A geospatial photography marketplace for action sports athletes and photographers.
Overview
Imagine this
You're surfing at the beach and spot a photographer taking your action shots. You want to get out of the water and see what's been captured, but you're having too much fun surfing! By the time you're done riding the good waves, the photographer has already left the scene and you have no way of contacting that photographer...
The Solution
WunderPics bridges the gap between action sports athletes and photographers. Photographers can easily upload and sell their photos using our website's special search feature for athletes to easily find themselves.
My Role
As the lead founding product designer, I collaborate closely with the other co-founders to conduct user research, lead usability tests, make design decisions, and establish the company's branding. I have also contributed to the development and optimization of all web page layouts and functionalities, with a focus on enhancing user growth and retention rates for product shipment.
Discovery
Competitive Analysis
We incorporated elements commonly found on popular stock image websites, but what sets our site apart and makes it stand out is our unique search and upload functionality. While there are other websites and applications that share similarities with WunderPics, such as Picfair, Getty Images, Shutterstock, Airbnb, and Adobe Lightroom, it is our distinct features that differentiate us from the competition.
Users & Audience
Our product caters to a diverse user demographic that encompasses action sports enthusiasts, athletes, and both aspiring and professional photographers. Action sports that our users engage in include surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding, rock climbing, and more. Our target audience consists of individuals who have a passion for experiencing nature and the outdoors as a sport or hobby.
User Journey
Develop
To support the structure and design of the app, I created the following deliverables: a user flow, hand-drawn wireframes, a site map, digital wireframes, the overall design, prototypes, and a high-fidelity prototype.
Design
Branding
At WunderPics, our goal is to attract both the action sports community and professional photographers. We draw inspiration from renowned brands such as GoPro, Patagonia, The North Face, and Outdoor Voices.
Logo Design
The CEO, CTO, and I collaborated closely, engaging in brainstorming sessions and numerous iterations, to create the logo. Our primary objective was to design a logo that effectively captured the essence of our website's unique search functionality, which is the core feature of our platform.
User Flow
Wireframes
The initial wireframes, provided by the CEO and CTO, are presented below. My primary objective is to enhance the interface by optimizing the information architecture, refining the layout design, improving interactions, and incorporating branding elements. Additionally, I aim to establish a seamless and intuitive user flow from both the buyer and seller perspectives.
Prototype
Below are the screens showcasing the high-fidelity prototypes, which include several iterations aimed at enhancing the user experience. These iterations were implemented to refine the design and functionality of the screens, ensuring an improved user experience throughout the interface.
Landing Page / Sign up - Login
User Dashboard
Search Page Results
Uploader
Uploader Editor
Deliver
Usability Tests
I conducted the initial usability tests to evaluate functionality and user interaction issues. We divided the participants into two categories: non-photographers vs. professional photographers, and online shoppers vs. non-shoppers. The testing process involved either inviting users to our office for in-person testing or conducting remote tests through real-time video chat and screen sharing. Each user was assigned specific tasks to navigate through our website from both the "Buyer" and "Seller" perspectives. During the tests, the CEO, CTO, and I closely observed the participants' behavior and reactions as they interacted with our website.
Questions and Tasks: Buyer
1. Familiarize yourself with the Landing Page and please summarize your findings.
2. Locate and use our special search function
3. Find a specific photo using filters
4. Successfully purchase as many photos as you like.
Questions and Tasks: Seller
1. Familiarize yourself with the Landing Page and please summarize your findings.
2. Navigate to the upload section and upload photos to WunderPics.
3. Complete the uploading process.
4. Navigate yourself to the Upload Editor and edit your photo data.
Usability Test - Findings
The usability tests proved to be highly valuable, revealing numerous minor improvements that enhance the overall user experience. Additionally, we conducted regular in-house usability tests to ensure the creation of a unique and straightforward user experience.
Launch Date July 2021
Future Plans for WunderPics
WunderPics is a very fresh startup. Mobile designs are currently in progress. We have huge plans and aspirations to expand our user demographic. With that in mind, there are much more features I plan to design. We hope our product sparks an interest to motivate athletes and photographers alike to go out and make something wonderful!
What I learned
The journey isn't over yet and there's alway room for improvement. This project is the perfect growth opportunity for myself and to work alongside with some of the most talented people and business partners by creating something meaningful. Creating a real tech startup from the ground up is not easy. I worked countless hours and nights into this project to deliver a product that is intuitive for any user. I've put all my experience, skills, and design knowledge into this product which I can say I am truly proud of. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to keep customer retention, and I'm excited to stumble upon more findings and conduct more user research so that I can create the perfect user experience. A big thanks to Tony (CEO) and Andrew (CTO) for giving me this opportunity! Thank you for reading and visiting my page! Hope you enjoyed the journey!
-Matthew Mauricio
