In collaboration with three UXD students from the University of Toronto's Master of Information program, we addressed a common challenge faced by people attending events, especially solo: approaching and connecting with those around them.
My Role
I led the group's written reports including our research plan and summary of findings, conducted user research interviews and synthesized insights using data reduction and clustering, applied interactive prototyping to static wireframes on Figma, iterated on wireframes and prototype based on expert and peer feedback, and presented in 3 playback sessions including the final presentation pitch.
Scope of Work
User Research
UX Design
Usability Testing
Prototyping
Stakeholder Presentation
Team and Timeline
Amie Leung
Selina Su
Ariel Ma
Elva Lu
3 Months (Sept-Nov 2024)
The Problem
The Solution
The Process
Context
Back in September, we were given the following challenge prompt:
“Help people who don’t know anyone at a place or event connect with people or groups who are open to meeting new people so they can feel socially integrated and enjoy the experience.”
Our team decided to take that prompt and simplify it: At a place or event, help solo event attendees meet other people.
Evaluating existing solutions
Currently, users tend to use MeetUp, Bumble for Friends/Bumble BFF, or other alternatives such as Reddit/online forums and social media (Discord, WhatsApp) to try to meet other people for events.
User Research
To gain insight into our users and their experiences, we recruited 8 participants through word of mouth and personal connections. Screening criteria focused on student and young professional smartphone users who wanted to meet other people at events.
I conducted interviews with 2 participants to find answers to questions such as:
Main research insights
Using data reduction and clustering, we combined and synthesized our individual research data in an affinity diagram to uncover common themes:
Users want to meet new people at events
"It's kind of a little bit of a thrill to meet new people. You know, kind of develop your social network, your ability to talk to strangers."
Users view common ground as foundational for connection
"It's much easier to talk to someone when you know you share the same field or interests."
Users find it difficult to approach groups
"Cliques are probably the most challenging part. You have to find a way to break into a clique. If not, you need to be able to quickly identify people that are not part of a clique."
Users are concerned about a bad match
"Let's say you meet someone, but then you realize you don't click. And now you're stuck with someone that perhaps you're not clicking with entirely […] How do you escape that right?"
Problem Statement (updated)
Following our discovery phase, we realized that our scope was too narrow and expanded our focus from solo event attendees to event attendees in general. As such, we redefined our problem statement:
At a place or event, help people meet other people.
User Persona & Journey Map
To empathize with our users and guide our focus, we developed our user persona, Maya, who represents our target audience. By examining her profile and journey with the current system, we can better understand user pain points and identify opportunities to improve her situation.
Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
Marketing Coordinator
“I’m eager to make meaningful connections, but starting conversations can be tough.”
Maya is an introverted, 31-year-old woman who finds it challenging to meet people outside of work. She often feels awkward and self-conscious in casual networking situations or social gatherings, worried that she'll be rejected or say the wrong thing. As much as she loves her phone, she wishes that she could do more with it to make the kind of connections she craves.
Let's say that Maya decides to attend a casual alumni social event hosted by the university she attended.
Goal: Meet other people and expand her network of friends and professional connections (you can do it, Maya!)
Main user goals
From the information gathered in the previous phase, we concluded that Maya needs:
Led by our goal to make it easier for Maya and other attendees to achieve the above, we brainstormed ideas on possible solutions to make it happen. Through voting and a prioritization grid, our team came to a solution.
Ideation
Our ideation process involved:
Crazy Eights
Each group member quickly sketched out 8 ideas in 5 min, with a focus on speed and creativity without judgment.
Round Robin
Team members took turns sharing ideas, encouraging active listening and building on each other’s ideas.
Fresh Round Robin
In a second Round Robin, participants shared new ideas, expanding the idea pool and encouraging fresh perspectives.
Prioritization
While lots of great ideas resulted from our ideation process, we had to narrow them down to what was both practical and feasible, with consideration to user impact and design effort.
✅ Ultimately, we decided to go with a social connection recipe task where users are represented by ingredients and encouraged to find other nearby ingredients. Users work together to complete "recipes" via gamified interactions.
✅ As some users were concerned about safety and the motivations of the other party, we decided to keep profiles/avatars relatively anonymous to protect users' identities and to keep the focus on authentic conversations.
✅ The focus of our solution would be on helping users make that first step to building a connection by facilitating brief encounters that empower the user to easily continue or withdraw from.
With these ideas guiding our direction, we considered user flows and each sketched out a series of potential low-fidelity UI screens using pen and paper. I combined my "happy path" and UI sketches below:
Task Flow
Maya can start a recipe task and collect her first ingredient by making a connection with someone else on the app.
Wireframing - Moving from Paper to Digital
Once we settled on the screens we thought would fit Maya's needs, we created our initial wireframes and storyboard using Figma:
I added prototyping to turn our set of static wireframes into an interactive prototype:
Usability Testing
We tested our Figma prototype on a laptop with eight peers in-person and one industry expert over Zoom to assess whether it was intuitive and met user needs. After providing scenario context, five-second first impressions and user feedback were recorded.
Scenario: “Locate and connect with people at the event. Please complete a ‘recipe’ by interacting with other attendees who represent different ingredients.”
Feedback was generally positive, however there was definitely confusion with flow and certain screens. In particular, we received feedback on clarifying the entry/starting point, terminology, and map navigation; keeping the focus on meaningful interactions between people; and perhaps providing a way to follow-up after the interaction. I address how we incorporate this feedback in the next phase.
With the feedback we received from usability testing, I worked on improving our initial design.
Iteration - So, what was improved?
Simplify the entry/starting point
The user is already at the event, there's no need to search for it
I simplified the starting point by limiting user options. Instead, users can enter a unique code associated with their particular event.
Recipe task is unclear
Users may need more context to understand what's going on
I decided to change the order of screens where the task/choice of personal ingredient is seen first. I also added written instruction ("Try to find them!") to help guide the user.
Map is confusing - unsure where to click
We received feedback from several testers that they got stuck on this screen and didn't know what to do next.
To address this, I kept the focus on the recipe task by removing unnecessary event info, providing first-time users with a tutorial cursor to guide clicks, and adding a "list view" tab to filter ingredients while keeping the map clean and uncluttered.
Connection process could encourage greater communication
Testers generally enjoyed the shaking task so we kept it. However, concerns about superficiality led to the decision to try and deepen the connection process by adding discussion prompts and a time delay to encourage conversations.
Reframe the event reward - focus on connections rather than image card
The original incentive for completing recipes and encouraging conversation were event-associated cards. After speaking with experts, we changed the reward to focus on the connections made during the event/recipe task (with the image card either optional or secondary).
To address how users could connect post-event, and in keeping with the theme of recipes, we implemented a shopping basket to allow users the option of follow-up with mutual swipes into the friend basket or to withdraw if the match wasn't for them.
These changes were made with the intention of providing users context and clarity with regards to the intended task, with the added preparation/ discussion screen meant to increase user engagement with their conversation partner.
Following the interaction, users would be presented with the option to add positive matches into their friend basket for later or swipe them away if they didn't wish to continue chatting.
Creative Strategy
Mood Board & Mock-ups
Mood Board
Sample mock-ups
Design System
What I Learned
For me, this project reinforces 1) the critical role of user interviews and feedback and 2) the importance of challenging personal assumptions. Initially, we believed we had a good grasp of the user experience based on background research and our own experiences attending events solo. Once we started conducting interviews, however, we realized we had missed an essential pain point - we were so focused on connecting users that we failed to consider the situation where they might want to disengage. Usability testing further highlighted areas for improvement when testers expressed confusion with the map screen.
Another thing I learned and continue to work on is 3) embracing ambiguity (as uncomfortable as it may be!) and trusting the design process. Real-world problem-solving is more unpredictable than the textbook academics I'm used to, and this project taught me that human-centered design and UX require being open and flexible to change.
While our final solution is not perfect, learning to embrace diverse ideas and feedback, to take a step back and allow the process to guide our iterations ultimately led to a stronger, more user-centred product.
Next Steps
Given course limitations with regards to time and scope, there is still much more we could accomplish with this project. I would have liked to conduct more user interviews to further explore and understand user needs and pain points. Additional usability testing would also be beneficial to gather additional impressions/feedback and ensure our design is intuitive and enjoyable for users. Furthermore, we were limited in the number of screens we could develop - I would have liked to expand on our existing flow to flesh out how users find and interact with each other.