Making meeting new people easier.
CONNECT
As an expat, building friendships is one of my biggest challenges. Wanna hang out?
I designed an app that supports people interested in making new friends and building genuine connections.
Timeline: 8 week, academic project
My Role: User Research, Usability Testing, Logo Design, Visual Design
Deliverables: UX Research Report, High Fidelity Flows, Prototypes, Product Mockups, Process
The problem
The importance of having common interest and the feeling of safety are key aspects when meeting new people. Approaching a stranger for the first time is scary for most people. How can we make it less challenging for people to connect with each other in a meaningful way?
The opportunity
To meet new people within the safety and comfort of your inner circle, by connecting groups instead of individuals.
The solution
Invite your friends to create your group.
Being with your friends when meeting new people eliminates the feeling of “awkward” that you might experience being alone.
Tell others what you like.
Most relevant qualities people look for are background, activity, music taste, food preferences, emotional connections, and physical cues.
Find groups of people that meet your preferences.
Having common interest increases the probability of establishing a genuine relationship with each other.
Not sure who to meet with? Let’s vote.
You and your friends get to vote, to decide what group you would like to hang out with. A “Like” means “some-how approved”. A “Heart” means “totally approved”.
The research
After conducting one-on-one interviews, we identified a variety of reasons why people have interest in meeting someone new. From user insights gathered, having friends is one of the most valuable personal connections to almost everyone.
Affinity grouping
We, as a class, utilized affinity grouping to come up with different ways to tackle the problem. Out unique experiences in meeting new people came up with unique ideas such as dating classes, activities to connect parents of toddlers to grow a support system for their kids, and much more.
User Personas
I used specific, precise, ad-hoc, assumption- based personas. Not data-driven personas. I focused on what influences their behaviors.
Ideation
With the help of sketches and low-fidelity prototypes, I was able to define a flow that make more sense for the users.
