Mountain Goat

 

Goal
An aggregator app that allows a hiker to book a Sherpa guide for their trek, ultimately building trust between both.

Role
Product Designer

Softwares
Sketch | Invision

Duration
Sep 2018 - Nov 2018

 
 

What is a Sherpa?

The Sherpas are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, the Himalayas. They assist people on treks if required and are like mountain goats themselves. Their strength and endurance amaze me. It made me realize how beneficial it would be to trekkers like me if one could combine the knowledge imparted by a Sherpa and from travel websites like Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor.

 
 

Goals

  • Search, Book, and Rate Sherpas

  • Stay updated with time-sensitive information and alerts

  • Build trust between sherpas and hikers

 

 Pain Points

 

Flows

Overarching goal: Build trust between hiker and sherpa. I constructed 3 flows to help inform my app screens:

  1. Joyride + Onboarding log in flow: Awareness about what the app is all about (sherpas, treks, and bookings.

  2. Find trek and sherpa flow: Vetting and choosing your sherpa post selecting the trek that suits you.

  3. View profile, alerts and inbox messages flow: How time-sensitive information is updated and communication between sherpas and hikers takes place.

flows1.jpg
flows2.jpg
flows3.jpg
 
 

Brag Points

  • Sherpa Ratings

  • Sherpa win-win situation (money + customer service)

  • Build trust between sherpas and hikers

  • Aggregate relevant information to learn more about your current trek

  • Mesh Networking Technology feature that allows interaction without signal/ data in high altitude regions

 

Branding

I crafted a style tile to help me figure out the look and feel of the app. The logo went through a couple of iterations until I arrived at the clean minimalistic one.

 
 

User Personas

 
 

Takeaways

After rounds of low/high fidelity mockups and a second round of user testing, I published my app prototype to Invision. I grew as a young designer during this school project and really got interested in UX Design as a career path. I was further encouraged when my app won Gold in the International Design Award 2017.