PAIN POINTS

When asked to create an encyclopedia app on something I was interested in, I immediately thought fishing. To get a clearer understanding of the different pain points when itcomes to fishing, I called and interviewed some of my friendsand family who are a range of different skill-leveled fishermen. After getting all my questions answered, I realized many ofthe pain points I wanted to address were for the beginner to moderate fishermen. This allowed me to set a clear target audience where I could create different user personas toprovide specific content in the fishing app.

RESEARCH

This stage was extremely fun for me because I’ve always wanted to learn how to fish. I felt like I was learning right along with my target audience. There is an overabundance of information when it comes to fishing, so I had to put myself in the users’ shoes to decide what key components would draw them to this app. After I had a clear idea of the main topics, I mapped the basic steps and movement throughout the app.

END GOALS

This is an important step for me when it comes to the design process. I tend to get easily excited by different styles, themes, and ideas which can lead me to create something that doesn’t follow the rest of the content or brand. I create the end goals of what the app should be to keep myself accountable and always on track.

WIRE FRAMING

This app was meant to be a demo that allowed the user to feel what it would be like to interact with it. I created it in after effects to allow me to show the movement and transitions which altered the way I typically did the wireframes. My process here was to tell a story of what the user would experience on their fishing trip. I made countless outlines of what each “page” would look like and how the user would navigate through it. This phase ultimately took the longest because not only did the app have to make sense but the story of the experience had to be present as well.

ANALYSIS

To fully test the demo, I had to roughly skin up the pages with basic shapes to show the movement and steps. Once I had everything in place I sent it to all the people I interviewed and got their questions and thoughts. After the trial and error phase was completed, I finished the wireframe to have a set plan for the prototype phase.

PROTOTYPE

Texture became my best friend when designing the app. I wanted to challenge myself in this app by going out of my comfort zone. Typically I go for an aesthetic that is clean, elegant, and usually minimalistic. I wanted Tippet to be centered arounda natural feel. I decided to pull different textures typicallyfound in nature involving fishing. I wanted the user's excitement to match that of their fishing adventure and honestly just have itbe fun.

Click here to walk through the demo!

REFLECTIONS

Trying to create an app based off of an activity I’ve never really done myself was hard. Utilizing my resources and interviews made it easier to put myself in the user's shoes. In the beginning, I was hesitant with the textures but after some feedback realized that if I was going to go for it I had to jump all in. Learning to step outside of my comfort zone to create something beautiful was a really special moment. In the end, I felt the texture added a lot of life to the app and brought the appeal of being a tool to be used in the great outdoors!