Through the collective effort of users and volunteers, Mountain Project is a community-driven platform where climbers explore new routes and connect globally. Despite its value, the branding feels outdated with design inconsistencies. I aimed to help Mountain Project evolve, inspiring climbers to connect and tackle new challenges confidently.

Through personal experience and further research, users expressed having difficulties navigating Mountain Project's database, impeding their ability to discover new climbing destinations and engage with the community.

solution

Redesign Mountain Project’s app to offer more clear, accessible, and curated content to empower seasoned and aspiring climbers to discover new destinations and easily connect with others.

A user interview and user test was conducted on the existing app to asses the following:

Climbers, whether experienced or new, rely on help from other climbers, especially for tough routes they're not familiar with. Feedback showed it's hard to find routes easily, especially for beginners, and having climbing partners is crucial for safety. This means we can make the app better by helping climbers connect with each other and by adding a feature where they can keep track of their climbing progress.

Through research and collaborative design sessions, two key opportunity areas emerged:  

After identifying two pain points through research, I prioritized addressing the "find a partner" feature and proceeded to create a user journey map to visualize the updated user's experience and pain points more comprehensively.

Following the prioritization of core features, I proceeded to create user flows. These diagrams visually illustrate the path users will take while navigating through the product. The user flows outline specific tasks that will later be tested using the prototype. These tasks include actions such as creating an account and finding a climbing partner.

I expanded my exploration by brainstorming ideas based on the journey map and feature list. As I delved into the project, the list evolved, prompting adjustments to my designs. Subsequently, I developed basic wireframes to validate my assumptions with the target user group. As mentioned before, I wanted to improve the convenience of the app with focus on community, so I decided to add a “Partners” feature to the nav bar for quick and easy access.

Emphasizing boldness, I aimed to elevate the app’s mood to reflect the adventurous spirit of rock climbing. The design resonated with the dynamic energy of the outdoors, highlighted by vibrant colors. Thicker strokes and rounded edges conveyed approachability and informality.

During the mid-fi tests, tooltips were integrated to help users familiarize themselves with the app. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find that users still lacked confidence in identifying the next actionable step. In contrast, the hi-fi tests revealed that users appreciated having additional filters and customization options, leading to a sense of relief. While we identified some areas for improvement, the usability tests showed positive results, with 100% of participants successfully completing all tasks.

In response to user feedback and findings from usability testing, I have made the following improvements to amplify the user-friendliness and user interface:

What could be better

What could be better

Emphasizing boldness, I aimed to elevate the app’s mood to reflect the adventurous spirit of rock climbing. The design resonated with the dynamic energy of the outdoors, highlighted by vibrant colors. Thicker strokes and rounded edges conveyed approachability and informality.

Despite not always achieving immediate success with my design solutions according to user feedback, it was still enlightening to swiftly uncover these insights and iterate accordingly.

Due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to test the final design. With more time, I would conduct another round of usability tests.

This project sparked my passion for both user experience and visual redesign, enabling me to exercise creativity and breathe new life into an established brand. Engaging with real users to test the design, gathering their feedback, and identifying pain points was immensely enlightening.