CyHobby
Are you new in town and looking for a friend to share hobbies? CyHobby can help you in a quick and stress-free way!
Time: 08.2023-10.2023
My Role:
- UX Research
- UX/UI Design
Team: 5 people in the group
Course: User Engagement
Design Tools:
-Figma
-Miro
-Adobe Photoshop
-Google Forms
Summary
-Conducted interviews and a survey.
-Gathered research data and used UX design methodologies like affinity map, user journey map, user flow, value proposition, persona, and site map to design UX.
-Created wireframes to start the visual design process.
-Created low-fidelity designs and prototypes. Usability testing was conducted.
-High-fidelity designs and prototypes were created after getting feedback
"This is a really cool idea. I really like this idea because Ames is a small place, but I don't think people know each other that well. Especially, if people don't know each other, they tend to remain that way because everyone already has their own friend circles." - User feedback during usability testing
Problem Statement
Many Iowa State students have a hard time finding friends who they can share hobbies with. Some students were too busy and didn't have time to attend many school events to make friends, and new students could not find enough resources to join student clubs. Having hobbies and building friendships while at school can enhance students' lives. Therefore, our team designed CyHobby to help connect students who share similar hobbies.
User Research
User Interview
We conducted interviews with 10 ISU students. We asked questions related to making friends and finding hobbies or student clubs on campus. Students found it hard to connect with people who share hobbies. Students replied that they would be willing to use an app that helps them find friends easier. They also gave good feedback about the expectation of the social hobby app.
Survey
We received 18 responses to the survey. 12 students expressed difficulties finding people that share their hobbies. 72.2% of the participants replied that they were not involved in any student organizations.
Survey Results
Affinity Map
We categorized and trimmed the interview and survey data to find the most important data. First, we used sticky notes to organize, and then we used Miro to develop the affinity map.
Through the affinity map, I learned that there is not a social hobby app, but people want to use it to find friends who share similar hobbies.
Affinity Map
Persona
We created 3 personas to better understand users. The personas have different frustrations that helped us think thoughtfully about what features needed to be included in our design.
For example, Trisha is the primary persona, and she is a busy graduate student. She needs an app to make friends and share hobbies in a quick and stress-free way.
Value Proposition
We selected the 5 most critical features to our design after collecting all the research data.
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Categories for hobbies
-
Categories for clubs/organizations
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Schedule feature
-
Chat
-
Event calendar
Ideation
User Flow
We discussed the user flow of the most important features in the app. This helped us understand the necessity of simplicity in our feature design.
Big Picture Storyboard
Our team selected different scenarios for the big picture storyboard. This is my big picture storyboard that I created to understand how our future users will be using our app to find friends to go running with.
Site Map
After we gathered basic ideas about what pages we will include in the app, we created a site map that shows a clear direction of where all the pages will be displayed.
Wireframe Sketch
Each of our team members sketched how our app will look and brought all the sketches together in a meeting. We laid out all the sketches and discussed which designs will help our future users have the most user-friendly experience.
Wireframe Sketch by So Young Jang
Welcome page:
Simple and friendly design.
Log in page: Users log in with their ISU email to verify that they are ISU students.
Create profile page: Users choose their hobbies before they complete their profiles, during initial log in, to give the impression that this social app is focused on hobbies.
Home page: I based the home page around a quad chart so that the users don't have to scroll down to see their information.
Search page: Users select options first so they will get more accurate search results.
My profile page: Simple user interface to manage settings.
Adding events and clubs: Having a separate page for adding events and clubs is more helpful for users.
Visual Design and Usability Testing
Wireframes
We designed low-fidelity wireframes. After that, we prototyped the wireframes to do usability testing.
Low-Fidelity Usability Testing
We recruited 5 ISU students to participate in usability testing and asked them to complete tasks like logging in, making a profile, searching, creating events, and sending a message. We received helpful feedback.
1. The home page design has too much information.
2. I don't like seeing a lot of things on a screen because it is really tiring for me.
3. The adding friends feature is confusing; I did not know that the plus icon meant adding friends.
4. The search bar can be clearer. Maybe add "select hobbies or clubs" instruction in the search bar.
5. This is a really cool idea. I really like this idea because Ames is a small place, but I don't think people know each other that well. Especially, if people don't know each other, they tend to remain that way because everyone already has their own friend circles.
High-Fidelity Usability Testing
Usability testing at the Student Innovation Center in Ames, Iowa
The usability testing participants were 5 ISU students.
We gave them tasks like logging in, creating a profile, searching for a dance club, adding events, and sending a message, and we received the following feedback.
1. I think adding a club was easy, but finding friends was not easy. I want the adding friends feature to be more obvious.
2. I think the user interface is really clean.
3. Adding clubs and interests are really good.
4. I think sending message was a little bit hard, but sending a friend request was easier.
What did I learn?
Teamwork and communication: Collaboration requires lots of communication for when questions arise and when research or design updates must be presented.
Understanding the design process: Design is an iterative processes. I gained more insight into necessary design features as I researched more. Design brainstorming will help me come up with creative and user friendly solutions.
Listening and empathizing with users: Usability testing is very helpful. Designers might think a particular design is useful for users, but users might have a different opinion. Users want stress-free, simple, and easy-to-use interfaces.