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TurtleTracks

A mobile app that helps conserve sea turtle populations by providing a platform to track nest locations.

My Role:

UX Research, UI/UX Design, Visual Designer

The problem:

Sea turtles are an endangered species - protecting their nests is critical to their survival.

Project goal:

My goal was to create an app with which users can locate sea turtle nests. This will allow them to avoid beach activities in the nests' vicinty. Users will also be able to report sea turtle nests that they find, thus sharing crucial data with researchers and scientists.

The target user:

Juan
Name:
Juan Castillo
Age:
29
Hometown:
Kihei, HI
Education:
Bachelors Degree
Occupation:
Graphic designer
Juan
Juan enjoys spending time at the beach. He also likes to take care of the beach by picking up trash and caring for wildlife. One of his hobbies is looking for sea turtle nests. He tries his best to protect the nests that he comes across.

Goals

  • To help keep wildlife at the beach safe
  • To protect sea turtle nests from harm
  • To one day observe sea turtle babies as they head into the ocean

Frustrations

  • Hearing stories about sea turtle nests being harmed
  • The difficulty of finding sea turtle nests
  • Not knowing the best way to report nests to researchers
“I love the ocean and all of the creatures in it, I feel like it should be treasured and protected by everyone”

Information architecture:

Initial homepage concepts:

The primary focus of my initial wireframing was the homepage map. I tested various ideas for map sizing while trying to find a balance between the map and other calls to action. In the end I went with design that allowed the call to action buttons to appear above the fold along with the map.

Lo-Fidelity Wireframes:

Lo-Fidelity Wireframes:

Final screens:

Final screens:

User testing influenced revision:

One key flaw that surfaced during user testing was the fact that some users may not know what a sea turtle nest looks like.

I solved this problem by adding a fairly prominent link on the homepage that takes the user to a page that explains what a sea turtle nest looks like.

Project challenge:

One challenge I was presented with was making the interface for reporting a nest easy to use while still gathering the necessary information. I decided to not ask the user the exact time that they located the nest due to user testing feedback. I gave them options that would approximate the time instead to make the process simpler.