Slope Shepherds

Slope Shepherds is an app prototype developed by a group of graduate HCI students who share a passion for skiing. Despite varying levels of ski experience, we all agreed that staying in touch with friends and family becomes exceptionally challenging on the mountain. This realization led to the creation of Slope Shepherds, an app designed exclusively to enhance communication while enjoying time on the slopes.

Overview

Problem

Difficulty staying in touch with friends and family while skiing.

Opportunity

How can we provide a better 'on-mountain' experience by allowing groups of skiers to stay connected?

User Personas

Sally Social Skiier.

Goes on a few ski trips a year with friends, so she isn’t too familiar with the mountain. She wants to easily stay connected with friends.

Frank the Family Man

Local who occasionally skis, but frequently drops his kids off at the mountain. He would like an easy way to track his kids for their safety while they ski.

Methodology

Understanding of problem and ideation of solutions
Research and persona development
Interviewed 5 people who fit into our personas
Created 5 empathy maps based on interview participants
Completed Affinity maps to gain knowledge of user needs and identify key insights
Identified constraints from affinity diagrams.

Persona Interviews

Users were looking for alternatives to their phones when accessing the app while skiing.
Test participants liked the ability to see where the short lift lines were or to 'jump' the line if offered.
Users are interested in tracking features, but hesitant unless it is useful/accurate.
New skiers found the end-to-end skiing experience to be frustrating, spending more time trying to connect with family and friends than than actually skiing.
New skiers or those unfamiliar with the mountain are more likely to encounter problems with run choice/getting stuck/negative experiences.

Early Prototypes / Exploring Modalities

We created low-fidelity wireframes to explore different solutions. We initially started creating a phone application, but quickly realized phones had one major drawback — people usually wear thick gloves and have a phone tucked safely away while skiing.

This means that even if we created the perfect phone application, we would be limited by the typical use of the hardware. We quickly pivoted to an Apple Watch prototype, which at least solved part of the accessibility problem — smartwatches are not typically stowed far away in a hard-to-reach pocket or backpack.

Empathy Maps

While interviewing for users that fit our personas, we relied on empathy mappying to help put ourselves in their shoes and aid in uncovering insights we might’ve otherwise missed.

Constraints

We must make the interaction appropriate for the conditions.
We should consider existing technologies to integrate into the app.
We must collect data from skiers to provide long/short-lift line info.
We should add a 'Jump the Line' feature to the app.
We must make the tracking feature safe for all users and ensure it's accurate and updates in real-time.
We should consider personalizing the tracker by adding names or letting users share their location.
We must give users adequate information on what to expect when skiing.
We should consider adding a guide to help beginner skiers.
We must aim to make the skiing experience less stressful for beginners by making sure they are always on the right run they intended and headed in the correct direction.
We should make the "easiest way down" apparent.

Changes based on Prototype Feedback

Made messaging and navigating to friends easier to initiate
Now have a location button and a message button
Made navigating to friends easier with approximate time and distance as well as the turn-by-turn directions
Improved voice feature with dedicated voice UI
Added a “help” option to the home screen so users can request help with the minimum amount of effort
Friends will now get a notification that the user has sent for help, even if they arent friends.