Product
End to end application
Timeline
2 months as solo student project for Designlab UX/UI bootcamp
My role
UX/UI designer
Problem
Creating meaningful relationship as an adult is hard.
I was having a discussion with my friend who is really into Persian literature and she was complaining that she did not know anyone she could debate it with. She felt lonely and like she did not belong at times.
Social life is hard and even harder when you struggle to find people with similar interests than yours to connect with on a deeper level.
Solution
Connect is an app that allows people with niche interests find other people around the world who love the same things and engage with them. It also allows them to find events related to their specific passions and possibly attend them as a way of meeting new peers.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a competitive analysis as it is helpful to know what is already on the market but most importantly, what was missing.
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
User Interviews
User interviews were conducted to helped gain knowledge on stress and pain points. These were the main takeways:
5 out of 5 meet new people via social media and not in real life
4 out of 5 participants would rather meet IRL through school or work but it does not happen
5 out of 5 emphasized that social media could be unsafe and the people on it deceptive
All 5 of them admitted that finding people to share their passion with was extremely difficult as they did not know where to look
Based on the trend in my affinity map, I divided the collected insights into
the following groups :
Tools currently used to connect
Negative aspect of social media
Current social media use
Socializing pain points
This gave me a better understanding of the struggle involved in
socializing with a niche interest and helped me create my persona.
Persona
Design
I started with deciding on which flow I wanted to test then moved on to sketching low fidelity ideas to later create a mid fidelity wireframe on Figma. It was then time to decide on the branding before finally working on the high fidelity wireframe and prototype ready for testing.
Sketches
Usability Testing & Iterations
4 major improvements in my design
The goal of the usability tests were to assess if the product was easy to use, to understand how the users navigated the product and to gain insight on the overall feel of the product. These were the main takeaways:
All 5 participants responded well to the visual design and said that the website was organized and easy to use
The task flow chosen was well received and all 5 users had no real issues completing the tasks
All 5 of them thought the flow and the questions asked made sense to reach the goal of sending a friend request
All 5 testers agreed that this was a fun and useful app that they could use in real life
One user was confused about the “Categories” section as in categories of what.
3 out of 5 users were confused about how to search for more groups on the app.
One user completely missed the filter icon on the group members page
One user was not a big fan of the overall look of the app and found the rounded design a waste of space
Based on various feedback from usability testing participants as well as my mentor, I continually iterated my design which resulting in 4 main improvements:
Search Bar
I made the search field more visible and usable
Title Change
I added “Featured groups” to make clear that these groups are only a sample selection of what is available on the app
Title Change
I changed the title from “Categories” to “Find your interests” to make it more obvious
Filter Icon
I increased the stroke on the filter icon to make it more visible to users that they have a way to search for the perfect profile to befriend
The Final Product
The Style Guide
Task Flow
Conclusion & Lessons Learned
Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way with this project :
Thorough user research is essential for gaining insights into user behaviors, preferences, and pain points. Conducting interviews, and usability testing helped me uncover valuable information, allowing me to design with user needs in mind.
A social media app often contains a lot of content and features. It was important to establish a clear visual hierarchy to prioritize content and guide users' attention. Consistent use of visual cues, typography, and color helped enhance the app's usability and readability.
What’s Next
Make the app available in every languages spoken in the world to reach maximum exposure
Develop a video chat feature for users who prefers chatting face to face rather than texting.
✨ For work inquiries (or for a little chat), do email me at: m.mabounda@gmail.com ✨
Thank you for reading !
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Thank you for reading ! 〰️