Surfline App

Adding A Crowd Feature Case Study

The Surfing Dilemma

Surfline is the go-to app and industry standard for surfers to help them decide when and where to go surfing.

The app shows the wave height, wind and weather conditions at every named surf break in the world.

However, the second most important factor for surfers in deciding where to surf is the crowd size.

But the Surfline app does not have a feature for showing the crowd size at specific surf breaks.

The Surfline App: Industry Standard in Surf Forecasting

Surfline is the most commonly used surf forecast app used by surfers around the world.

This app is famous for placing cameras at popular surf breaks so that surfers can view live feeds of the surf conditions from wherever they are and use this as information to help them decide when and where to surf.

Even for spots without cameras, the app is reguarly updated with forecasts for wave height, wind, weather, water temperature, swell direction and tide details along with analysis, tips and maps to help surfers locate new spots.

Examples of Surfline App Screens As They Are Now

Surf Check: Digging Into User Research

I conducted research interviews with 5 surfers to explore how surfers think about and plan their sessions.

Highlights from the interviews demonstrate that crowd conditions weigh heavily surfers in choosing where and when to surf.

How Would This Crowd Feature Fit Into How A Typical Surfer Uses Surfline?

Integrated Into Current User Flows

Users will be able to view and understand the crowd data within their current user flows within the app so that their current usage patterns will not have to be relearned or diverted.

Native

This feature would seamlessly integrate with current design systems and patterns used in the Surfline app so that users can intuitively grasp the data and use it to make decisions on the move.

Consistent Color Mapping

Surfline has worked hard to develop a color coded system for evaluating surf conditions at a given surf break. The crowd feature would follow these established color conventions for ease of adoption immediately.

Premium

This feature is only available for subscribers of the premium version of the Surfline app, thus enhancing the incentives for users to upgrade to the paid version.

Hanging Ten With User Testing Refinements

User testing with a high fidelity prototype revealed some valuable insights:

  • Displaying the crowd indicator row of dots right above where the wind speed is displayed on the “Favorites” screen confused some users as they understood the crowd dots to be indicative of the wind speed.

  • The crowd trend arrow was not considered useful as most users doubted the accuracy of being able to reliably predict whether the crowd was growing or shrinking. Also, the technical constraints of attempting to collect this data ands update it regularly enough to be significant was another reason to let go of this feature for now.

  • Instead, an icon of the person was added next to the crowd indicator dots to specifically show it corresponds to the how crowded a specific surf break is at a given time.

Final Version After Applying Testing Insights

The final prototype includes completed revisions based on user testing to include a human shaped icon at the beginning of the crowd indicator dots on all the screens.

Wisdom From The Waves

  • User testing revealed that the initial design of the crowd indicator was confusing so I made an adjustment to the design

  • Sticking to established design patterns is often the best way to proceed when adding new features. I applied this when using the same colors used by Surfline for wave quality and crowd size.

  • Adding a feature to an established app requires careful consideration of user flows and how the proposed new feature will enhance or alter these pathways

The Next Set (Steps)

Launching this feature to a small group of surfers who use Surfline regularly and gathering their feedback through another round of user interviews would be a logical next step.

Another useful step would be implementing an A/B test with users to see if they prefer the crowd indicator display to have the human icon in the front of the row of dots or at the end.

Also, it would be wise to conduct further research to better understand the perceived value this feature offers surfers in an effort to arrive at a vetted pricing model for this premium feature that could then be shared with stakeholders to guide business decisions around this proposed improvement.