Budeze
My Role: User researcher, UX designer, UI designer
Timeline: October-December 2022 (10 weeks)
Context: I designed Budeze as my final capstone project for my Master's of Science in User-Centered Design. On this intensive 10 week project, I worked as the sole researcher and designer, getting hands-on experience planning, conducting user research, wireframing, prototyping, and facilitating usability tests, as well as gaining support and incorporating feedback from stakeholders, including an advisory board, instructors, and peers in the program.
Project Overview
Problem Statement
It is difficult for adults to make friends due to various reasons like busyness, remote work, shyness, and more. Studies show that a significant percentage of American adults find it hard to make new friends, and some even have no close friends at all. This is a common problem that needs a solution because making friends is beneficial for mental and physical health, and human beings thrive in strong communities of friendship and support, and suffer in its absence.
Proposed Solution
The project aims to create a resource that fosters the creation of friendships and social communities among adults in an increasingly disconnected world. This is achieved through the design of an iOS app platform that enables Millennial and Gen Z adults aged 18-41 to connect with like-minded individuals to make friends and build community.
Discover
To guide my design direction, I first conducted research on the preferences, behaviors, and challenges of my target audience. By gaining insight into their thoughts and goals, I was able to better understand how to help them connect and bond with others through the app.
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Research methods:
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Literature Review
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Survey
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Interviews
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Competitive Analysis
User Research
To understand my target audience, their needs, and create personas for design direction, I surveyed over 90 people and interviewed seven. These two methods combined provided both breadth and depth of user insights, reaffirming and uncovering new findings.
Survey
Surveyed over 90 people to get a better understanding of the target audience at large.
Interviews
Spoke with seven people about their past experiences making friends and hopes for the future.
In both methods, I explored motivations, preferences, and pitfalls when making friends, past experiences and desires for the future, as well as current friendship satisfaction, challenges, positive experiences, ideal future friendships, and experiences using technology to make friends.
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Research yielded several findings on user needs, with a few particularly impactful insights shaping design direction the most.
"Similar interests feel like a way connect with people, and then we can figure out what else we have in common."
–Participant 1
83% of participants rated shared interests and activities as very important or important reasons for wanting to make new friends
"I want to have meaningful friendships. I want to have someone there to support me and talk to about important stuff.”
–Participant 2
67% of participants rated deep conversations and emotional support as very important or important reasons for wanting to make new friends
Would people use an app like this?
65% of participants have either used an app to find friends in the past or are interested in doing so in the future
Insights
My user research revealed four main themes that guided my design decisions:
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Shared interests and similarities are important when first making new friends
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People want both friend groups and one-on-one friendships
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Starting and maintaining conversations with potential friends is challenging
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Regular in-person hangouts are a common friendship goal and strengthens bonds
Competitive Analysis
After identifying common user needs, I analyzed eight competitor products. By combining user research insights with my findings, I discovered the following opportunities for improvement:
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There's little overlap between apps that connect people in groups and those that connect them one-on-one, so I saw an opportunity to merge the two in order to cater to both user needs in one place.
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Some apps let users see interests but don't offer a way to directly start a conversation about them, so I saw an opportunity to help people start and maintain interesting conversations.
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Detailed user profiles can foster a more personal connection and help people get to know each other better from the start.
Define
Who are the users?
Two main user personas emerged from the user data: the Shared Interest Enthusiast and the Best Friend Seeker. The former seeks a group of friends with shared interests for group activities and events, while the latter seeks strong one-on-one friendships based on emotional support and compatible personalities and lifestyles. Although both seek friendship, their priorities and approach differ slightly.
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Shared Interest Enthusiast
“Similar interests and group settings are the best way for me to connect with new people.”
Goals:
- Groups of friends
- Shared interests and
activities
- Going to events
Frustrations:
- Choosing a group
- Having both similar interests and compatible personalities
- Hesitancy about attending events
Best Friend Seeker
“I want to have meaningful friendships with a
few great people.”
Goals:
- One-on-one connection
- Compatible personality
- Good conversations
Frustrations:
- Hard to know what someone is like
- Finding compatible people
- Starting and maintaining
interesting conversations
Design Direction
Based on my research findings, I created a set of "how might we" design questions and user needs to guide the concept ideation as well as the wireframe and prototyping process. These questions helped me prioritize features and key moments that would benefit both personas.
Concept Designs
To translate user needs into actionable design directions, I first crafted journey maps. These maps explored user scenarios based on my two personas and helped me identify opportunities for key features and tasks that influenced future designs.
To structure the prototypes, I created nine process diagrams based on the main user tasks and feature opportunities I identified in the journey maps. These diagrams helped me visualize the functionality of the app and served as a blueprint for the first round of prototyping.
Key Features Identified
Profiles that showcase interests & personality
One-on-one connections between users
Activity and shared interest groups of multiple people
Messaging & conversation facilitation
Event scheduling for groups and individuals
Ideate
Low-Fidelity Prototype
After determining user needs, key features, and design direction, I created a low-fidelity clickable prototype. This step was focused entirely on building out my concepts and seeing if they would actually work together in the way I was envisioning.
Usability Testing
I conducted two usability tests with users within the target demographic to ensure the prototype was functional and the concepts were effective.
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The main user tasks tested at this stage included onboarding and account creation, finding potential friends (Buddies), connecting and messaging with Buddies, finding and joining groups (Circles), accessing joined Circles, and RSVPing to events.
Positive Outcomes
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During testing, the users found the app easy to navigate and didn't encounter any frustrating issues. Even more exciting was their enthusiastic response to the concept and features. They were excited to use the app and mentioned their interest in connecting with people both one-on-one and in groups, and the crossover between the two.
"This would expose the user to so many more people that are connected through things that they care about, which is excellent."
"I like that it merges two worlds, like groups of people, plus also creating individual friendships, and bridging those two divides."
"I like that this creates the safety zone of being able to connect on the internet, but the intention is like to feed you into an event and meet in the real world."
Changes & Improvement
Based on the feedback from both usability tests and peer review, I identified several areas for improvement in usability and features, which I incorporated into iterations of the low-fidelity design before moving forward to the final prototype. Below are some of the most impactful alterations.
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Users felt lost without a landing page, so I added one to provide a clear starting point.
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Another issue was the lack of a centralized location for app-wide updates, so I added a newsfeed to the landing page for quick access to the latest information.
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I improved the Buddy discovery page based on user feedback by making profile pictures larger and reordering elements for a more personal touch.
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This helped users get to know their prospective friends better from the very first touchpoint.
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I improved the joined Circles page by adding quick links to important areas for different use cases before and after joining a Circle.
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Other visual alterations and usability improvements were also made, such as increasing the size of the connect icon in the navigation bar to make it more visible and easier for users to find the location of new Buddies and Circles.​
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Design
High-Fidelity Prototype
Once I finished with my initial prototype iterations and usability testing, it was time to convert my designs into a high-fidelity clickable version with full colors, images, styles, and fully build out the final prototype design solutions in Figma.
Onboarding
When onboarding, users are prompted to give some details about themselves and select their interests to find like-minded individuals because as I found in research, shared interests and activities are particularly important when meeting new people. Users also add bios and answer questions about themselves to show their personality, because compatible personalities were found to be a main priority for research participants.
Buddies
My research showed that users highly valued one-on-one friendships, so the Buddy feature was critical for Budeze. Buddy profiles highlight shared interests and personalities to encourage meaningful connections and conversations by facilitating the ability to reply directly to profile elements. Users can join their Buddies' Circles or find Buddies from their own Circles, bridging the gap between one-on-one and group settings that competitors lack, providing a unique experience for Budeze users.
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Circles
Circles facilitate meeting new people in group settings, which many research participants noted makes them feel more comfortable. They encourage bonding over shared interests and activities, which is a major goal for many users. Also, when users see that their Buddies are members of Circles, they are more likely to join, giving them the opportunity to meet even more like-minded people to be Buddies with. This crossover feature sets it apart from competitors, who lack this integrated approach. This provides a dynamic and interconnected platform that facilitates genuine connections and fosters a sense of community. Circle pages also promote in-person events, encouraging offline interaction, which participants really value.
Messaging
The messaging system for Budeze enables both one-on-one and group chats, as well as video chatting. I included conversation prompts to help guide conversations and keep them flowing smoothly, especially for people who struggle to start a conversation with new people. Users can also respond directly to various elements on people's profiles, such as their interests and bios, for more personalized interactions, whether they are connecting with existing Buddies or potential new connections. This is where users can respond to incoming Buddy requests as well.
Events
Events are a major feature in my design, as my research showed that hanging out in person is a primary user goal, supported by studies that demonstrate shared activities as the most effective way to foster closeness. The Events tab helps people find events created by Buddies and Circles, nearby public events, and create personal events. Users value the crossover between Buddies, Circles, and Events, as seeing that they know people that are attending make them more comfortable, confident, and excited about attending themselves. By providing a space for both online and offline connections, Budeze promotes a holistic approach to social networking that goes beyond just digital interactions.
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Usability Testing
At this point, I ran two additional usability tests and gathered feedback from my peers. I made several design improvements to enhance usability. As users were able to complete all tasks, these changes mainly involved small visual alterations, such as improving icon graphics, element sizing and layout, and button hierarchy. For example, I added a more prominent call-to-action on the joined Circles page to improve navigation, and changed the waving hand icon to a more recognizable magnifying glass for better search functionality. Additionally, I updated the appearance of shared interests buttons on user profiles to improve interactivity.
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What I learned
Throughout this project, I learned a lot about planning and executing research, synthesizing that research to inform design direction, hands-on wireframing and prototyping experience in Figma, conducting usability tests and presenting to and getting approval from stakeholders. I learned a lot throughout the course of this project about research based design and the UX thinking that guided me to my final cohesive prototype that meets user needs.
Next Steps
There’s many things I’d love to add, such as fun personality quizzes to help users get to know each other better and a database of advice articles for people who need a little extra support when meeting new people. I also want to do a thorough accessibility assessment to make sure everyone can use the app equally. I’d also love to create some custom illustrations to showcase my other visual design skills and add a touch of extra personality to the designs.