Wayfarer

Inspiration

I was walking with a friend in Washington Square Park, and we came across a really cute and funny looking dog. We had taken videos of it walking around and even said hi. I then walked home, and was wondering about how powerful walking can be for the mind. I remembered that there were lots of studies related to this. I then thought about the many ideas and creative thoughts that I've lost, because it was too annoying to open up notes to write them down, or the moment was just beautiful as it was. Some moment didn't need to be recorded, but I came across many times where I really wanted to talk about an experience or feeling coming back from events, but didn't have a place and an environment to connect those moments with.

What it does

So this project is a good mix between walking and journaling. You can open this app to track your walks, see your history, and attach a memory to a physical place. It connects the kind of intangible, ethereal concept of memory and experience, and notes it down at a place in time and space. It also allows you to see what others have created and shared in this physical/digital connector.

How we built it

I built it by myself. I asked a couple of friends and strangers about their thoughts on walking. I conducted research online about how this can be used to improve mental health. I used Figma Make and Figma to create various visuals and interactions.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges were related to some coding/design Figma Make issues. It requires you to be really good at prompt engineering, so encountering this problem made me a better designer. Another challenge was really validating the idea. I had to think intensively about creating a system that users would want to use, be compelled to use. I had to be rigorous in my user research and testing to excel here.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Developing this high fidelity visual w/ interactions, and also developing this idea with lots of thought and effort about the mechanics and how it would work in real life. It's a passion project, so I'm proud of doing this by myself! I really enjoyed interviewing people, asking them about their daily lives, and where walking has a place for them. I received some really valuable insights, some philosophical, some technical, but I learned a lot from my user interviews. I'm grateful to be here, designing something for this Design-a-thon.

What we learned

I learned the importance of user research and how testing with real users and real people is the most important part of this process. If I had stayed inside just coding and designing by myself, I would have never developed a product that truly people enjoyed. I also get to talk to people too!

What's next for Wayfarer

We plan to refine the features we have. Focus on the user, the experience, and care about how we make money after that. I think developing this into an actual functional app would be cool, and some friends want me to develop this so that they can use it.

Built With

• figma