Project Description:
HuliTuli is a scavenger hunt app to help anyone feeling isolated or in need of a challenge. HuliTuli is different because you can connect with friends in a fun new way while boosting endorphins with physical activity. Our closed-loop safety features and in-app quest creation make us unique and gives users peace of mind.
The Problem:
We observed that users are stressing to maintain social distance which causes loneliness because talking online is not as fulfilling as in-person communication.
The solution:
HuliTuli is a scavenger hunt app that allows friends to passively interact by sharing quests while encouraging physical activity as a way to relieve stress.
User Research
We conducted 5 qualitative 30-min interviews face-to-face using 1 interviewer, 1 research observer, and 1 interviewee. We also received quantitative feedback through the use of a Google forms survey with 22 responses.
Our original topic was trying to learn about how people are managing their “Mental Health”. We discussed that asking people directly about their mental health practices may be intrusive and uncomfortable. So we decided to phrase “mental health” as “stress” within our questions. We chose the word “stress” because stress is often a cause or symptom of other issues such as anxiety or depression. We also felt that discussing things you find stressful with a stranger seemed much less intrusive or stigmatized.
Through the research we found that during the pandemic people are exercising and playing games more. Also many people are seeking out alternative ways of socializing, beyond phone and video calls
Stickies that were created based on the responses we received from the interviews
User Persona
Based on the research we developed the user persona of Alexis Lewis to describe the type of person who is most likely going to use this type of app.
Most Viable Product
Based on our research and persona, finding an alternative way to interact and experience life with friends and family while also being physically active was key. We also found that playing games was a popular way of reducing stress. Also based on our interviews safety and the use of the internet regarding kids was discussed. We wanted to think about our features through a safety lens which resulted in a lack of “public” sharing and what we consider a “closed-loop” app.
Through our ideation, these factors manifested in a “scavenger hunt” direction that put a focus on sharing with friends.
To create our most valuable product we considered what features would most easily get our users participating, what features would be most simple to execute, and how to make it easy for the user to create a quest even if they aren't feeling creative.
Minimum Viable Product Features:
- Complete Scavenger Hunt like Quests
- Earn points for completing Quests
- Create your own Quests to share with friends
- Preset templates of challenges make Quest creation easy
- Users can get creative and make the quests fun and unique
Lo-Fidelity Prototype
User Testing
We tested 11 different users 6 A tests and 5 B tests. For our A/B test we decided to test if tutorial screens were necessary during the quest creation sequence. Test A featured a tutorial, Test B did not. Our 4 test scenarios highlighted on-boarding, completing a quest, creating a quest, and the users leaderboard. Overall we were pleased with the success rates from our 11 tests. However, the difference in success rates between our A and B test was negligible so we used qualitative feedback from testers to conclude that we would include the tutorial in the mid-fi prototype.
The areas with the 2 lowest success rates were the Account Creation on the splash screen and the “start a new quest” … these both were errors attributed to the design of our buttons. The splash screen button was changed from “let's start” to “create account” and a title was added below the “plus” button to say “New Quest”.
Mid-fidelity Prototype
Using XD we built a 49 screen interactive prototype, we were able to reduce the size of the prototype from 70 screens using microinteractions for our text fields and buttons. The mid-fi follows our original MVP closely but has an expanded profile page to include a friend list, about hulituli page, and credits. We also added color and tried to make the prototype iOS compliant. We really wanted our app to seem friendly so we chose bright inviting colors.
Summary
While we think that this initial prototype covers all of our MVP features. There is definitely some room for improvement in the future.
Future Opportunities for HuliTuli include:
- Create a team to play the quest
- Chat with friends while you are doing a challenge
- Friends can send encouragement
- Play online or offline
- Custom quest creation
- Turning old quests into new templates
- Making templates public (location details removed)
- Digital surprises (photos, gift cards, and gifs) can be discovered in addition to points or rewards
All of these things add social interactions and give more creative flexibility to the user.
