Concrete Jungle

Designing an end-to-end app to encourage more people to explore their city by foot.

DURATION
6 WEEKS
(MAY - JULY 2023)

MY ROLE
USER RESEARCH
IDEATION
WIREFRAMING
BRANDING
PROTOTYPING
USER TESTING

TOOLS
FIGMA
OTTER.AI

BACKGROUND

Whether one is traveling to a brand new city or simply wanting to discover more of their own, those navigating by foot generally desire to walk in what are deemed as walkable neighborhoods.

Walkable neighborhoods can be defined by a number of elements. Interesting architecture, retail, restaurants, and green spaces are often enjoyable to those on foot. Centrality and ease of access to these elements are also important factors.

Walkable areas are also generally safe and designed for those of all mobility-types.

PROBLEM

Los Angeles is not pedestrian-friendly.

While Los Angeles has many pockets where walkability exists, people still generally experience hesitancy to walk more than a few blocks. While many reasons exist for this, I am addressing the safety concerns that often discourage people from choosing to walk further distances.

SOLUTION

I designed a mobile-app to encourage people to explore Los Angeles more by foot while also aiming to alleviate some of the reservations that can exist.

→ Skip to the prototype? Click here. ←

EMPATHIZE

PROJECT GOALS

I first aimed to uncover what people desire most when walking through cities, whether they walk for leisure or necessity.

It was also equally important to understand what people’s negative experiences are with walking and the reservations that exist for those who consciously opt to not walk.

RESEARCH

I began my research with competitor analysis and quickly learned that a major gap exists for city walking/exploration apps. The few apps that do exist are all outdated, buggy, and not user-friendly.

The core of my research was centered around one-on-one user interviews with people who live in Los Angeles.

I aimed to speak mostly with people who live and work directly in Downtown LA, due to walking being an integral part of their daily lives.

FINDINGS

After conducting my interviews and organizing the data via affinity mapping, I uncovered six unique areas where commonalities existed amongst my participants:

  1. General Benefits of Walking: Every person I interviewed declared their overall enjoyment for walking and the personal benefits they experience, whether they are physical, mental, or simply just a great way to experience a place.

  2. Safety Concerns: Safety (and a lack thereof) was a theme interwoven throughout many of these categories. This category, however, depicts the many responses where physical safety was explicitly mentioned. Every one of my participants has encountered moments of unsafety, with certain parts of Los Angeles feeling less safe than others.

  3. Sensory Stimulation (Desired): My participants all generally desire to experience sensory stimulation when walking, whether it be interesting sights, smells, or sounds. They are drawn to architecture, restaurants, coffee shops, street art, shops, and other people simply being present around.

  4. Anti-Pedestrian Friendly: In some way or another, all of my participants feel that Los Angeles specifically is not designed to be pedestrian-friendly. Its natural sprawl makes it inherently difficult, yet even so the sidewalks tend to be small, are littered with trash, and generally feel unsafe as you are directly up against car traffic.

  5. Community: Feeling a sense of community is incredibly important and contributes greatly to safety. My participants (all of whom are from marginalized groups) mention specific parts of LA where they have felt more welcomed and thus, safe. 

  6. Green Spaces: Green spaces (parks, trees, etc.) are desired by each of my participants and contribute to a pleasant walk, overall. They are not only nice to look at, but provide shade and fresher air. One participant also reflected on living in Boston, where he believes that their green spaces are part of what contributes to people feeling more encouraged to walk.

MAIN FOCUS

Community + belonging = feeling safe.

Moving forward with my design, I chose to focus on the aspect of community/feeling a sense of belonging and the direct correlation this has with feeling safe.

The people I interviewed are all from marginalized groups (women, immigrant men of color, and gay men of color) and have felt unsafe while walking in certain parts of Los Angeles.

However, each of these people love to walk and explore the city by foot and do not wish to feel deterred.

DEFINE & IDEATE

USER PERSONA

Introducing Josiah, an avid walker living in the heart of DTLA who wishes to explore the city more without fear of confrontation.

IDEATION

I then began to generate potential solutions. While I had loose ideas of how to encourage people to explore the city, it was a challenge figuring out how to integrate the elements of safety and community in a meaningful way that did not merely result in a safety by numbers-style group tour.

STORYBOARD

After moving forward with an idea that combines a number of the ideas posed above, I then created a storyboard to better visualize and empathize with my user’s needs.

Here, Josiah is introduced to the Concrete Jungle app after conversing with another DTLA local.

Concrete Jungle highlights interesting routes around Los Angeles and indicates elements along the route that help to ensure added safety.

For example, is the area well-lit? Are the sidewalks in good condition and designed for all types of mobility? Are security cameras present nearby?

Reviews from those with similar identities also help to ease Josiah’s mind. While safety can never be guaranteed, he can at least find comfort in reading about others’ experiences.

VISUAL DESIGN & PROTOTYPE

LO-FIDELITY WIREFRAMING

Sketching out ideas by hand immediately allowed me to better sense and prioritize the placement of varying elements, such as the category tags and navigation.

I also played around with how best to incorporate the safety tags (ex: well-lit, CCTVs, etc).

MID-FIDELITY WIREFRAMING & USER TESTING

After converting the sketches into mid-fidelity wireframes, I then tested the flow of choosing a nearby route to walk.

I immediately learned that users wish for more visual cues and incentives, such as icons and photos.

COLOR PALETTE

To coincide with the brand name of Concrete Jungle, I knew that I wanted varying shades of natural greens to comprise the core of the palette.

As a complimentary color, I chose a soft rust-orange hue that evokes the feelings of spontaneity and enthusiasm one would feel before exploring a new area.

TYPOGRAPHY

It was important to choose a font that feels open, relaxed, and clean. Indivisible fit these qualifications and still felt fresh.

TESTING & ITERATIONS

Once I applied the UI design to my first round of hi-fidelity wireframes, I then began conducting user testing.

I tested the task flow of deciding on a nearby route to walk with five participants, all of whom live in Los Angeles.

I measured success by the ability of users to fully complete the task. I also aimed to discover at least a few areas for design improvement.

FINDINGS

After conducting the first round of tests and analyzing the results, I uncovered three core areas where multiple users ran into issues:

  1. Enhanced Protection feature: Once toggled-on, users were unsure what the various safety icons meant as there was no immediate explanation. 

  2. Horizontal scrolling on categories: Users were unaware that you could scroll through the tags (Architecture, History, etc.) as the first three tags were perfectly visible on the screen.

  3. Race, Gender, Age filters attached to reviews: Users generally felt uncertain of these filters/descriptors, fearing they may have the opposite effect of their intended purpose to alleviate potential unsafety.

ITERATIONS

I re-structured the order of the category tags to better show the variety of options.

Before, users were unaware that more than three categories existed as the first three were perfectly displayed. They did not immediately realize it was possible to horizontally-scroll and view the rest.

Now, it is much more apparent as the “Arts & Culture” tag trails off the screen.

I added descriptor modals that pop-up when each icon is clicked.

While the initial intention was to describe the Enhanced Protection icons on each route’s detail page, it was apparent that users understandably wished to know their meaning directly upfront.

LIVE PROTOTYPE

Or, try it out for yourself!

NEXT STEPS

I plan to re-address the Reviews page and the identity filters/descriptors. 

The initial hope was that if users read positive experiences of others with similar identities as them, they would feel more relaxed and less apprehensive to explore new areas.

This design pattern was meant to mirror what you commonly see when browsing clothing and cosmetic websites. Filtering the reviews by others with similar complexions and body types can impact your decision to purchase a specific product.

However, user testing showed that this format might not translate with this specific product and that better alternatives should still be considered, as potential safety issues can result with the current format.

Thanks for reading! Any comments or questions? I’d love to hear them.