Yak!

Developing a kayak rental mobile app that’s fast & easy

Timeline: 2 months Role: User research, Product design, Prototyping Type: 2021 Personal

Role

UX/ UI Designer
(Project Lead)

Team

Mariana Nelson
(Solo)

Duration

Nov. 2020
(4 mo. total)

The Process

YAK is a new way to travel explore local towns and cities. With YAK, users can rent kayaks, search and bookmark locations, track activity, and earn points to ride.

— 1

Discovery

— 2

Ideation

— 3

Design

— 4

Test

The core of the product

Before doing any ideation I started to analyzing the existing conventions of rental services, travel, and activity apps to understand the core of the product. Analyzing comments in the app store also helped me to know the pain points and strength of the current app conventions. 

Key Findings

  • Features Discoverability issues

  • They don’t feel the emotionally bounded to app.

  • Too many taps for the simple action 

Understanding the “Why” with user research…

To identify pain points, needs, and goals, I created a persona based on found patterns in users pections and tasks discovered in my findings.

Building Structure

After doing my research, I built a user flow to confirm my assumptions. There were many iteration, and I landed on this flow.

The Design

Laying the foundation. Crafting a Holistic Look and Feel. This is a style guide for YAK's brand and mobile application. This style guide contains colors, typography, components, buttons, icons, and overlays.

On boarding

As the app is straightforward with a few simple functions, I created a quickstart model as a part of the onboarding process. The benefit here is to get the user quickly started with the app's core functionality.

PaddleSmart - The Core of the Product

Introducing YAK, an elegantly designed kayaking app that transforms the way you explore the waterways. The user interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it simple for users to rent kayaks with a tap, thanks to NFC technology. The app's aesthetic blends functionality with a fresh, modern look, inviting users to navigate local waterways effortlessly.

Interactive Prototype

Using high-fidelity wireframes, the prototype was created in Figma to simulate the functionality of YAK and test the users’ flow and intuitive navigation in the app