NOLS
End to end internal mobile application for a global wilderness and leadership school, providing digital field documentation capabilities in remote and austere environments.
Role | UXUI Designer
Client |NOLS
Tools | Figma, Lyssna, Google Suite
OVERVIEW
Background
NOLS maintains over 500 active instructor who work in a variety of environments and skill types. All instructors must provide course documentation for each course. Currently, all field documentation is analog and many of these documents are digitized once courses return from the field through scanning and manual input and paper copies are sent to a variety of departments.
Digitizing course documentation takes a significant amount of time and there are seasons where information is not digitized or there are errors, leading to loss of information. Lack of information means that its hard to identify patterns in feedback and make relevant and timely improvements.
Problem
NOLS instructors currently lack a single field-ready digital documentation system that balances ease of use with organizational needs. Current digital approaches require multiple apps, lack standardization, and present editing challenges especially on mobile devices. This inconsistency creates barriers to data synthesis, delays feedback loops, and prevents NOLS from fully using documentation to improve programs systematically.
EMPATHIZE
Research Methods
The research phase consisted of in person and remote user and stakeholder interviews as well as a competitive analysis.
Interviews
Goal: understand benefits and challenges of current digital and analog documentation processes
6 user interviews
1 stakeholder interview
Competitor Analysis
Internal tool analysis of current market identifying:
Whether they met organizational needs.
Common design patterns to adapt to NOLS specific needs.
Affinity Mapping
See full map
Insights
Current adhoc digital systems requires two apps (one for storing files and one for editing) and editing PDFs to maintain document formatting - especially challenging on a phone sized screen.
Hard to know what resources and reference documents have been updated since last upload and some digital documents are not readily available to instructors
Some instructors have hard to read handwriting, speak/write english as a second language, or have a learning difference that makes handwriting harder.
DEFINE
User Archetypes
I developed user archetypes versus personas because I find it most helpful to focus on specific user behaviors and core needs. Drawing from user research, the behaviors and core needs help me keep in mind real and potential pain points for users and how interconnected they are with the problem statement.
Experimenters
Core Needs
Wants to use technology to innovate work systems
Needs to have pipeline to give feedback and opinions
Ways to talk with others who are also experimenting to learn from each other.
Behaviors
Initiates experimentation of new systems or workflows
Shares with others what they are learning the system they have developed
Contributes to global knowledge at the school and moves the school’s thinking forward
Free Agents
Core Needs
Wants to come into a built system, but doesn’t need it to meet all needs to try it
New system needs to attend to some sort of individual pain point or make some part of their work significantly easier.
Behaviors
Adopts new but tested systems and is willing to engage in feedback on how to make it better.
Adoption is driven by making a part of their work life easier.
Traditionalist
Core Needs
Has been in field for a long time and that continues to be a key part of their life
Likes systems and wants them generally to be simple and familiar
Connection to the school and mission has what kept them around for so long and they need to continue to feel that connection.
Behaviors
Has a specific way they learned to do something and has done it that way for a long time.
At the point where change is harder - they have not reexamined their systems in a while.
Open to new ideas but sometimes not aware of the need to iterate or that systems have changed.
Features
Based on information gathered in the research phase, I developed a list of features, prioritized features that instructors would use the most, (the course log and resources), as well as documentation that had the most manual input (camping data and student evaluations).
Features tin the "Can Come Later" category served as a holding place for exciting future features that would require more significant organizational culture shifts.
Site Map
I developed a site map to help me better understand the flow of information. The site map balanced the need for systems to feel familiar to gain buy in with key innovations that made a noticeable difference in usability to users.
Familiar: File based system
Innovation: combining several analog documents to make data gathering easier. This included:
Removing an individual "Camping Data" file and adding a field into the course log entry form as well as
Removing the Health Info doc and adding a field to the roster.
The site map echoed current instructor systems for organizing paperwork with Course Files holding forms for documentation that instructors interact with more readily, while Field Resources and My Files hold different types of reference documents used for risk and course management and teaching.
See site map file
Task Flows and User Flows
I prioritized task flows that aligned with must have features, thinking both about what primary user challenges I was solving for and the future usability testing. I wanted to make sure the flows I tested aligned with user needs. I started with task flows and used them as a basis to develop user flows.
How might we develop a consistent and easy to use system that meets the needs of all architects, ensure consistent digital field documentation across the school, and use digital field documentation to increase ease of data collection and synthesis and therefore increase pace of iteration and innovation in other school systems?
IDEATE
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Low fidelity wire frames were developed based on user and task flows in order to test the highest priority features. My background in drawing and printmaking explains my preference for hand sketching wireframes first. I sketch to think by drawing and
PROTOTYPE
See First Prototype
Branding
NOLS already has clear brand guidelines primarily developed for print publications. I reviewed color, typography and logo to evaluate what colors would transfer well into a digital space, with WCAG accessibility guidelines in mind., and how to distinguish the app as an internal tool through brand guidelines.
Color and Typography
As an outdoor organization, NOLS has earthy colors. In order to maintain WCAG contrast standards I used the darker colors on
Logo
I adapted the NOLS logo to internal use and added a playful dashed line mimicking how trails are depicted on topographic maps. I made the sun a bit bigger so that it served as a container for the logo without the square border of the original logo. Adding “Course Folder” mimics location specific logos for NOLS. The specificity of adding “Course Folder” shows care and attention to instructor needs by designing a logo adaptation just for them.
Components
I loved putting together the components for this app. I developed a list of components from the low fidelity wireframes and organized components starting with the smallest element of each nested component. This made the process of building components and, subsequently, high fidelity wireframes smooth and efficient. I knew my basic building blocks and how to put them together.
Similarly, when usability test results showed needed changes, I was able to quickly and easily update components to match user needs.
TEST
Usability Testing
Goals 1. to understand any issues users encounter when completing three task flows and 2. whether users can easily navigate from one task to another.
Scenario 1: Course Log Entry
Navigate to the course log entry form, fill out the form, and click “Save” to navigate to the log entry confirmation screen
Scenario 2: Roster
Navigate to the “Roster” screen.
Iterations
Autofill day and date of course log
Indicate way to auto fill UTM coordinate
Switch ISGE field to selection of yes or no (remove drop down)
Add in section for hiking groups allowing for additions of more hiking groups and each addition is a drop down of the roster where you can select student and instructor names
Add a “back” icon to bottom navigation
Link course log entry to day on home screen
FINAL DESIGN
CASE STUDIES
lones.amy@gmail.com
2026
Amy Lones