Hipcamp
About Hipcamp
Hipcamp connects campers with people who've made their private land available for camping. Think AirBnB for camping.
Challenge
Hipcamp's research showed an average of four campers attending each successful campsite registration, but only one of those four were registered users. Hipcamp challenged us to find a way to convert those other unregistered users.
My Role
I was lead on the project and responsible for all planning, communication with Hipcamp's Head of Design and Product, and guiding our design efforts. I was also contributing continually to the design itself.
Travis was so easy to work with! Right from the get go he was able to fully understand the problem at hand and determine the best course of action to solve it. From wireframes to prototypes, the whole process was efficient and a breeze. I hope I cross paths with Travis again soon.
Julian Bialowas - Art & Product Direction at Hipcamp
Summary
Hipcamp challenged us to find a way to convert unregistered campers, those who were going on a camping trip reserved by a different camper, into registered users. Over the course of five week we developed a solution that:
- Provides utility for camping trip planners
- Turns the trip confirmation page into a destination for all campers
- Could potentially be spun off into a stand-alone feature
Check out the prototype or see it in action below.
Design Process
In working through this challenge we utilized a slightly modified version of Stanford's design thinking process:
1 - Empathize/Analyze
We brought a team of growth experts onto the project during the first week. While we were working on empathizing with the user they were going through site analytics looking for areas of opportunity.
Personas
We identified two personas that our solution would need to cater to. When we presented them to Hipcamp early in the process they validated our assumptions and confirmed these matched the two types of users they see utilizing their service most often.
After we identified our personas we spent time exploring their taskflows and goals associated with a camping trip looking for areas where their pain points overlapped.
Rob's Task Flow and Pain Points
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Melissa's Goals and Pain Points
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Through this process we found an optimal area to design for; the assigning of food and gear to bring on the trip. We then brainstormed potential solutions that would meet both persona's needs.
2 - Define
While we were identifying personas, their pain points, and potential solutions, the growth team was poring over site analytics looking for opportunities. We met with the Hipcamp team and presented them with three solutions:
Hipcamp chose this solution!
3 - Ideate
With our solution in hand we began the ideation process with sketches and a few rounds of crazy 8s:
We took what we learned and created lo-fi wires:
Adding campers
List of assigned food and gear.
4 - Prototype
We began work on the prototype by translating our lo-fi wires into hi-fi mockups:
Half of our new feature, allowing the registered camper to invite other campers to the "upcoming trip" page.
The second half of our feature which lets the camper who made the reservation assign food and gear responsibilities to campers.
Oops!
When we created the lo-fi wireframes we didn't consider the edge case of a user inviting a long list of campers to the page and designed that portion of the feature as a modal. We realized this when we moved to hi-fi mockups and had to iterate, making the feature in-line.
Orignal Add Camper Design
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Updated Design
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Original Add Food/Gear Design
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Updated Design
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We applied the same correction to adding gear and food, taking it from a modal to in-line design.
Once hi-fi mockups were complete we created the prototype for usability testing.
A bit of the prototype we created.
5 - Validate
Oops!
After two usability tests we realized a key feature, the ability to check items off on your assigned items list, wasn't communicated clearly enough to users. We quickly updated the design, removed the feature, and restarted testing.
Strengths
Opportunities for Improvement
6 - Delivery
Hipcamp was thrilled with our solution and execution! Along with delivering the design we made these recommendations:
- Basic food and gear recommendations can be made based on two variables; Northern or Southern California, Hipcamp is only in California, and whether the reservation was made for winter, fall/spring, or summer.
- The ability to communicate whether assigned food and gear has been packed showed promise and should be explored further.