Avant Eldora
Eldora was in the midst of redesigning the ski experience in the face of COVID-19. Working with a group of two other students, we created an app and a multi-step plan to help facilitate the switch to a touch-free environment.
The Team: Mark Grundberg - Megan Kwiatkowski - Aitana Rothfeld
My Roles in This Project
This project was a fun challenge. I ended up learning quite a bit about front end app design, bringing a known and loved brand forward into the digital landscape, and how to design within the guidelines that COVID-19 has set. It was a pleasure working with my teammates, and my skills as a project manager grew exponentially throughout the course of this project.
Mobile Wireframing
The three of us initially split up the three sections of the app design, but when it came time to weave the ideas into one cohesive visual I stepped up to the challenge. This was a long process, as I had very little background on wireframing prior to this project, but an immensely satisfying one.
UX Researcher
During the course of this design sprint all three of us wore the hat of UX Researcher at some point, however of the three of us I seemed to be the only one that had no prior experience in skiing, so all of my knowledge came from interviewees and the discussion that was held with the Eldora marketing representative.
Brand Identity
Eldora already has a strong brand identity, so most of my work in this area was to match that identity through our text and image work in the app. I enjoy storytelling quite a bit, so this felt less like a job and more like a game.
Establishing Trust & Familiarity
No matter what we recommend to the Eldora team, we were proposing a behavioral change in an atmosphere of uncertainty.
This concerned Eldora’s restaurants, rental locations, and gear rentals specifically, and in order to seamlessly transition from the old analog way to a new digital one, we needed to provide incentives for that change. With that in mind, our solution became front loading as much of the decision process as possible, so that their guests get to spend their time on the mountain their way.
“When there’s only so much time in the day to play, even stopping to eat seems like a waste of time.”.”
— Shannon, age 32
How might we help the Eldora visitor establish new, touchless behavioral norms motivated by efficiency and choice rather than avoidance and fear?
Initial App Mock-Ups
Sign In / Ticket Purchase
In order to support a touchless environment from ticket purchase to gear rentals and make it possible to do all of this before the guests even hit the mountain, we realized Eldora would be needing an app.
We divided up the three areas that involve the most contact and began prototyping out solutions. I began with Food and Beverage, and my partners took on the Ticket Purchase & Gear Rental screens.
Gear Rental
Food & Beverage
The descriptions of the different restaurants came directly from the Eldora website, but all other text copy on the app was written by myself or one of my partners.
Presenting to Eldora
Once we had the skeleton of our prototype we were able to start use testing, creating the mock ups for our physical recommendations, and refining our prototype. All that was left was packing it up together for the Eldora team!
Physical Recommendations
Ticket Purchase Recommendations:
Using mobile kiosks will make purchasing lift tickets a breeze! Guests can either enter their information to purchase a ticket, or scan the receipt they received on the app when they paid ahead of time.
Gear Rental:
By filling out their waivers ahead of time and entering their approximate equipment sizing on the Avant Eldora app, we eliminate all unnecessary contact between guests and staff. There will also be stickers on the ground to promote physical distancing in lines.
Food & Beverage:
By ordering their lunch ahead of time on the Avant app, we are closer than ever to eliminating the wait time for Apres! Order from whatever eatery you’d like, then come pick up your meal from our handy lockers when we text you that it’s ready.
Avant Eldora App
