PaddleWays
Connecting the dots between building a community with UGC and scaling with an AI augmented data set.
A rapid task to completion for User Submitted Content
Increase in unique rich data points.
PaddleWays is a GPS application focused on outdoor water sports, a sister-app to OnWater.
Our app provided unique water data, influential weather data, and terrain data to allow users to make informed decisions on their outing.
UX/UI Designer
User Researcher
We needed our app to feel like it was a pocket guide for users who were able to go out and explore without a real one ... but feedback showed that something was missing.
Beta is route information, but from an experiential perspective.
Our internal contributors and SME's were not able to keep up with the seemingly infinite amount of BETA that was required to make our app useful for all users paddling experience level.
Sure, we were scaling data by the power of AI technology, but the app felt more like a basic tool than a way to build a love for the water.
We need to allow our branding position to guide us as we implemented this feature.
This meant we needed to build a platform that captured the essence of the Paddling community and allow us to faithfully market our features.
The structure to allow users to submit their route BETA (UGC), further enjoy the sport.
This would position our app to be a part of the sharing information process.
SCIENCE: Sharing knowledge leads to more joy
(show inverted Maslow's hierarchy of needs - self actualization at the bottom)
Alongside our SME and Data Engineer, I began to evaluate what the essentials for our structure were.
image of requirements in routes (user journey)
image of structured data table
Our first iteration allowed us to build out a number of assets for the development team to take action on
image of stepped flow logic sections - add a route home page button > route select etc etc.
image of icon set
image of route tracking feature
We found that users were able to submit a route in < 2 minutes with the logical stepped form entry.