settings menu. These settings can ensure that everyone can use the application with ease and comfort. By offering flexible options, users with disabilities may find using the app a lot easier.
Style guide
To design the overall feel of our app, we used a style guide to keep our layouts consistent. We wanted to go with something that would give the feel of being on a walk. We went with a natural-looking color palette with a couple shades of dark green, gray, and beige. We also chose to go with a more simple style to give users an easier time using the app. Finally, we chose Inter as our font because it offered a wide variety of styles and weights. We also felt that this font is very clear and easy to read when paired with our color palette.
Moving Forward
Since we focused more on the artist during this project, the next steps for us moving forward would be to implement more features catered towards the visitors and giving them a better Whimsy Walks experience. We implemented a simple system in which users could pick from a variety of routes to walk along. We want to enhance this by adding more customization to the routes and information about the surrounding areas.
Currently our design only allows users to pick from existing routes generated by the app. Although there are a wide range of routes, we still want users to be able to pick out a route for themselves should they choose to do so. Our first feature to add moving forward would be a custom route section where users could choose which sites they would like to visit.
The second feature that we would like to add is a more detailed map of the surrounding areas. We want Whimsy Walks to be a pleasant experience for both visitors and residents of the neighborhoods. Without much information on the neighborhoods, visitors could perhaps wander into areas that they should not be in. They could also get lost in unfamiliar areas. By adding more detailed information such about the surrounding areas we will hope to keep the community a safer and more enjoyable place for both visitors and residents