Powderhub Process Book

Thesis Process Book
By Alex Moulakelis
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The Contents
Hey, I’m Alex
My love for products, and solving
problems, has led me to a profession
in user experience.
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02
I’ve always wanted a career that blends
my analytical and creative brains, my
artistic background pointed me in the
Introduction.
Research.
direction of product user experience.
My main goal when designing, is to
Hey, I’m Alex
Hunt Statement
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04
Resources & Findings
Users & Research
06-09
10-13
communicate successful solutions to
benefit the lives of the general public.
My passion for design, led me to the
The Crew
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Competitor Analysis
14-15
scope of my senior thesis.
I’ve been snowboarding for the past
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04
five years and still find myself digging
through resources to find resorts and
culture news. I wanted to create a
resource that would give riders pocket
Process.
Solution.
accessibility to mountain resorts and
information from around the country.
Design Statement
Logo Ideation
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17
Main Components
Supporting Components
21-25
26-27
Powderhub was meant to be the
center of the snowboarding community
for riders to chat, ask questions, and get
Brand Guide
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That’s a Wrap
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involved with the culture.
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Hunt Statement
The Crew
I researched the best ski resorts in America, so that I could design a
more efficient way to plan trips, compile information to travel, and
connect with others in the snowboarding community.
Nick Gulgren, 30
Freelance Graphic Designer
Nick’s design background helped
me ideate and bounce creative ideas
around. After several meetings about
research he was able to recommend
design solutions. He and his friends
were great resources for target audience
and demographic research.
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Main Resources
Snowsports Industries America snow
income and education, ethnic
WE RIDE: The Story of Snowboarding
the viewer. Even though I’m familiar
sport participation study (2012-13)
backgrounds, and geographic trends
within each snow sport provided in the
(2013)
with snowboarding culture, this film
served as an educational resource for
In the year of 2012, a nationwide sample
study. The snowboarding statistics
We Ride, was a film created to show the
me. I got to dive into the history and
of 43,000 interviews were carried out to
within this study, along with my own
history of snowboarding through the
culture from riders who have devoted
find demographical research based on
research, were key factors that guided
eyes of people that made it happen.
their lives to the sport. This resource
snow sports. This study gives a detailed
my demographical research, my
Throughout the film snowboarding,
helped set the tone and start to mold
breakdown of participation, gender,
process, and design decisions.
history, culture, and tone are nailed into
the aesthetics of the product.
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Key Findings: The problem
COST of lift tickets, rentals,
and travel expenses
01
To plan a trip a rider is forced to dig
through an abundance of resources to
find and plan their rides.
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Unless completely immersed in the
culture, the snowboarding community
is hard to find and get involved with.
In a public poll asking individuals to rate their
effort required to plan a snowboarding trip,
about 85% of the 60 participants said that it is
medium to hard.
These participants also responded by saying
that the main barriers when deciding to take
a snowboarding trip are cost, knowledge of ski
resorts/lodging, and no one to go with.
85%
medium to hard
15%
easy
60
total participants
Knowledge of ski resorts,
locations, & their amenities
No one to go with
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The Users
25-32, USA, Mid-High Income, No Gender Skew
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Additional Sources
finding a good ski resort and what
The Snowboarding “Bible”
lessons, rental information, season pass
The 10 best ski resorts in the country
Rated in this article, are the top ten
ski resorts in the United States. Each
description provides the name of the
resort or the mountain, a summary of
the resort that includes percentages
of mountain statistics, and a permalink
to the ski resorts website for additional
information. This was a great
reference for the terrain and mountain
information that I included in the
single resorts along with a preview of
the lists of popular, local, or recently
viewed resorts.
“Best Places to Go Snowboarding in the USA.” World
Snowboard Guide.
Important questions when planning a
snowboarding trip
This article is a great resource for
beginners who want to get into
snowboarding. It provides a plan for an
individual to research before they pick a
resort location. It goes into detail about
one should look for when doing so; for
example, terrain, lesson quality, cost,
resort amenities. This resource provides
all the important questions that need
answers when planning a trip. It was a
great resource to look back at during
my design process. It also prompted
some demographic investigation in
terms of rider difficulty.
“Planning Your First Time Skiing or Snowboarding.” REI
Co-Op.
Snowboarding news and culture
Snowboarder magazine is currently
considered the number one resource for
all things snowboarding. It provides an
abundance of news, gear information,
and events. I used this resource to guide
my forum research and design in terms
of what riders want to see and read. I
also found places within this resource
that we’re pain points for users that I
knew I wanted to stray away from when
designing my solution.
“Snowboarding Videos, Photos and More.”
SNOWBOARDER Magazine, Adventure Sports Network.
Whitelines is similar to snowboarder
magazine. It attempts to lay out all of
snowboarding resources and give riders
a place to centralize. The concept is
similar to my thesis however, it doesn’t
go past informational there’s no user
involvement besides a newsletter.
Within this resource, there are news
articles, stories from riders, gear
information, travel tips and guides,
and advice from other riders that
we’re all taken into consideration while
designing my solutions. This resource
came especially in handy with the news
and forum section of my solution. Along
with the general information that riders
are wanting and looking for.
“Whitelines: Snowboarding Gear Reviews, Travel & Advice.”
Whitelines Snowboarding, 1995.
Looking at the resorts & mountains
This is an example of one of the best
ski resorts (website) in America. They
provide the consumer with lift ticket
prices and information, snowsport
information, deals + packages, and even
nearby lodging options. This is what the
ideal ski resort website should include.
Also provided is mountain information
like weather and terrain status. This
mountain caters to intermediate riders,
the site gives a percentage breakdown
so that the consumers know exactly
what they’re in for before planning a trip
out. When planning a snowboarding
trip, you want to be prepared, a ski
resort site like this one allows planning
to be easy. All of this information was
compiled into the single resorts that
were highlighted. Additionally all of the
information on this site was taken into
consideration when choosing what
information was necessary for riders
now and what they could click on resort
websites for.
“Winter Kickoff at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort:
Official.” Winter Kickoff at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort
| Official.
All of the resorts featured in the
application sourced information from
their current websites.
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Competitor Analysis
OnTheSnow Ski & Snow Report
airbnb
The creators of this source are ski and
snowboard enthusiasts from around
the world. The point of the company is
to provide all the information someone
would need to find the best snow.
From the layout and design of the site,
it’s directed towards individuals already
immersed in the sport. Due to the
amount of text, language, and design
it looks to be for a male, more mature
audience.
An application designed for people to
discover their next vacation stays. Users
have the option to search by location,
filter by their needs, and save stays for
later vacations. The platform has guest
and host accessibility to meet all users
needs.
The brand is very consistent, minimal
and subtle. It allows the properties to
speak for themselves through imagery.
Strengths
Filled with a lot of great information,
their ultimate goal is reached.
Weaknesses
The design isn’t catered to target
audience, it’s not user friendly,
information is organized poorly
Strengths
Interface and experience is very user
friendly and intuitive.
Supporting and information resources.
The brand identity is subtle but remains
consistent throughout the product.
From the Users
“I would pay for a subscription to this
information if it had a better interface”
Weaknesses
Users can’t communicate with other
travelers within the app.
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Designer Statement
Logo Ideation
Logo Moodboard & Sketches
After my brainstorming and research
phases, I moved onto the logo process.
I created a logo moodboard that
would represent the demographic and
aesthetic style the mark would move
in. I then went through three rounds of
sketching and narrowed them down to
the four most successful marks.
Find your next ride.
Snowboarding means something
different to each rider but the
community shares a common theme:
passion to ride. What we want most is to
be on the mountains– Powderhub was
made to do just that. When planning
a trip, surveys show an individual is
forced to dig through an abundance of
resources to reach this goal. Powderhub
eliminates these struggles by giving
riders pocket accessibility to mountain
resorts and information from around
the country. Additionally, the lack of a
snowboarding community is resolved
with the application’s features to chat,
ask questions, and get involved with
other riders.
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Black & White Mark
Inverted Mark
Typography
Color Palette
Gravesend Sans
Montserrat SemiBold
Montserrat Regular – Aspis demporibus
volor senis eatures re post di dolupid
quodis dolorum utatur am dolectat
ellabor a a vellitat. Ipsamus ma conest
prae re quatem estio quid que ilic
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Main Component Sketches
Application Moodboard, information
architecture, and Sketches
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FINAL Solution
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SECONDARY COMPONENT
Powderhub Microsite
For my secondary component I
created a microsite for the application
to promote downloads, point out key
features, and show potential users how
to use it.
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Supporting Components
App Store Preview
How it Works Video.
To show both the application and
microsite in use, I decided to make a
walk through video. With this, a user is
able to see the entire product and have
prompted cues of key features and how
they are used.
Social Media Advertising
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That’s a Wrap
Hey you, thanks for taking the time
to look through my process!
I’m stoked I got to end my educational
experience with a passion project. I
had a blast researching, designing, and
interacting with other snowboarders.
This gave me an opportunity to not only
improve my design skills and processes
but also learn and engage in something
that I love doing!
The people that made it happen.
Thanks to my family! I wouldn’t be here
without you.
My Mentor.
A special shoutout to Nick my boyfriend
and mentor, thanks for putting up
with constant designing, working, and
mentoring. You rock!
Credits.
Shoutout to the amazing, and free,
imagery from unsplash photographers...
you rock.
I appreciate anyone who took the time
out to take my surveys or reach out for
any additional information!
Professors.
Adam Setala & Nicole Hauch
Want more?
Let’s Chat:
a.moulakelis@gmail.com
amouladesigns.com
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2021 | Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design