Redesign National Park Service app
5 weeks | Team of 4 designers | Responsible for UX research and design
“I need to write down all the information or take screenshots from websites and the NPS app and reorganize them into my note app for a trip plan! 😬”
Desperately need a trip planner to make a park visit plan right away!
“I really wish to have a trip planning feature on the National Park Service app, so I can get a trip itinerary with one click! 🙏”
Want a getaway at a national park, but it’s frustrating to even plan the trip 😫
Need to learn everything about a national park before you go, but the information you get online can be false 😵💫
Going on a nature exploration with the whole family, but not everyone is happy with the planned trip ☹️
If you are a national park enthusiast yourself, you may have experienced these problems…
Some people tried to use the National Park Service app to gather information and plan trips.
However, the current National Park Service app is not the best solution…
[Screenshots of the existing NPS app]
❌ Outdated branding: Users are already tired just by looking at the app interface.
❌ Overwhelming information: The long paragraphs do not give clear instructions.
❌ Redundant steps to reach a goal: Users are lost in the rabbit hole of clicking on the links in the links.
We heard from our interviewees that they…
Fetch information from multiple platforms and organize them into a plan manually
So we decided to narrow down our idea to create…
A national park itinerary-building feature that recommends pre-made trip plans for visitors.
Inspired by the idea of a whiteboard where everyone pins up their ideas to brainstorm an ideal plan, I explored the concept of a multiplayer filter feature, so the app and recommend trip plans that satisfy everyone’s needs.
We identified that collaboration is the key when planning for a group trip.
Members of a travel group can get on this whiteboard page to sort the tags into “Favorite”, “I’m ok with that”, and “Not really”, so that the app can generate a trip plan based on everyone’s preferences.
With the multiplayer filter feature, no one is left out!
[Initial sketch of the multiplayer filer feature]
[Wireframe of the itinerary-building feature user flow]
Oops! When we showed our low-fidelity prototype of the itinerary-building feature to an interviewee, they reminded us of the usability of the multiplayer filter feature…
“But hmmm… I don’t think my children and my mom know how to do that… 🤔”
It breaks the flow of the vertical format in the itinerary-building process.
Plus, users feel lost in the multiplayer filter interface.
“Oh, I thought that I was out of the process! How can I get back?”
So we pivoted to a more conventional filter feature that people are used to.
But it is not a common filter, because it caters to filtering national park experience!
✅ Considers accessibility
Get a trip plan that suits everyone in the group, including kids and your furry friends.
✅ Accommodates hikers of all levels
Tailored park recommendations for your ideal hiking difficulty
✅ Includes everyone’s favorite activities!
The trip planner can easily select everyone’s favorites for the team and change them later.
“I can just ask my family about their preferences and select what they want on my phone as we are usually in the same space when we plan trips.”
We showed this version to the interviewee, and they said:
“Ahha! This is so delightful to play with! 😆”
Participants typically need
1 day to a week of intermittent planning for a trip to a national park.
Jump between browsers, Reddit, group chats, and the National Park Service app
Now
Prototype
Learning Points
Use motion to create smooth transitions from screen to screen.
Stay consistent with visual language when designing the UI.
Take feasibility into consideration: find a balance between innovative design and feasible solutions.