As a camping enthusiast, I wanted to identify a need in the camping community and then attempt to design an app to meet that need. I determined that some campers need help planning and preparing for their trips, so I created CampJoy, which allows users to create a trip plan and then share aspects of their trips using social features afterwards.

Background & Research

Camping is a longtime hobby of mine, but recently I noticed that there weren’t any mobile apps designed for campers and their needs that had any significant market dominance. I thought this might indicate an opportunity area to create an app to improve the camping experience.

My first step was to take a look at the market trends as for camping as they were at the end of 2020/beginning of 2021, and see if I could get a feel for what was appealing to consumers.

I obtained some interesting insights:

1. As expected, the camping industry was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly this primarily manifested in an increase in popularity for outdoor activities, including camping. Per Forbes: “RVs are the new toilet paper, snatched up and scarce, camping is drawing new recruits, and National Parks are more popular destinations then ever...”(1)

2. RV and “Glamping” increased in popularity this past year, also likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic limiting other vacation options. Some campers, many of them new, may prefer the comfort of these options due to their similarities to other leisure vacation accommodations.(2)

3. Campers are skewing younger and more diverse than ever, and many who take up the hobby are those who live in urban settings.(3)

(1)North American Camping Report, Kampgrounds of America, koa.com/north-american-camping-report/.

(2)Olmsted, Larry. “Glamping Is 2020's Hottest Travel Trend: Here Are The Best Places For Your Trip.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2020/06/23/glamping-is-2020s-hottest-travel-trendhere-are-the-best-places-for-your-trip/?sh=4d3b5f245357.

(3)“ConsumerVue 2020 FORECASTING REPORT.” https://outdoorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ConsumerVue-Forecasting_final_2.pdf. Outdoor Industry Association.

Competitor Research:

I looked in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to see what, if any camping apps were popular on the market. There were a few, but most were limited in functionality and had small userbases.

User Interviews:

Finally I spoke to some fellow campers to see what kind of unmet needs they have. I spoke to five campers total, one from my personal circle and four who I was connected with via UserInterviews.com.

I used UserInterviews.com’s screening capabilities to collect respondents’ camping interest levels, camping experience levels, and demographic information like age, location, income, and occupation. I excluded any respondent who claimed to have no interest in camping at all, but accepted any others who had even a passing interest, as I was curious to see what would entice new campers to try the activity as well as learn from more seasoned campers. UserInterviews.com found me 15 total respondents based on my criteria, and of these I selected four interview participants with varying levels of camping experience and other characteristics in order to compliment the fifth interview participant from my personal circle.

Interviews were about 45 minutes to an hour each and were conducting via telephone. I ran them in a semi-structured format, asking certain planned questions about camping pain points and online tools, while also freely exploring interesting topics that came up in conversation.

I then used Miro to organize the feedback I got from these interviews by topic so I could more clearly recognize patterns and connections.

I organized the feedback I collected into four main groups: 1.) Why do people like to go camping; 2.) What actions do people take when planning and executing a camping trip; 3.) What are peoples’ stressors and pain points during this process; 4.) and finally, What tools (if any) do they use.

These four main categories were then organized into even more informative subcategories.

1. Some campers (60% of surveyed) have an openness to the camping community, especially when dealing with unknowns about a location or experience.

Within this subset of participants there was a range of preferences regarding how they accessed the camping community. All 60% said that they sought some form of written feedback, which included reading blogs, social media posts, and online reviews of locations. 40% of all participants said that they contacted other campers directly, either in person or via social media such as Facebook.

2. There’s a spectrum of attitudes toward camping: going to relax with a minimal plan, or detailed planning in order to accomplish many activities or activities that are highly involved. 40% of research respondents rated themselves as highly detailed planners, while the other 60% indicated that they prefer only moderately detailed or loose itineraries.

Importantly, “planning” in this context refers to schedules and activities, and is being considered as a separate step from the research that is typically done in order to find a camping location or to prepare for other aspects of a trip. All research participants indicated that they do some level of research to find and choose a camping trip, though such research also varies in detail depending on the situation. Only one participant indicated that they’ll sometimes do no research before a trip, which would be in a situation where they camp at a nearby park that they go to for a weekend once a month.​​​​​​​

3. Most participants surveyed (80%) said they use government websites to find information. Of these participants most were complimentary of the government portals, though there were also comments about some of them being outdated.

• “Government websites are usually designed very simply and are easy to use."
• “The National Parks website and state parks websites are great resources for finding parks to go to. They also help me find dog-friendly parks which is really important to me."
• “Some government websites have all parks and attractions listed and makes it easy to find places to go. They show you why someone would want to go there in pictures.”
• “I like to use national parks websites or government entity websites. Or find blogs that have good recommendations.”

These sites serve as a good source of inspiration due to their ease-of-use and the ample amount of information they contain.

4. Otherwise, all participants reported using some online tools to do research, prepare, and/or share aspects of their trips, but there was little commonality among the tools that were favored.

Market research indicates there are many new campers currently taking up the hobby, and the rising younger camping demographic often prefers more involved and athletic experiences. Meanwhile one of the biggest stressors that research participants brought up was feeling prepared for their trips and knowing what to expect. They want to know what to bring, where they are going, how to get there, what the amenities will be like, and what potential dangers there are (it is the wilderness after all.) If they are attempting a difficult hike or partaking in a strenuous activity, they will want tips and guidance. Existing competitors focus on reserving campsites and identifying amenities and nearby landmarks, but seem to lack that level of guidance that help some campers feel less intimidated. There is an opportunity here to create a tool that provides help and support for every step of the way before and during a camping trip, so that campers feel more confident and don’t have to deal with the stress of referring to different tools for all of this information.

Camping is often a social experience, and with camping demographics skewing younger toward generations that are social media natives, there is little doubt that campers often like to share their experiences online. However, competitor analysis indicates that there aren’t many popular camping apps and products with a focus on social sharing. User interviews seem to indicate that this is because most users are already comfortable with existing services like Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp, and don’t feel a need to use a less-established and more niche service. However users do seem to enjoy documenting and collecting photos and other mementoes of their experiences after they have concluded for either personal use or for sharing with a close circle. There are several products that have this functionality but in my research I did not find any in particular that were preferred by a large market share of users. Therefore I believe there is an opportunity to design a digital product that serves these use cases in an enticing and elegant way.

The Problems Campers Face:

I then rephrased my opportunity areas to center them around my users (campers between the ages of 18 and 55).

Some campers, especially those new to the hobby, feel uncertain about how to prepare well for their trips, which could lead to an unpleasant or even hazardous experience.
Some campers do not feel like they have a way to connect and share their experiences with people who specifically share the same hobby, which can make the activity feel lonely.

I also created How Might We questions to go with these two examples to clearly define what my future design would be trying to do:

How might we help campers prepare for their trips and feel confident that they are well-equipped?

How might we create a way for campers to share their experiences with those who share their hobby?

My next step was to take the results of my research and use them to create two user personas to represent the users I would be targeting based on the two opportunity areas I identified. I also created storyboards and journey maps to go with these personas in order to help me do a deep dive on how specifically these users could interact with whatever solution I came up with.

The first is Betty, an expert-level camper who seeks challenging activities and new experiences.

Persona:

“As an adventure-seeking camper, I want to get advice directly from other campers, so that I’m more prepared for challenging new experiences.”

“As a highly experienced camper with many trips under my belt, I want a place to collect memories of my trips, so that I can relive them when I want and feel proud of my accomplishments.”

Storyboard:

The below journey map follows Betty through the journey she takes while planning a camping trip, including her actions, touchpoints, emotions, pain points, and opportunity areas for potential new solutions.

Next we have Devin, a more casual camper looking to reduce the stresses involved with taking a trip.

Persona:

“As a camper looking for a relaxing experience, I want help remembering everything I need to bring with me, so that I can be prepared and stress-free on my trip.”

Storyboard:

Devin’s journey map follows him through the steps he takes and the touchpoints he encounters during the various phases of planning a camping trip. ​​​​​​​

With these ideas of what potential users could want from a camping app in mind, I went ahead and created my first wireframes for my potential app using Sketch. My goal was to create low-fidelity wireframes to make sure the user flows and app functionality made sense, then move to create higher-fidelity mockups with realistic visuals later on. ​​​​​​​

The app starts on a hub-style home page where users can explore interesting options for future trips, or launch directly into the guided portion where they can plan a camping trip.

Though the app does not include an option to make a reservation at this time (due to the complexity involved with adding such integrations with external sources), it does encourage users to create a “trip plan” which includes features that let them plan their trip dates, itineraries, and supply lists. It also provides suggestions to users that will help them know what to expect on their trips, such as weather projections and tips that other campers have posted about the campsite in question. The itinerary feature is designed so that users can plan their activities either very loosely or down to minute details, due to research feedback that indicated that users have many different preferences when it comes to activity planning. Users can either plan things down to the minute, or schedule activities for generalized times such as “the afternoon.”

Finally, once the trip is complete users can post artifacts from their trip like photos or written messages to a social media-style feature called the Scrapbook. These Scrapbook entries will be viewable by other users, providing campers with an opportunity to show off their experiences.

I set up three user tests to help determine the overall usability of my rudimentary design. One of the testers was from my personal network and also was an interview participant during the initial research phases - I thought it would be valuable to bring her back to see if my design aligned with the pain points she expressed during our conversation. The other two were random participants who I recruited using Userbrain.com. The test participants were provided with links to the prototype (the above wireframes connected via hotspots) and were asked to complete a series of tasks in a remote unmoderated test setting.​​​​​​​

Results from the test were mixed. Though I expected users to be disconcerted by the lack of refined visuals, it was definitely clear that a major visual overhaul would have to be the number one priority. Though I had only wanted to test basic usability, and not visual appeal, it was clear that the visual appearance would have a dramatic impact on how users felt while trying to navigate through the platform.

Another alarming piece of feedback I received was that the tool was perhaps too simple. Although I had wanted the tool to be streamlined to make it easy to use, I had gone too far and had failed to make it actually engaging. At times using the tool felt like little more than filling out a boring form to the users. It was clear that the next iteration would have to be more appealing and not just easy but pleasant to use.

There was some positive feedback as well. I was pleased that all users were able to grasp the purpose of the tool and were able to figure out how to navigate through it the way I had intended. And all three testers reported that they could see how the idea could be useful for planning a trip. So while I had my work cut out for me, I felt reasonably confident that there was a good path forward.

Finally I took the feedback I received from my test and incorporated it into aanother round of wireframes. I intended these to feature visual designs that would be as close to reality as possible, along with certain updates to the features and user flows. I kept the below priorities in mind, and took to Sketch to create the final mockups.​​​​​​​

1. Design high-quality visuals
2. Make tool more engaging
3. Find more opportunities to offer users activity suggestions​​​​​​​

This version includes a complete visual redesign. I chose to use a color palette that featured strong greens and browns, reminiscent of a forest, while also including a strong orange for buttons and accents. I also chose a name, CampJoy, which I may change later, but which I thought sounded simple and fun and would be adequate for now.

In order to make the tool more engaging, I added a splash page and profile setup process. While I had always pictured that users would have profiles, I hoped that this setup process would make the tool feel more personalized.

I also split up the trip planning portion into several pages (Location, Dates, Itinerary, Supplies, and Group), in the hopes that this would make planning a trip on the app feel like a more guided experience, instead of just filling out a boring form. A progress bar was added to the top of the pages to help encourage users along in the process.

Activity recommendations were also added to the itinerary to make the tool both more useful and engaging.

Unfortunately due to constraints on time and resources, this is where I will leave this project for now. In the near future I hope to test a prototype version of these latest mockups with users, and find other ways to improve the design. I would love to eventually implement this design into a real app as well, perhaps if I become acquainted with any developers who share my interest in camping. ​​​​​​​