UX/UI & Mobile Design
Ranger Guide App
The Ranger Guide App is a dynamic, interactive map system designed for Sonim rugged phones. It empowers park rangers by linking knowledge, location, and communication, enabling them to resolve conflicts faster, maintain workflow efficiency, and access tribal knowledge seamlessly.
Timeline
Role
Team
Skills
Tools
Sept - Dec 2023
Product Designer
Song Moua, Grace Pan, Fred Lee, Dave Dubinin
User Research, Ideation, UI Design, Prototyping, User Testing,
Figma, Miro, Sonim Devices,
Design Roadmap
01
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Understand
The Problem
Park rangers are stewards of nature, tasked with protecting parks while ensuring visitors have a positive experience. However, our research revealed a deep conflict: rangers often feel torn between enforcing rules and preserving nature as a refuge from judgment.
User Interview Key Insights:
Rangers approach rule-breaking visitors with anecdotes and explanations rather than direct enforcement.
They grew up feeling judged by authority figures and found solace in nature’s nonjudgmental refuge.
Now, as authority figures themselves, they struggle to balance enforcing rules with maintaining nature’s welcoming spirit.
Empathize
As the lead UX/UI designer, I collaborated with my team to follow the Design Thinking framework, ensuring a user-centered approach.
To truly understand the challenges park rangers face, we immersed ourselves in their world. Over several weeks, we interviewed six park rangers across different parks, including Stanford Dish, Coyote Point, and Golden Gate Park. I led the synthesis of these interviews, identifying recurring themes and emotional undercurrents. We shadowed rangers on patrols, observing their interactions with visitors, their communication methods, and their daily routines.
During a patrol, Ranger Dylan encountered a visitor with a dog in a no-dog area. Instead of citing the rule, Dylan engaged the visitor with a story about his own dog, subtly guiding them to comply. This anecdotal approach was a recurring theme among rangers.
Define
With a wealth of qualitative data, we moved into the Define phase to distill our findings into a clear problem statement. I facilitated team workshops where we mapped out pain points, needs, and opportunities. We used affinity diagrams to organize insights and prioritize the most pressing issues.
Our research revealed a core tension: rangers want to preserve nature as a refuge from judgment, but their role as enforcers often requires them to act as authority figures. This conflict was compounded by inefficient communication systems and a lack of access to critical knowledge.
Problem Statement: “Park rangers need a way to enforce rules without disrupting nature’s role as a refuge from judgment, while also maintaining workflow efficiency and accessing critical knowledge.”
Ideate
In the Ideate phase, we brainstormed solutions that addressed the pain points identified in the Define phase. I led the team in generating ideas, encouraging creative thinking while keeping the focus on feasibility and alignment with Sonim’s strengths.
We explored concepts ranging from wearable devices to mobile apps, ultimately landing on a mobile app solution that leveraged Sonim’s rugged phones and programmable buttons.
The app would integrate three key features:
Ranger Status: Allowing rangers to indicate their availability and task status.
Live Annotated Alerts: Enabling rangers to share urgent updates with colleagues.
Tribal Knowledge Archive: Providing instant access to park-specific knowledge.
In the prototype phase, I take the lead in translating these ideas into wireframes and initial prototypes, ensuring the design was intuitive and aligned with rangers’ workflows.
02
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Make
Low-Fidelity Prototype
With a clear direction, I developed low-fidelity prototypes in Figma, prioritizing rapid iteration and user-centered design to expedite testing. I focused on creating user flows that were intuitive and efficient, ensuring each interaction aligned with the mental models of park rangers.
The login/sign-up flow was designed with a minimalist interface to reduce cognitive load during onboarding. For Feature 1, the status flow utilized progressive disclosure, allowing rangers to update their availability or task status in just one or two taps. The create an update, alert, or map flow for Feature 2 incorporated contextual actions and inline editing to streamline the process of annotating and sharing urgent information.
For Feature 3, the archives flow featured a card-based layout with search and filter functionality to make accessing tribal knowledge quick and intuitive. Additionally, the communication flow leveraged persistent navigation for seamless messaging, while the account flow used accordion menus to simplify profile management.
Each flow was designed with task efficiency in mind, minimizing steps and decision points to prevent choice fatigue and ensure usability in high-pressure, outdoor environments. This approach allowed us to validate core functionalities early and gather actionable feedback for iterative refinement.
Usability Testing
Given the constraints of the project timeline, we were unable to conduct formal user testing or gather real-world feedback from park rangers. While this limited our ability to validate the app’s usability in practice, we compensated by leveraging expert reviews and heuristic evaluations to ensure the design aligned with established UX principles.
This approach allowed us to identify potential pain points and refine the interface iteratively. Moving forward, user testing with park rangers would be a critical next step to validate the app’s effectiveness and gather actionable insights for further improvement.
Problem Statement: “Park rangers need a way to enforce rules without disrupting nature’s role as a refuge from judgment, while also maintaining workflow efficiency and accessing critical knowledge.”
03
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Final Design
Deliver
The final deliverable was the Ranger Guide App, a dynamic, interactive map system that empowers park rangers by linking knowledge, location, and communication. The app’s three key features—Ranger Status, Live Annotated Alerts, and Tribal Knowledge Archive—address the core pain points identified during research.
I led the final UI design, ensuring the app was visually cohesive and aligned with Sonim’s brand. The team collaborated on creating a presentation to showcase the app’s impact, highlighting how it helps rangers preserve nature’s refuge while maintaining workflow efficiency.
The final deliverable was the Ranger Guide App, a dynamic, interactive map system that empowers park rangers by linking knowledge, location, and communication. The app’s three key features—Ranger Status, Live Annotated Alerts, and Tribal Knowledge Archive—address the core pain points identified during research.
I led the final UI design, ensuring the app was visually cohesive and aligned with Sonim’s brand. The team collaborated on creating a presentation to showcase the app’s impact, highlighting how it helps rangers preserve nature’s refuge while maintaining workflow efficiency.