Whimsy Walks
Whimsy Walks is a mobile application that provides guidance for neighborhood art and nature walks to residents in Seattle neighborhoods
Team
Julia Dee
Siying Chen
Ziyu He
Marco Nepomuceno
Duration
8 weeks
Role/s
User Research, Branding and Visual Identity, Wireframes, High-fidelity Prototype
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Whimsy Walks is a website that curates noteworthy local art displays and nature attractions in various Seattle neigborhoods. (https://www.whimsywalks.org)
Created by Dr. Gregory Engle and funded by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture as a free service to encourage people to get out and discover their communities
The existing Whimsy Walks website provides a simple static curated list of art and nature attractions, however, it lacks the convenience and interactivity provided by a mobile app to encourage residents to visit places, exercise, and engage with community.
FIELD STUDY OBSERVATION
Visited three attractions listed on the Whimsy Walks website, observed surroundings and people, and took field notes
SURVEY
Conducted a survey with 38 Washington residents who enjoy walking around their neighborhood to learn about walking
KEY INSIGHTS
From the generative user research, here are the top insights:
Choosing a location to explore is challenging and time-consuming
Organization of information and list of locations are not sorted based on location or distance
Safety is the biggest concern
Majority are concerned with their safety when it comes to walking around their neighborhood
Residents like the idea of finding new walking spots
Respondents are open to trying out new walking routes but need guidance for navigation
Most common motivation for walking is to improve health
Most respondents walk as a form of exercise and use mobile apps for counting steps and navigation
DESIGN SOLUTION
To address the problems on lack of convenience and interactivity in terms of visiting places, incorporating exercise, and engaging in community in the neighborhood, here are the four main features that the group explored:
Discover
Easy access to browsing and finding locations they can visit based on preferences
Route Navigation
Seamless route planning, navigation, and health metric collection to encourage walking and exercise
User Account
Onboarding Personalization and setting adjustment
Social Groups
Encourage sense of community between users to increase engagement and promote safety
Improved Interactivity and Ease of Discovery of Finding Nearby Art and Nature Locations
Users can view the different Whimsy Walks attractions through an interactive map or a list view
Filter Locations based on User Preference/s
Users can filter locations based on distance, categories, attributes, and ratings
Provide more accessible information for visitors to make informed choices
Users can learn about a specific Whimsy Walk attraction and hear the artist's statement about their creation.
Users can read reviews from people who have visited the place
