Solo designer and researcher for Ordnance Survey’s outdoor activities app
Running deep competitor product analysis
I also conducted a competitor analysis of similar apps in the outdoors market.
Tactical user testing
At the back wall of the tent we had several Ipads setup with the app running. This was a great place to do guerilla testing and feedback
Collaborating on the roadmap and finding new opportunities
I discussed the roadmap, product direction and priorities with Product Management.
What do Ordnance Survey do?
Geographic data services for business and government
Ordnance Survey is company who specialise in a geographic data and it works in B2C, B2B and B2G markets. The consumer side of the business is viewed by many as a heritage brand with over 200 years of history and has a comparable brand loyalty to that of the BBC.
Outdoor activities app for walking, cycling and horse riding
OS Maps app is Ordnance Survey’s (OS) flagship consumer application. It’s a cross platform digital maps service offering, on web and mobile. It is a digital companion to the popular paper maps they sell. OS Maps app can be used to read detailed maps, plot routes and then follow them.
I worked with the OS Maps product team as the lead UX designer, this was in addition to two other Ordnance Survey products I worked on as part of the company’s design team.
My approach to joining the team was to understand the product offering and it’s users
Joining the product team, I needed get up to speed on the product and it’s users. The combination of the activities below helped give context to the product, where it had come from and how users felt about it.
Understanding existing feedback and research
I collected the existing UX research documentation which included old personas and previous user testing feedback.
Proactively building on customer and product knowledge
I built on this by gathering together all the user feedback I could within the business - past or present. This involved several channels which included App Store reviews, Customer Services logs, NPS survey feedback.
Engaging product and engineering in design thinking workshops to create new ideas and solve pain points
Soon after delivering the immediate UX work I had inherited, I was able to get into the future planning and contributing ideas to the roadmap. There were some long standing stakeholders in the team who were very engaged, knowledgable of the users and naturally passionate about the product. Therefore I ran a session to capture all the ideas the whole team had, as to how they would like to see the product improve. It was essential to involve them in the creative process.
Talking to our customers at outdoor festivals to better understand our customers, validate ideas and find new opportunities
Attending outdoor activity festival was a great opportunity to see product in the context of our target audience and in the same space as other products in the outdoors market.
We took turns showing the product on screen, walking the room (tent) to start conversations with customers. meeting new and existing customers to the product.
121 conversations walking the room
Whilst someone was presenting the app on screen, it was a great conversation starter with existing and potential customers to get reactions and thoughts on the product
Influencing the product direction by showing how iterations could grow over time
There were over 100 ideas submitted... There were a mix of the ideas from way out there to laser focussed - a healthy number of which addressed the user feedback the team had received. I gathered and grouped them into themes such as Improve retention, Increase engagement, Improve the basics, Growing audience to help give a narrative to the types of ideas.
These ideas were then validated against user research and feedback then given a priority order in the backlog. I then visualised these in an Ideas Map, showing how they could link together and build out over time.
Prototyping ideas to get feedback through user testing with a user testers pool I set up
We were very fortunate to have extremely loyal followers of the Ordnance Survey brand, therefore testing with folks had few barriers. So events such as Country File Live were great opportunities for guerrilla testing and talking to our customers.
I also set up a company user testing pool, every two weeks we would walk round the woods near the office to test prototypes and the real app.
New designs
Whilst working with the team I delivered around 20 additions to the application.
Many of which were driven by the design thinking sessions mentioned and rooted in user feedback.
User testing in the New Forest, Hampshire
Some of the iterations I designed
See a walking or cycling route from a different perspective using 3d mapping
Making finding a good route easier
Augmented reality to enhance a routes surroundings
Paper maps are still a favourite among users, so to enhance and compliment this experience we used AR to give context of a location to connect the 3d surroundings to the 2d paper (or digital) map. It’s great for kids too!
Our service was used by a mix of experience outdoor enthusiasts. For both beginners and experts alike, understanding a route before leaving the house or making a lengthy trip was important for both safety and confidence.
The app had 1000s of routes, some professionally plotted by magazine publishers, celebrities and brands. Many others by users of varying quality. Adding a route rating system; improving search and adding a favourites list was key to allow customer to find the right routes for them.
User testing our designs
To get feedback on prototypes, I was able to use:
Remote tests: Usability Hub was a great resource to test designs remotely and quickly
In person testing: Utilising the Internal User Testing Pool to test with volunteers.
Successes and results
“Best online service”
Grew 2.5 stars to 4 in App Store
Over 18 months we built up the app with several new features and approached the pain points captured via the feedback channels. Through balancing new and core features, we built stronger product and subsequent feedback improved
“Best app ”
Featured on BBC News
3m impressions following a post shared on BBC News website on the 3d feature. Very rewarding to see your new feature and the promo video clip on a huge website such as the BBC
Winning customer voted awards
Winner of Singletrack Magazine’s readers vote - Best Online Service
Yahoo Sports Technology Awards - Best App