Gem Hunter
Explore, Find, and Share Hidden Gems Through Your Discovery.
Team
she/her
he/him
she/her
she/her
he/him
Problem and Design Overview
Discovering unique and memorable experiences should not be a challenge, yet many existing platforms fail to meet the mark. Most travel and location-based apps provide generic recommendations, overcrowded tourist spots, or outdated information that lacks personal relevance. Users are often left sifting through reviews, blog posts, and forums, hoping to stumble upon hidden gems that truly resonate with their interests. This process is time-consuming and frustrating, especially for those looking to explore lowkey, off-the-beaten-path destinations that offer authentic and unforgettable experiences.
Gem Hunter is a community-driven app designed to help users explore and uncover hidden gems near them or wherever their adventures take them. Unlike other platforms, Gem Hunter combines the power of user contributions, personalized discovery, and gamification to create a vibrant ecosystem for exploring the world. With each new hidden gem unlocked, participants will accumulate reputation points which they can use to discover even rarer hidden gems.
Gem Hunter's main pages to discover new gems.
Design Mockup Overview
Overview of the Gem Hunter digital mockup showing the main interface, key features, and user flow.
Design Walkthrough
In our mobile application Gem Hunter, we focus on enhancing user engagement and interaction through two key features. First, we refine the location tracking functionality to ensure precise and reliable discovery of hidden gems, allowing participants to unlock new attractions added by others. Second, we developed a reputation points system that rewards users for their contributions and discoveries, motivating them to explore further and engage more deeply with the app. These features are vital as they directly support the primary goal of our app, which is to foster exploration and build a vibrant community around discovering hidden gems.
Discovering Hidden Gems On The Go
Participants are prompted to adjust their radius for nearby gems through an intuitive slider interface, ensuring they receive alerts within their preferred range. They can easily set filters for the types of gems they wish to discover. As users continue exploring within the radius, they receive a push notification about gems that are nearby that meet their criteria from previously. Upon tapping the push notification, they are directed to an interactive map where the pop-up of the hidden gem is displayed. They can expand the pop-up to view more information on the hidden gem, and from there can decide if they would like to visit the hidden gem.
Adjust radius where you would like to get notified for the gems.
Select your preferences of what types of hidden gems you would like to find.
After closing the app, you will get a push notification of a nearby gem in your interest.
Once the notification is clicked, the hidden gem will appear an in app pop-up with minimal information on it.
Sharing Personal Experiences of Hidden Gems to Obtain Rewards
Participants are encouraged to share their unique experiences and insights about the hidden gems they discover. The app's intuitive interface makes it simple for users to pin new locations, upload photos, write reviews, and provide tips for future explorers. As users contribute valuable content, they earn reputation points that can be redeemed to unlock access to even rarer hidden gems, enhancing their exploration journey.
Participant can add a new gem to the map
Add information to the gem like creating a new name, description, tags, etc.
Once gem is added, they will receive a pop-up with information about tier upgrades and how many points earned.
The map will display new hidden gems once a new tier has been unlocked.
Participants can check their profile to view their progression towards the next tier.
Design Research and Key Insights
While developing Gem Hunter, we aimed to understand how people discover hidden gems in Washington State. Our initial approach involved conducting a detailed 14-question survey to gather insights into participants' discovery methods. Additionally, we interviewed both temporary and permanent residents to gain diverse perspectives on uncovering these hidden gems. By understanding this process, we can then proceed to create an easier solution to finding more hidden gems in Washington State.
We restricted our research on temporary residents, such as students, and permanent residents in Washington State who are likely familiar with the state's hidden gems. There are numerous ways to discover hidden gems, including social media, community boards, and news outlets. Given the variety of methods available, targeting this demographic of locals offered valuable insights for designing an app tailored to a social media-driven world.
We designed a 14-question survey to uncover how people discover hidden gems, complemented by interviews with a Californian native living temporarily in Washington and a native Washington resident. Both the survey and interviews covered participants' demographic information, discovery habits, favorite hidden gems, and their methods for finding these spots. We distributed the survey across multiple platforms, including friends, local community groups, and community boards for Washingtonians. The diverse range of responses we received enabled us to gather a variety of perspectives and identify patterns in exploration behaviors. Through our interviews, we aimed to gain deeper insights into how both non-natives and natives of Washington State discover their own hidden gems.
Encouraging Users to Share Hidden Gems
Of the people who responded to the survey, a quarter of them mentioned having a strong sense of ownership over the hidden gems they find, which can lead to exclusivity behavior. Participants expressed a desire to keep unique locations to themselves, fearing that sharing might lead to overcrowding. One participant noted, "When I find a great lowkey spot, I tend to not want to share it with anyone except close friends and family." This insight posed a new question: how do we encourage users to share their hidden gems? This insight helped us identify the need to include compelling incentives for users to share their discoveries.
Diverse Discovery Methods and Preferences
Our research revealed that discovering new hidden gems can be challenging due to the multitude of available methods. Participants utilize social media, community boards, and word of mouth, among other means, to find hidden gems. This diversity became evident when we asked about their major concerns and preferences regarding apps with similar functionalities, like Yelp. While Yelp is a reliable platform for discovering popular restaurants and reading detailed reviews, it tends to focus on well-known establishments, making it less effective for users seeking unique, lesser-known experiences or hidden gems that go beyond mainstream recommendations. The overwhelming feedback indicated that users wanted a seamless and efficient way to discover hidden gems without additional effort. Based on this insight, we recognized the importance of creating something intuitive that accommodates various discovery methods and integrates seamlessly into users' routines.
Participants claimed they use various methods of platforms to gain information on hidden gems.
Social media tends to clutter hidden gems making it frustrating to navigate
Spontaneous Discoveries
One of the key takeaways from our design research was that many participants discovered fun and memorable experiences through spontaneous explorations. These moments often left the deepest impressions because they felt authentic and unforced, arising naturally from being in the right place at the right time. In one of the interviews, the participant highlighted some of their most fun experiences that were not even planned. This highlights the importance of designing a platform for spontaneous discoveries, which supports and enhances spontaneous discovery without over-planning or dictating the journey. By creating an environment where users can confidently wander, stumble upon hidden gems, and create unplanned memories, Gem Hunter fosters a sense of adventure and connection to the moment—qualities that are often lost in rigidly structured travel experiences. This emphasis on spontaneity ensures the app aligns with the innate curiosity and joy of discovery that makes exploration so rewarding.
Iterative Design and Key Insights
Our iterative design process involved several key stages: paper prototyping, heuristic evaluation, usability testing, and creating digital mockups. We began with paper prototyping to quickly explore and refine our design ideas based on initial feedback from our design research. Heuristic evaluations were conducted to ensure our design adhered to usability principles, identifying potential issues early. Usability testing with a diverse group of participants provided insights into real user experiences and challenges, guiding our design improvements. Finally, digital mockups were created to visualize and further refine the design. This iterative approach was motivated by our goal to adapt the process to the project's needs, ensuring that each phase built upon the previous one to surface crucial design insights and create a seamless, user-friendly app.
From these tests, we found that our participants highlighted the importance of implementing a rating system for informed decision-making, enhancing navigation for better user control, and providing clear feedback response mechanisms. Participants seemed to appreciate the ability to make informed decisions based on a comprehensive rating system, improved navigation features that empowered them with greater control and ease of use, and a clear and consistent feedback response mechanism that ensured they received timely feedback. These enhancements, directly informed by participant feedback, played a pivotal role in evolving our design to meet user needs more effectively.
Implementation of a Rating System for Informed Decision Making
Introducing a rating system where users can rate the hidden gems they have discovered significantly enhances the decision-making process. Initially, our app lacked mechanisms for users to evaluate and share their opinions on hidden gems. During the paper prototyping phase, we discovered that participants need a reliable way to gauge the quality of hidden gems. One participant from our usability test stated, "Being able to see ratings and reviews from other users could really help decide on which places would be worth visiting."
We integrated a straight forward rating interface in the digital mockup. Users could easily rate gems on a scale, allowing filtering options that allowed users to sort and read through positive or negative reviews. This iteration was crucial in providing users with valuable community feedback and empowered them to make informed choices.
Before, the paper prototype shows no ratings or filter ratings within the add a contribution and expand gem page. The digital mockup now shows a rating system and filtering to allow users to filter through ratings within the app.
Enhancing Navigation for Better User Control
A lack of clear navigation options, such as back buttons and submit buttons, significantly impacted user experience. During our tests, we observed that users struggled with navigating the app due to the absence of essential buttons. Specific evidence from these evaluations highlighted that users often felt lost when they could not return to the main map page after filtering preferences or finalizing their contributions without a submit button. One participant noted, "I felt lost on how to submit my contribution to the Ravenna Chest, theres no way for me to exit either."
Based on the feedback from our first usability testing, we introduced back buttons on each screen necessary to facilitate easier navigation and a submit button on relevant screens. These adjustments significantly improved usability and user satisfaction, enabling smoother interactions and better user control, ultimately enhancing the overall experience as well.
Image shows paper prototype before back button and submit buttons were implemented.
Digital mockup shows functioning back navigation buttons as well as submit buttons.
Clear Feedback Response
Unnecessary notifications in the phone's notification center hindered user experience, prompting the need for a more smooth transition. During our usability tests, it became evident how inconvenient it is to receive notifications through the phone's notification center rather than as a pop-ups within the app itself. We also noticed it does not provide a smooth transition and causes disrupts in the users interaction with the app.
To address this, we reworked the notification system by introducing pop-ups directly within the app. These in-app pop-ups inform users of tier upgrades and earned reputation points without needing to exit the app. This iteration provided a more seamless and integrated user experience, reducing interruptions and allowing users to stay engaged with the app's current content. By refining the notification system, we created a more cohesive interaction flow within the app.
The paper prototype had too many notifications for upgrades and reputation points earned. It also unnecessarily delivered through the phone's notification system instead of within the app.
The mockup has integrated notifications as pop-ups within the app to notify users of their tier upgrades and earned reputation points.