Historic Green Ridge
(UX/UI + User Research + Market Research)
Digitizing Kenosha’s Historic Green Ridge Cemetery., I worked as the User Experience Designer with a UI Designer and Graphic Designer.
Project
Our team was tasked with designing an application that could supplement the various documents that served as resources for visitors to Green Ridge Cemetery in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Goal
Our primary objective was to develop a prototype that was easy to use for all age ranges. Because of the public nature of cemeteries, the application needed to be intuitive to people of varying technological aptitudes as well as accessible to people of diverse interactive capabilities as possible.
User Research
We found that the range of potential users would be broad in age, interests, and mobile technology skill level. We created personas for these potential users.
The Mindful
Visits family members and may be interested in way-finding and potentially notable monuments
The Curious
Conducts genealogical research and may be interested in way-finding, notable monuments, and historical context
The Tourist
Visits the cemetery for leisure and may be interested in way-finding, historical narratives, notable monuments and people of interest
Market Research
Our survey of apps that had similar or interesting features. Listed below each screen are the features we found positive(+) or negative(-). Through this exercise, we found our direction: text based with imagery. We found that the most successful app was Rick Steve’s Audio Europe. It was primarily text based with only helpful imagery and iconography as assisting features for the real world the experience.
Brainstorming and Wireframing
We organized the information that we extracted from the resource documents provided by the cemetery. We began with sketches that kept the needs of the user in mind:
Large Finger Targets
Primarily Text Based, Complimentary Images
We tested a sketch of a rough user experience wireframe. We used an app to turn our sketches into a testable prototype. Then we asked people in our target demographics to give us their opinion on the organization of information.
Storyboards
We took what we learned from our wire frames and created several storyboards to finalize what information would be included in the application. Based on a likely user journey of a ‘Tourist’ visiting Green Ridge Cemetery and using our application to learn more, we created this final storyboard before moving into prototype development.
Prototyping
We made mock-ups using Adobe Illustrator and XD and then developed a prototype in xCode using a combination of the storyboard feature and swift programming language. While prototyping in swift, we implemented UI details such as the icons and images. We also implemented interactive details such as transition movement and timings.
Testing
We were able to compile and test our application because we were developing in xCode. We tested features and were able to get feedback on user’s experiences with color and text accessibility.
Historic Green Ridge App
Discover the rich stories of some of Kenosha’s most notable grave-sites and monuments at Green Ridge Cemetery through the Historic Green Ridge app.
Access decades of history through a search-able database that contains text, images, and audio recordings. An interactive map and QR-code scanner will help augment the visitor experience. And links to the cemetery contact information, hours, and other helpful resources will broaden the utility of the Historic Green Ridge App.