Design by: Zoe Fisher, Michael Bush & Taylor Glas-H.

Student Project. General Assembly UXDI Winter 2013

SHRED by MARIN BIKES

About the App: SHRED by Marin Bikes is a mobile application for mountain bikers of all skill levels. Users can find and explore trails, track progress and share their experiences. Unlike Strava, which caters to multiple sports, Marin Bikes’ mobile app is specifically tailored to the needs of mountain bikers.!""About Marin Bikes: Marin Bikes is an established biking company based in the Bay Area. Their goal with this app is to curate a larger mainstream presence for both experienced as well as novice bikers. Mountain biking is an outdoor experience, Marin Bikes designed its app for mobile use, allowing for the app to accompany the user through their experience from start to finish. "The team was given the constraint of targeting mobile as the primary delivery channel.

https://www.flinto.com/p/783bbf0d

CASE STUDY

Competitive Analysis

Method: "We looked at Treck, Schwinn, Kona, Strava, Wiggle, Raleigh and Marin to compare and contrast services offered and navigation patterns.""Findings: While many mountain bike companies offered top notch gear and services, none provided an app based experience other than Strava,

Opportunities Identified: "Since there was no app other mountain biking apps on the market, this would be a great area to target and invest in."

User InterviewsMethod: "We conducted a survey asking outdoor enthusiasts many questions related to their hobbies and, more specifically, their interest in mountain biking. 79 participants responded.""We also conducted eight in-depth interviews with known mountain bikers and with those who have interest in the sport.""Finally, we completed a competitive analysis for both mountain bike makers (7) as well as bicyclist-oriented apps (4)."

"Findings:"We found that the majority of our survey respondents engaged in multiple outdoor activity, largely had Apple iPhones (60%), and that Strava was the most widely used biking and running mobile application.""Through our face-to-face interviews we found that mountain bike riders tended to really enjoy the sport for the inherent challenge and were anxious for opportunities to compete and improve. ""We also found through these interviews that this is a very social sport, and that only the more experienced bicyclists would ride alone. ""Opportunities Identified:"An app to help connect people with mountain biking trails, based loosely off of the Strava app with timers, statistic trackers and mapping tools. We could also provide opportunities ""

Persona #1

Expert BikerNovice Biker

Spendy

Frugal

-Stay in peak physical shape

-Competition

-Recognition

Drivers

- Be the best she can be

-Track her stats

Motivations

-Maintaining her bike

-Finding trails

Concerns

Alex has been riding a bike since she

was little. Since her dad is a gearhead

himself, she has been surrounded by the

mountain biking culture since she was a

child. She began racing competetively in

highschool and continued throughout

college. Now that she has moved to

Marin for work, she needs an app to find Marin for work, she needs an app to find

trails.

Biking Experience

Alex is at her first real job and as such

is building her career. Although she is

not earning as much money as she

would like, she still won’t skimp on

parts for her new bike. She would

rather spend her money on bike parts

than expensive nights out and purses.

Money Matters

-Wants a simple way to search

and find accessable trails.

- Wants an app that will track his

improvements and runs.

-Wants to compete against locals

Goals

Alex has been riding bikes since she was little. Her dad, a gearhead himself, still rides and loves

the fact that he can share this experience with his daughter. Alex enjoys the outdoors, has all

the outdoor sporting apps and loves to see how her stats compare to her friends. She is tech

savvy, owning an iPhone and Macbook Pro. She works out everyday and always pushes herself

to do better on her times. The best part of her day is the daily battle of biking harder and faster.

The Gearhead

Alex, 27

Persona #2

Persona# 3

Expert BikerNovice Biker

Spendy

Frugal

-Getting outdoors-Tracking progress- Experiences

Drivers

-Does he have the best gear-Is what he doing worth his time?

-Youtube and Go-Pro Videos-To see exciting places-Get outdoors

Motivations

Concerns

Although Gregg has been able to ride a bicycle since he was a child, he is relatively new to the sport of mountain biking. He has done his research though and knows all the best brands and names in the business.

Biking Experience

Gregg works in finance and is single which means he has quite a bit of dis-poable income. When he starts a new hobby he doesnt skimp on any detail. He researches the different products and buys whatever he feels will best suit his needs.

Money Matters

-Become the best mountain biker he can be with the best equipment

Goals

Gregg is single and works in finance in a larger city. He went mountain biking a few scattered times in the past, but a couple weekends ago he went on an awesome run with an avid mountain biking buddy that convinced him this hobby is worth pursuing. Greg is not one to do anything half-heartedly and so he has since begun digging deep in all the materials he can find on mountain biking. He's a beginner, but he's intent on buying just the materials he can find on mountain biking. He's a beginner, but he's intent on buying just the right gear and doing the right runs to become an inside feel like he's on track to become an insider.

The Outdoor Hobbyist

Gregg, 37

Scenarios

Method: "Some possible user scenarios"- User moved to the city and wants to find trails- User has friends who mountain bike"- User bought a bike off of Craigslist""And came up with the flowing user journeys: ""-Alex wants to find new trails in the area after she moved to SF, she knows Marin and heard about their app through in-store advertising.""-Eugene bought a bike off craigslist and searched for mountain biking apps to help him find trails.""-Gregg’s friend is an avid mountain biker and he heard about the app though word of mouth."""SET UP AND FIRST RUN!Shred loads to a sign up screen, either through FB or conventional email and the user is given the choice of choosing a level or looking at trails nearby.

CORE PRODUCT EXPERIENCE"-Quick and easy trail finding ability-Easy to record and track progress""Opportunities Identified: "Connect riders, both experienced and novice, with trails, while giving them information on trail status and terrain information.""

Design Iteration 1

Method: "We tested 3 experienced mountain bikers and 3 amateur mountain bikers with a mobile prototype in a participatory design session. We asked them questions about how they would track their runs and find tracks to ride.

Findings: -All participants mentioned that they either used or had heard of the Strava app."-3 participants mentioned that they would like a better way to find legal trails to ride and that they would like a way to see if the trails are in good riding condition."- One mentioned that there should be a simpler way of mapping out trails and an easier way to read the maps (ie. non-topographical).""Opportunities Identified: "- Ability to map out and track one’s own ride"- Permit requirements and identifying legality"- State of run updates"""

Design Iteration 2 - Hypothesis

Method: "The team built out the trail finding capabilities of the app, coming up with a push notification based system which notified users when users were close to the trail. ""Findings: "While a viable and practical solution to our problem, there were a few possibilities for confusion.""Opportunities Identified: "- Created the ‘favorite’ button to save trails for later use."- Use ‘favorites’ to guide users more easily through the mapping experience.""

Prototype

Method: "The team created a prototype in Flinto that captured the screen-based version of the experience. ""SET UP AND FIRST RUN!- First time experience - Finding a trail

CORE PRODUCT EXPERIENCE"- Finding a new trail"- Favoriting a trail for future use - Timing one’s runs"- Mapping a run"- User stats details"- Learning about a new trail"

CASE STUDY

THANK YOU Zoe Fisher, Michael Bush, Taylor Glas-Hochstettler zoe.fisher3@gmail.com, michaelfbush@gmail.com, taylor.Glas@gmail.com