Merlin’s Bird Identification App Redesign

My role
Solo personal project

Skills
UX/UI design, service design, heuristic evaluation, product design

Tools
Figma

Duration
3 Days (June 7-9, 2022)

Overview & Problem
Merlin’s bird identification app collects bird findings submitted from their users to track the bird population worldwide and make bird identifications more accurate. However, if the user decides to skip the sign-up process, then the data is not collected.

Goal
Increase sign-ups, improve the app’s UI, and add a new feature to freshen up the app.

Discover

I began by looking to solve a problem with improving the Merlin app’s UI, but then I noticed a few issues as I was using the app.

1. The app collects bird sighting data to further improve their internal identification system, but the data is not archived if users decides to skip the sign-up option.

2. I would like to know what other birds have been sighted around me recently.

💡Solutions

1. Give users access to the app’s features after setting up an account.

2. Streamline the sign-up process and make it as simple as possible.

3. Incorporate a social dimension into the app.

Try my prototype below!

Reflection🪞

This project started with my passion for bird watching and the desire to connect with other bird fans to share our sightings. As looked further into the app, I discovered an issue: users who chose not to sign up were missing an opportunity to contribute data to the Cornell Lab's bird tracking efforts. Seeing this problem motivated me to redesign the current app interface and add a social dimension.

For my next steps, I would like to test my prototype with users and reiterate my design based off of the feedback. As well as make the prototype scroll on the ‘home’ page and further expand on the ‘explore’ page.