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Arches App

Arches app is an app prototype to help people learn more and get around Arches National Park. I was asked to make an easy-to-use, immersive app for a national park, and I chose Arches.  I wanted to create something that kept the feeling of Arches, was simple enough that users could use it on the trails, and introduced people to all the opportunities Arches has to offer.

Sprint One: How to get to Normandy?

Normandy VR Project is our team's desire to create Normandy as a storytelling virtual reality (VR) experience of D-day within the Oculus Quest 2 headset, to test the capabilities of the technology we have for VR capture and development, and to preserve the history and importance of the site. This project would not replace visiting the site but would teach people about D-Day, preserve the site, and encourage people to visit Normandy. This project is a prototype of what can be done with VR and our desire is to have it grow in the future to other historical sites to teach people about them. 

Where is the app for Arches?

As I started, I decided to see what was out there for Arches National Park. I was surprised to learn that there weren't many websites or apps out there. There is the official site for Arches, a Utah big 5 national park site, a few blogs, some personal sites, and no apps. 
 

After visiting all the sites I could find, I started making my design by making a list of what I wanted to add to my app based on what was in other hiking apps and from the sites I looked at.  As I made my list I saw that the official site has a lot of useful things like trial maps, current updates, and events. I decided to incorporate most of what was on the official site because I wanted it to be used at the national park. I also decided to add a share your photos section because I have found that creating a community around similar-minded people can help increase park attendance and app usage.

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My List for App Needs and Sketches 

Sprint One: How to get to Normandy?

Normandy VR Project is our team's desire to create Normandy as a storytelling virtual reality (VR) experience of D-day within the Oculus Quest 2 headset, to test the capabilities of the technology we have for VR capture and development, and to preserve the history and importance of the site. This project would not replace visiting the site but would teach people about D-Day, preserve the site, and encourage people to visit Normandy. This project is a prototype of what can be done with VR and our desire is to have it grow in the future to other historical sites to teach people about them. 

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Gray Comps

Sketches and Gray Comps

After making my lists I started making sketches. Each of my sketches focused on a simple design where users could find what they needed and wanted to return.  

I enjoy making gray comps because you can see your idea take form and can see it if will work. To me, gray comps are the step that can make or break your design. Gray comps allows your sketches to take form and you can find issues that you didn't expect. One of the issues I ran into moving my sketches to gray comps, was that touch size of all the buttons were bigger than I expected which cause the need to scroll to find what you need. I decided to keep the buttons slightly bigger and having the scrolling but set everything in sections so they were easy to find. Another issue I discovered was that my headers were be too big on the sketches and I had made them even bigger on the gray comps. That was an easier issue to solve by just shrinking the headers and testing them on a phone prototype. 

Sprint One: How to get to Normandy?

Normandy VR Project is our team's desire to create Normandy as a storytelling virtual reality (VR) experience of D-day within the Oculus Quest 2 headset, to test the capabilities of the technology we have for VR capture and development, and to preserve the history and importance of the site. This project would not replace visiting the site but would teach people about D-Day, preserve the site, and encourage people to visit Normandy. This project is a prototype of what can be done with VR and our desire is to have it grow in the future to other historical sites to teach people about them. 

Adding Color and Testing

Adding color and images are my favorite part of making apps and designs because you can create the feeling you want into the app. I will admit for this app I made a mistake at the beginning because I forgot to make a style guide. I did have an idea in mind of color but  I had to figure out what colors I wanted to use to carry the feeling of Arches. In the end, decided to go with the colors you could actually see at Arches National Park. 
 

After I picked my colors I decided to reach out to some people and ask for their feedback on how it was going so far. It was interesting to receive that feedback because they helped me change the colors slightly so that they fit the arches theme and they also helped me change the layout slightly so that it was easier to use.

Color Comps.png

Color Comps

Sprint One: How to get to Normandy?

Normandy VR Project is our team's desire to create Normandy as a storytelling virtual reality (VR) experience of D-day within the Oculus Quest 2 headset, to test the capabilities of the technology we have for VR capture and development, and to preserve the history and importance of the site. This project would not replace visiting the site but would teach people about D-Day, preserve the site, and encourage people to visit Normandy. This project is a prototype of what can be done with VR and our desire is to have it grow in the future to other historical sites to teach people about them. 

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Prototype Connections

Prototyping

After I got my color comps done, I started prototyping. Prototyping this app was a lot harder than I thought it would be because I had to figure out where each screen should link so the user could have the best experience possible. 
 

During my prototyping, I decided to do some tests with peers and potential users so I could see what direction the app needed to go. Each test allowed me to get more feedback and make the app better than before. Here is the link to my prototype https://xd.adobe.com/view/c21d5101-40cd-4f58-8496-0680887a0524-974e/

Conclusion 

When I started this project I wanted to design an app that kept the feeling of Arches National Park, was simple enough to use out on trials, and have it be able to introduce people to everything Arches had to offer. Every time I finish a project I always take a moment to think about what I learned from doing it. While making the Arches App I learned a lot more about how to be consistent in your design, how to add cool tricks to your prototype to make it feel like a real app, start with a style guide in mind so you have your colors and fonts from the start, and how by changing the font in headers and sub-headers just slightly creates a better more professional-feeling design. 

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