Crux AR
Augmented Reality App for Rock Climbers
My role: Product Designer
The Mission:
With the popularity of the sport of rock climbing on the rise and augmented reality and motion capture tech improving every day, Crux AR aims to combine the two to put a rock climbing guide and trainer in your pocket.
My job: Discover what rock climbers want to know and design branding, interactions and an interface that deliver that info in a simple and delightful way using Augmented Reality.
Design Process:
1
Discover
Methods:
Competitive Research, Secondary Research, Surveys
2
Identify
Methods:
Project Goals, Persona, Treejacking, Site Map, User Flow, Task Flow, Emotional Journey
3
Design
Methods:
Mood Board, Style Tile, Crazy 8’s, Wireframes, Mockups, UI Kit, Prototyping
4
Verify
Methods:
Remote User Testing, Feedback Grid, Priority Revisions
1
Discover
First things first! I learn about the industry, the competition and begin to empathize with the users.
My Research Goals
Learn about the sport of Rock Climbing, the market and the competition.
Identify key users and their pain points.
Understand the circumstances and motivations for information-seeking.
What does the competition do?
for competitive analysis, I sought out some the most popular climbing apps according to several climbing publications. I also looked at some popular AR apps not related to climbing to see what I could learn.
Competitive Analysis Findings
1. No apps exist for climbing that utilize AR technology.
2. IA and UX for most climbing apps have huge opportunities for improvement.
3. Technology exists that would make finding information and tracking fairly easy for users.
4. Opportunities exist for real innovation, since most AR apps seem to be designed purely for entertainment.
Where are the desire lines?
To better understand what rock climbers want from an app, I set up an online survey centered around information-seeking, app usage, information logging and training. I posted a link to the survey several sites including groups on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. I received 73 responses in 12 hours.
Survey Findings
1. Climbers want various things depending on their stage in development. Some just want accurate info on the location of a climb, while others want “beta,” or information about a climb.
2. Climbers love/hate Mountain Project. Learn from their flaws and mimic their successes.
3. Improvement is constant in this sport. I may want to provide multiple paths to advancement.
4. Body type affects “beta”. Rubrics should be flexible to provide value for all body types.
5. Provide training tips that are safe and specific to advancing in particular areas/styles of climbing.
6. Completion, growth, challenge, community, physicality, slang; these concepts are all important for climbers.
*7. Although I was not shocked to find it, several responses included lewd humor, sexist comments, or hyper-macho mentality.
2
Identify
Now that I know the basics, it’s time to determine the problems.
Goals for this phase:
Synthesize findings from Phase 1 to generate a user stand-in
Define the problems our users face
Identify paths to resolution through the app
Telling the story…
Based on the information gleaned from the user survey I assembled the persona of Flash Senderson, Crux AR super-user. I then further developed empathy for Flash by creating an Emotional Journey Map, User Flow and Task Flow. Those tools helped to develop the App Map, a blueprint for the design phase.
Flash stands in as our user, seeking information, ready to share his journey to the top.
Here I explore Flash's journey through training with Crux AR.
Experimenting with User Flows help me to understand the decisions that Flash will make while interacting with Crux AR.
The App Map is a critical step in defining information architecture of the app.
The ideal task flow has few steps, perhaps three or less. Here show how we might get Flash to his goal as easily as possible.
3
Design
Now that I have identified and defined our challenges, it’s time to put pencil to paper and pixels on the screen.
Design Goals
Create branding for Crux AR that aligns with the climbing community.
Create a high-fidelity prototype that delivers “beta” in a unique, delightful, and effective way.
From pencil to pixels…
For this project, I needed to design a lot of screens in a short amount of time. I employed the “Crazy 8’s” method in order to quickly ideate possible screen layouts prior to making digital wireframes. As you can see, some of the final design choices used bits and pieces from several of the sketches.
Early explorations in navigation
Exploring possibilities for route overlays
Data visualization possibilities
User customization
Landing, onboarding, signup and login wireframes
Training, data visualization and user settings
Route overlay wireframes
Sequence beta, map ui and sequence capture
Applying pixel polish
Inspiration for the styles, colors and fonts come directly from climbing paraphernalia: gym walls, climbing shoes, outdoor apparel, guidebooks, rock walls and sunsets.
The logo represents the crag, a rock wall, the object of obsessive focus in the sport of rock climbing.
Outerwear fashion trends informed the color palettte. Bright, but desaturated. Nature adjacent. Clean, visible, understated.
Reminiscent of guidebooks of yore, Crux text, and iconography elicits nostalgia while maintaining clean modern themes.
Simplicity is everything, and color coding is everything else. More on this below...
Building the wall…
I built the icon from simple geometric shapes, suggesting slabs, overhangs, dihedrals… a playground for climbers.
I paid careful attention to the “flow” of the upper serifs from one letter to the next. “Flow” is an important concept for climbers, connecting one move to the next through fluid motion.
The logotype acts as a solid base under the wall, the ground on which the practice begins. The A and R are highlighted and elevated, representing the boost the app provides for the climber’s practice.
Solving the “beta” problem.
A common issue with “beta,” or information that helps a climber complete a sequence, is that everyone’s body is different. How might I help climbers know what information will help them? Short people don’t want “tall person beta”.
Body image and privacy are concerns as well. How do I protect users who upload their own sequences?
My solution: a simple avatar with adjustable dimensions so a user can verify if a sequence is feasible for them before attempting an ascent. The avatar shows just enough information to convey the sequence of moves.
Additionally, this model is lightweight, meaning faster loads for sequences when compared to more complex 3D renders.
Give it a try.
CLICK THE AVATAR on the image to climb UP.
CLICK ELSEWHERE to move DOWN.
Route info in yellow
lavender climb-tracking
training drills in blue
and white user data.
Clarified navigation via color-coding
An app loaded with features and content runs the risk of having users getting lost in different screens. I solved this by color coding information tiles under each section. Color coding allows users to quickly and instinctively tell when they are in a different section, even if the information looks similar at first glance.
4
Verify
Time to put all of the hard work to the test.
Literally.
Testing Goals:
Identify design improvement opportunities
Identify Information Architecture improvement opportunities
Verify feature usability and desirability
So… does it work?
In order to verify my design choices, I used Maze to test the prototype. I uploaded the prototype and drafted a series of missions. I then posted the testing link to several climbing-centered message boards and conducted the test 1:1 with several friends over the phone. 106 people responded to the testing.
Usability Test Findings
1. Before moving on to the next iteration, research must be done to determine if technical hurdles and limitations vs benefits of the sequence feature. The return may not match the required cost to develop. What is the MVP? The responses and comments suggest that just showing route information and tracking climbs may be enough.
2. Remove the logo from the main landing page to reduce mis-clicks.
3. Rename “My Stats” to reduce confusion.
4. Provide route and measurement system options (Metric/Imperial, YDS/UK grading, etc.)
5. Provide route finder/tracking feature that does not require use of the camera.
Priority Revisions and Next Steps
The findings from the user testing taught me a lot about the desirability of this app. It also exposed some flaws in the thinking and pointed toward which features should wait until the app is populated with more content, and which should be more polished.
Usability
The logo as a placeholder on the landing screen was a rather obvious misstep that caused a lot of confusion. This screen should be replaced, perhaps with text of safety tips for climbing.
Alternatives
There is a big opportunity to provide more ways to search for routes. Climbers aren’t always at the crag or gym, and need additional ways to note climbs or search for climbs. Add filters for added usability.
Naming
The “Stats” section should be renamed “Profile”, and My Stats changed to “Measurements”. Further preferences for regional grading and measurement should be accessible here as well.
MVP?
Further research is needed to weigh the feasibility of the “Record” and “Sequence” features. The testing suggests that while these features are pretty cool, the core of the app is info and tracking.
Moving forward…
The next step is to consult with AR developers to verify the cost and feasibility of developing the motion capture and AR playback elements. From there, iterations will be made to the prototype prior to handoff to the developer.
Conclusion
Crux AR was a challenging project with a huge scope, and in the end, the MVP may prove to be much narrower in focus than the current prototype. For future projects, I will likely take a more critical view of features and push harder to narrow the scope to a more manageable feature set. This would allow for more time for interaction design, iterations and testing.
AR and Motion Capture technology is improving fast, and the hurdles that lie ahead for this project will likely be reduced considerably in the near future. The opportunity for Crux AR to have a major impact on the climbing community through innovation remains high.