Supporting “Novice”/Beginner Birdwatchers with Merlin Bird ID
Why it mattered
“Novice” was not one user type, so Merlin needed adaptable support for different beginner goals, confidence levels, and learning contexts.
Role
UX Research Lead & UX Designer
Owned the noviceness metric, research synthesis, design framing, and report-to-concept translation.
Timeline
Jan-Jun 2025
6-month sponsored HCDE capstone
Team
4 designers and researchers
Collaborative research, testing, redesign, and final report production.
Skills
UX research strategy
Research synthesis + insight framing
Interaction flow redesign
Usability testing + concept evaluation
Flip to see poster
I first reframed “beginner birder” as a research problem, not a fixed user type.
Merlin Bird ID is a free bird identification app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with more than 3M active users. Before designing features, I helped the team define what “novice” meant in this context: someone might like birds, recognize common species, use Merlin often, and still lack confidence in the field.
My research question
How might we design Merlin Bird ID as a companion app for young, novice birdwatchers that encourages regular engagement and long-term environmentally conscious behavior?
What I owned
I built the novice metric approach used to screen and compare participants. That work connected quantitative survey responses to interview selection and later helped us interpret qualitative differences between novice birders.
Final outputs
Our team delivered a research report and Merlin redesign concepts. I also designed the capstone poster, but the main project output was the research-backed redesign direction for supporting novice birdwatchers.
50survey responses
3field observation sessions
6novice birder participants
12hours of interviews
Phase 1
Discovery
Survey, field observations, and media review built a first profile of “young novice birder.”
Phase 2
Metric to interview
Survey scores shaped interviewee selection and gave us a demographic spread to compare.
Phase 3
Qualitative measure
Interview and shadowing data turned the numeric score into a richer view of novice behavior.
I built a novice metric, then tested its limits through interviews and shadowing.
The research method started with a structured survey, but the survey was not only for recruitment. I used it to build a working measure of noviceness, select interviewees with more intention, and create a baseline that we could later challenge through interviews, shadowing, coding, and affinity mapping.
01 / Define
Turn “novice” into measurable dimensions
I broke noviceness into interest, knowledge, frequency, and time spent birdwatching, so we were not relying on a vague beginner label.
02 / Score
Build a transparent survey metric
Each dimension contributed equally to the novice score. When one dimension had multiple questions, the weight was split across sub-questions.
03 / Select
Recruit from score and context
We prioritized lower novice-score participants who were Seattle-based, aged 18-40, available in person, and open to reflective conversation.
04 / Interview
Move from demographic spread to lived experience
Six 90-120 minute interviews helped us understand what the score could not show: confidence, social context, tool access, and invisible knowledge gaps.
05 / Shadow
Observe birding behavior in context
Outdoor shadowing showed how participants noticed birds, used Merlin, asked questions, and reacted when identification became uncertain.
06 / Synthesize
Code, cluster, and revise the meaning of novice
Transcript coding and affinity mapping turned individual stories into patterns, then pushed us to treat novice as a profile rather than a single ladder.
Method reflection
The metric was useful because it made our early decisions explicit, but it became more meaningful only after qualitative work complicated it. Interviews and shadowing showed that someone can be novice through knowledge, tools, confidence, identity, or community access. That shift shaped the rest of the project.
The findings showed that novice birders need different kinds of support.
The score helped us find the sample; qualitative work explained the differences inside it. Some participants lacked tools, some lacked local birding knowledge, some lacked community confidence, and some had interest without identifying as birdwatchers. The key result was that “novice” became less of a level and more of a set of support needs.
What the findings clarified
Beginner needs were uneven, not linear.
Participants did not move from “new” to “expert” in the same order. One person might know local species but feel socially hesitant; another might use Merlin often but still lack confidence interpreting the result.
What changed in our framing
Noviceness became a design variable.
Instead of designing one beginner mode, we treated novice behavior as a mix of motivation, confidence, context, and identity. This gave us a stronger basis for deciding which support should be educational, social, or habit-building.
How it guided redesign
Each concept answered a different support gap.
Badges and recaps responded to motivation, learning mode and ID summaries responded to knowledge gaps, and events responded to the need for low-pressure community entry points.
Why the second map mattered
Birdwatcher identity was more fluid than expected.
The types-of-novice map helped us show that beginners may be caretakers, nature lovers, photographers, companions, or curious learners. That made the redesign less about pushing users toward expertise and more about supporting different ways of belonging.
Visual synthesis
Flip for detailed findings
I translated the research into redesign concepts for flexible beginner support.
The redesign work was not a styling exercise. Each concept responded to a different support need we found in research: habit formation, birding basics, or social confidence.
Motivation and habit building
Weekly challenges, badges, and birding recaps can encourage engagement without turning birding into a chore.
Learning birding basics
Learning mode, embedded tips, and ID summaries help new birders understand the world of birdwatching beyond a single match.
Social and sharing
Events and shareable achievements create lightweight ways to build community without requiring Merlin to become a full social platform.
Idea 1: Events and communityIdea 2: Badges and achievementsIdea 3: Flashcards and quizzesIdea 4: Learning mode
User testing showed that different novice birders wanted different kinds of support.
We tested the redesign concepts with four initial interviewees to see which ideas felt useful, desirable, and relevant to their birding style.
Testing takeaway
There was no single winning feature.
What we tested
Feature directions such as events, badges, ID summaries, profile customization, flashcards, birding recaps, and learning mode.
What we found
Each tester preferred a different feature, and those choices matched their novice type and motivation.
Design implication
Merlin should offer optional support paths instead of forcing every beginner through the same onboarding or learning flow.
A metric can create clarity, but it should stay open to being revised.
The novice score helped us recruit with intention and make early research decisions visible. Interviews and shadowing then showed why the score alone was not enough: confidence, identity, tool access, and community access did not move in one neat line.
What I would keep
I would keep the metric pipeline: survey questions, numeric coding, weighted score, interview selection, then qualitative validation. It made our research decisions explicit.
What I would change
I would treat noviceness less like one score and more like a profile. Interest, knowledge, frequency, time, tool access, and community confidence do not always move together. I would also separate the report narrative from showcase materials earlier, so the redesign rationale is easier to follow.
