The Spots App
A concept side-project using UX methodology. The aim was simple - identify a problem in the urban extreme sports space, and solve it.
The result is an app which draws from user interviews and competitive analysis to allow practitioners of these sports to progress and meet up for sessions. There's also a pretty sweet UI that works in both light and dark themes!
Discovery
My user interviews at the skatepark involved several skaters, 2 scooter kids, a group of 3 BMXers and an in-liner.
“At the end of the day you’re sharing that common goal”
Regardless of the interdisciplinary politics between urban sports, the 'common goal' is that no matter what you ride, you get stoked on landing tricks and progressing.
“We’re all looking for the same sort of stuff”
Skaters, BMXers, practitioners of parkour or whoever it may be, generally want to find a nice quiet spot with some interesting obstacles and have a session.
“You really need to session with a group to progress”
If there is a good amount of people, they are able to feed off each other, get inspired and push each other forward.
Definition
UI Guidelines
The Outcome
Dark theme
Light theme
'Session' feature
As we know from the skatepark research, riding with
others is the best way to progress…
Riders can use the ‘session’ feature, which tracks users’ GPS, to find nearby groups currently riding spots. Wherever users see this green colour, it means ‘session’. This feature is unique to Spots and not found in other spot-finding apps.
Avatars
Users can pick an avatar if they don't want to upload a photo. This will show as their current location on the map, and anywhere their profile picture would show, such as in messaging other users.
They can also pick an image which shows their sport, flagging to others who might want to ride with them. While this may seem to segregate riders into their tribal sports, the greater goal of progressing their skill level is better served by this ability to locate other practitioners of the specific sport.
Conclusion