Victoria Annie Lambert
Wander Wildlife
learning, exploring, identifying and documenting wildlife
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Wander Wildlife seeks to empower people as citizen scientists, supporting researchers in wildlife study and conservation efforts. Through public education on how human actions impact wildlife, Wander Wildlife hopes to inspire greater mindfulness and positive interactions with the natural world.
Project Overview
Project Brief
Design a method for responsibly collecting meaningful data that could benefit our society and/or environment. The users should have opportunities to reflect on this data which as a result contributes to their well being.
Challenge
There is a shortage of workforce and resources for scientists to adequately monitor and assist wildlife. At the same time, many people lack awareness of their local wildlife and how they can get involved in helping it.
How might we connect citizens and scientist to encourage various types of users to learn about and help the wildlife near them?
Objective
Design an intuitive app that helps people discover local wildlife, learn about species, and safely participate in citizen science projects that support researchers in wildlife monitoring.
Duration
4 Weeks
Team Roles
Annie- Researcher, UX Designer and UI Designer
Eloise- Researcher and UX Designer
Forest- Researcher
Summer- Researcher
Methods
Card Sorting, Affitinity mapping, User Journey, Personas, Feature Roadmap, Interviews, Usability Testing & Competitive analysis
Practices
Design Systems, Design tools, User-centered design, Interaction Design, Research, Empathy & Ethical Consideration
Tools
Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, Miro, Powerpoint, Excel, Airtable
Design Process
The double diamond process was used because it provides a structured yet flexible framework for creative problem-solving. If you're not familiar, the two diamonds represents a process of exploring an issue more widely or deeply and then taking focused action. It consists of four phases: discover, define, develop and deliver.
Discover
Ideation
My group wanted to choose a topic that we all felt passionate about. So we began by creating cards with various demographics and problems they encounter to help narrow our options and look for commonality.
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We quickly discovered we were all passionate about protecting wildlife and started listing as many problems surrounding wildlife that we were aware of. There were conversations about how we've inadvertently harmed wildlife, for example giving non-nutritious bread to birds, and how we wished there was a convenient way to learn more about how we can help our local wildlife.
Card sorting helped us run through different scenarios, allowing us to put ourselves in the shoes of various users in different context and consider how they might interact with wildlife. Additionally, we thought of what kind of useful data users could collect with a variety of technology and how it might be helpful to themselves and others.
Researching the problem space
​Decline in Biodiversity and Need for Increased Monitoring
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Global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, with numerous species facing threats from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and invasive species
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Limited scientific resources and manpower restrict the capacity of professionals to monitor all affected areas, creating a gap that citizen scientists could help fill. Studies have shown that citizen science can significantly aid researchers in collecting data at a larger scale, especially in remote or biodiverse regions where monitoring resources are scarce.​
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Lack of Public Awareness and Knowledge about Local Wildlife
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Research indicates that many people are unaware of the diversity of wildlife in their local environments and how these ecosystems function.
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Increasing awareness about local wildlife encourages environmental stewardship, as people who understand and connect with their local ecosystems are more likely to support conservation efforts and sustainable practices.
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Safety Concerns for Wildlife and Citizen Scientists
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While citizen science offers significant advantages, unmanaged interactions can risk disturbing wildlife or even endangering citizens, particularly in sensitive habitats or when approaching wild animals.
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Building a Community of Conservation Advocates
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Studies in environmental psychology emphasize the importance of personal connection and shared responsibility in fostering long-term conservation efforts. By allowing users to participate in local wildlife monitoring, they can build a community of conservation-minded individuals.
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Researchers have found that communities engaged in environmental stewardship tend to exhibit higher levels of local advocacy, creating ripple effects that benefit regional conservation initiatives and lead to more environmentally responsible behaviors.
​Research Goals​
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Understand what information can assist users, wildlife and scientists the most
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Identify frustrations and dangers when collecting wildlifes data
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Identify exploration features that would be most valuable for beginners
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Analyze current resources offered by competitor apps
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Validate the need for an all-inclusive wildlife field guide and explore app
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State of the Art
Analyzing some of the most popular wildlife documenting resources revealed that apps tended to have niche functionality, with iNaturalist being the most thorough resource. Each app typically focused on a specific key need, whether it was identification, community database, or bird tracking. Interestingly, this divide was brought up by participants during my user interviews later on, showing a need for a more comprehensive digital solution.
Interviews
“How do you learn about and engage with wildlife” To understand this question, I conducted several interviews via phone and video call to learn about:
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Processes and resources that experienced citizen scientists use to help them plan and learn about wildlife.
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Concerns or barriers that are preventing amateur wildlife learners from becoming more involved.
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I found participants by contacting a zoology students, community groups online, and friends.
The user interviews revealed 6 key insights:
Identification Processes
A significant frustration for users is apps with slow or confusing species identification processes. Apps that require too many steps or have limited AI accuracy can hinder the documentation experience, especially when users are in the field.
Geotagging
Location-based functionality is essential, as it enables users to map their findings and observe local wildlife patterns. Many users look for interactive maps to track their own sightings and explore nearby observations.
Sense of Accomplishment
Users want to see progress and contributions they made. They want to know how they have helped scientist have visual indicators to represent how much they've seen or traveled.
Safety Guidelines
Understanding the wildlife not only protects them but also users. Receiving timely suggested actions to take when encountering different kinds of wildlife is crucial
Species Information
Wildlife enthusiasts often seek detailed species profiles, including photos, behaviors, habitats, and distribution maps. They prefer apps with extensive species databases and appreciate information verified by experts.
Complicated User Interface
Some apps have overly complicated layouts with too many options, confusing menus, or unnecessary pop-ups, which detract from the simplicity needed in field documentation.
Define
Building user empathy
​​The competitive analysis and user interviews gave me a better understanding of who the users were and how they might use a wildlife app. I focused on expanding those findings into concrete visualizations that would help me empathize with users and define the product.​​
Persona Development
Based on patterns from our user insights I developed four personas of various users that have different interests and uses for the app. Since the goal of the project was to make assisting wildlife more accessible to everyone, it was important for the features to be intuitive for beginners.
Translating needs into Features
Based on insights and needs identified during the discovery and defining phases, I developed a Product Feature Roadmap to outline specific app features and structure future design efforts.
Product Feature Roadmap
Explore the "All Features" view on Airtable.
Prioritization was determined based on the alignment of a feature’s value proposition with the project’s goals and user’s needs. Due to project limitations, I had to focus on features that would be required in an MVP product according to the primary persona.
Develop
Design and Prototyping
Using the insights from the competitive analysis, interviews and research, I drew some low fidelity wireframes for different pages and features that could be included in the application. I analyzed and discussed the different ideas with my teammates and narrowed in on the features we felt would be the most popular and useful.
Explore
Camera
Document
Species Info Card
Photo Album
Achiements
Species Info
Field Guide
Live Footage
Explore: World Wide
Mid-fidelity Wireframing
As I independently started to create digital wireframes on figma, I played with variations of how to display different information and where certain features could be used. I wanted the app to be easily navigated and filled with useful and fun information for a variety of ages. Demoing the prototype also allowed me to put myself in the viewers shoes. This lead to more consideration with user/wildlife safety along with awareness for users privacy.
UI Kit
Although UI design was not a requirement for this project, I took the initiative to develop my Figma and UI design skills by independently creating a custom UI kit and high-fidelity mockups. I envisioned a bright, engaging color palette inspired by wildlife photography to enhance the app's navigability and enjoyment. Additionally, I designed a logo in Photoshop that incorporates natural elements, reinforcing the app's theme and visual appeal.
Deliver
Final Prototype
Field Guide
Profile
Species Info Card
Species Info Card: Map
Research Project Details
Explore
Research Project
Warning Report
Camera: AI Recognition
Interactive Design in Motion
Locating, Identification & Documenting
Users can locate species by exploring their map view or by searching for them using the search bar. The camera uses AI to instantly identify the species on screen. Once the photo or video is taken, users can give additional information to assist scientist.
Species Information
Users can find detailed species profiles, including photos, behaviors, habitats, and distribution maps in their Field Guide. Animals can be favorited and alerts can be setup to show when they may be nearby. Users can also look for related research projects to specific wildlife.
Safety
Safety is the top priority of this app. Users can see potential hazards on their maps and report them when encountered. Additionally, warnings about potentially dangerous wildlife is displayed when identified. Further safety information can be found on the Wildlifes information card in the field guide.
Sense of Accomplishment
Users can select to follow and be apart of a variety of research projects set up by scientist from around the world. Once following, users can see their progress and updates about the project. They recieve XP, badges and other achievements to reward their contributions and consistency. Additionally they can keep track of ongoing and completed projects on their profile.
Reflection
What’s Next?
Following the first round of testing, the next steps would be to iterate and design for features beyond the MVP.
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Build out phase 2 & 3 features - Scientist features, Photo Album and Community Sharing
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Conduct second round of user testing in the field, to identify active usability issues
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Prepare deliverables for development handoff
Project Takeaways
I knew going into this project that it would be a challenge. What features are most important? How would they work with recognition technology limitations? Given the diversity of problems that various users face, what are some ways an app solution can provide relief? I found myself truly enjoying the process of designing and strategizing flows and user interactions.
Some key takeaways are:
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Create a well-organized project plan. With so many issues to consider, a good strategy will prioritize on what’s needed for the MVP and keep track of backlogs.
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Understand tradeoffs in decision-making. Knowing when and why to use a particular tool or research strategy is part of the critical-thinking needed to successfully deliver.
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Use existing patterns to decrease cognitive load. Spending time designing a unique interaction for a common function isn’t necessary if users already expect it to work a certain way.
While an app cannot solve all the needs of Wildlife conservation, I believe that a good user experience can facilitate more community action and discussion. In a divided world with a sore need for environmental efforts from the public, increasing access to learning and awareness often begins the step to bridging gaps between our community.
