LEPAL RESEARCH VOLUNTEER
Gamifying mental health support for Gen-Z users through AI.
Duration: 6 months
Type: Senior capstone project
Role: Lead UX Designer
Team: 1 PM, 2 UX Designers, 2 Developers
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Duration: 6 months
Type: Senior capstone project
Role: Lead UX Designer
Team: 1 PM, 2 UX Designers, 2 Developers
THE PROBLEM
Laguna Ocean Foundation operates within a marine protected area (MPA)*. However, many visitors remain unaware of this and are severely uninformed about the conservation efforts of the organization, leading to disruptive behavior in the protected area and unintentional damage to the ecosystem.
of snowy plover nesting
attemps fail due to human
disturbances on beaches.
*A marine protected area (MPA) is a legally protected area of the ocean that is managed to conserve marine life and habitats.
THE SOLUTION
To combat this lack of awareness, our team was tasked with creating a comprehensive, accessible, and engaging mobile web application for visitors to use.
DISCOVERY: STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION & RESEARCH
The first few months of the project were dedicated heavily to gathering requirements, defining scope, and planning for development. This process was strongly dependent on our collaboration with LOF & its volunteers.
Biweekly Meetings
The most significant portion of our collaboration with LOF was our biweekly meetings with LOF's program manager. Throughout these meetings, we worked with them to discuss the beach, the foundation, and gather requirements for the application
Volunteer Interviews
In addition to our biweekly meetings, we had the opportunity to visit the beach and interview some of the foundation's biologists and volunteers working on-site. This was crucial in helping us understand what would be most beneficial to conservation efforts from the perspective of those who are most familiar with and knowledgeable about the beach's ecosystem, visitors, and challenges.
What does LOF do and
whatis the current effect
of their work?
What methods are already
in place to educate visitors?
What challenges does LOF
currently face in executing
their work/educating visitors?
DISCOVERY: INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
From our biweekly meetings with our partner and interviews with the beach volunteers, we were able to identify the following three areas that the mobile app needed to address regarding visitor needs and behaviors at Laguna Beach.
Lack of Awareness
Volunteers expressed that most visitors are unaware of crucial MPA rules and regulations necessary to preserving the beach's ecosystem. Visitors, especially children, often unknowingly break these rules, highlighting a need for clear and accessible information regarding beach conservation.
Assisting Visitors
Volunteers reported challenges in efficiently assisting beach visitors with essential amenities such as finding parking, restrooms, and general directions. This is due to the scarcity of volunteers as well as visitors simply being unaware that volunteers are available to help. Existing resources are described as outdated and difficult to find or navigate.
Getting Visitors Involved
Our partner highlighted a key requirement for the app: a citizen science program enabling visitors to contribute their observations of beach wildlife to the LOF database. Volunteers and LOF staff stressed that this not only enriches their data but also empowers visitors to actively participate in and learn about beach conservation efforts.
PERSONAS
Creating user-personas based off of our findings to ______.
To better organize the findings from the interviews and clarify our user needs and challenges, I crafted three different personas representing a diverse range of possible beach visitors.
FEATURES
Based on the collective insights gained from our meetings, interviews, and personas, we were able to solidify a foundation for the concept of the app The application would be divided into the following four primary features:
DESIGN EVOLUTION
Evolving our design from ideation to ___.
Duration: 6 months
Type: Senior capstone project
Role: Lead UX Designer
Team: 1 PM, 2 UX Designers, 2 Developers
ITERATION & DEVELOPMENT
The development stage faced numerous challenges that resulted in several iterations of the design.
Our developers would realize that certain tasks exceeded their skillset or proved to be more time-consuming than they initially anticipated. As a designer, it was my job to address these and adjust the design accordingly, being careful as to not take away from the intended goals of the app. A few examples of a few of the iterations we had to make are described below.
FINAL OUTCOME
Once the project deadline had arrived, our team presented the project at a capstone showcase. The final product included a functioning homepage, map, and wildlife directory. Unfortunately, the development team was unable to implement the full design due to time constraints and technical issues. Dealing with these difficulties also led us to forego usability testing in the interest of time. Despite this, our partner was still satisfied with the end result and what we were able to accomplish within the given timeframe.
PROJECT HANDOFF & FUTURE DIRECTION
Future goals for the app include the following:
Implement visitor accounts and observation posts.
Receive permission to integrate the Seek API for species identification.
Create a database for LOF to efficiently store observation data.
Conduct usability testing.