CyHobby Mobile App

UX DESIGN

CyHobby

An app to help ISU students make meaningful connections through social messaging, clubs, and events, enhancing their experience at Iowa State.

TOOLS

Figma, FigJam, Miro

MY ROLE

UX/UI Design, Research

TEAM

Aditya, Uma, Carly, So Young

TIMELINE

Aug 2023 - Oct 2023

Problem

Iowa State students struggle to connect with others who share their hobbies and interests. Clubs and events aren’t promoted well, and information is scattered across many platforms. This makes it difficult for students to build communities and feel connected on campus.

Solution

Designed an intuitive app that lets ISU students quickly find and connect with others who share their hobbies and interests.

Organized club and event information clearly, so students can easily navigate and discover opportunities.

Designed an experience that brings together clubs, events, connections, and updates in a single place and makes it easy for students to stay engaged and involved at ISU.

Giving students the tools they need to turn their hobbies and interests into real connections.

User Research

To better understand our users, we conducted 10 semi-structured interviews and gathered 18 survey responses. I helped create, conduct, and analyze this research.

Almost 70% of participants said that it was difficult to connect with people who share their hobby at ISU.

ISU students have many hobbies and passions, most engage in hobbies with some of the top being graphic design, sports, photography, and dance. We also learned that more than 70% are not involved in student clubs or organizations.

Students are not lacking in hobbies and passions, they're lacking the right pathways to connect.

Students need a simple way to connect with others who share their hobbies, come together, and turn their interests into a community experience.

Key Insights

1. Students struggle to find and connect with others who share their hobbies and interests.

2. ISU students find it difficult to discover and join clubs, organizations, and events on campus, highlighting a lack of effective promotion.

3. Students get information through many scattered sources, making it hard for them to find and join clubs. They need a fast and centralized way to connect that fits into their busy schedules.

Affinity mapping with sticky notes to analyze and synthesize our data.

Our process: We began by independently writing down data points on our own sticky notes, then worked together to group into themes, identify key insights, and decide on next steps.

User Personas

User personas were created to better understand students' needs for connecting with others, finding like-minded friends, and joining clubs at ISU.

We all collaborated to develop a fictional user persona based on interviews to better understand their needs.

Sunny is a 30-year-old PhD student and teaching assistant in Ames, Iowa. Sunny's persona highlights the importance of efficiently making connections and finding clubs to join. Busy with her studies and TA responsibilities, she struggles to find the time to meet new people and is unsure where to quickly gather information about various clubs.

"As a busy PhD student, I want to easily meet other students and make friends. I also want to quickly find information about dance clubs I can join.” - Sunny

User Journey Maps

To better understand the users' perspective, our team worked together to create several user journey maps to help us visualize and gain insights into their emotions and actions. This process allowed us to identify areas for improvement.

Working with my team, I helped create Sunny's user journey map to visualize her experience and possible emotions, helping us identify her needs and potential challenges.

Sunny's example below demonstrates her goal to connect with other students and develop friendships.

Site Map

I collaborated with my team to design a site map for our mobile app, organizing the content and structure to ensure a clear and intuitive flow. I made regular revisions and updates as needed throughout the process.

My Sketches

My early sketches of what the mobile app might look like.

Close-up Storyboard

My close-up storyboard sketch of the mobile app that allows our user, Jacob, to create his own videography club at ISU and connect with other students that share the same hobby.

Low-Fidelity

My Friends

Calendar

Set Up Account

Welcome

Home

Search

My Hobbies

Profile/Settings

Chat

Create Event

Create

Club Screen

Chat with Friend

My Clubs

Lo-Fi Usability Testing

Our biggest usability issue was that students found the home page confusing. We focused on simplifying the layout since our goal was to create an intuitive and quick experience for busy students.

Before

After

High-Fidelity

Collaborating with my team on all screens, I focused mostly on account setup, friend profile, user profile, ISU Hip Hop (clubs), and chat screens. I created high-fidelity designs from wireframes, ensuring consistency in visuals, typography, and colors. I conducted usability and comparative testing, collaborating with the team to implement feedback and improve the user experience.

Prototype

My role: I worked with teammates to prototype our design, bringing everyone's ideas together to create a final product that matched our project goals.

Better Usability

After refining our designs based on usability testing in lo-fi observations and feedback, we had a SUS score of 74.5, which showed that users found the app usable and intuitive. This was considered 'good' overall user friendliness. Users found the home page to be straightforward and intuitive.

Typography

Figtree is a geometric sans serif font characterized by its clean, friendly appearance. Similar to Iowa State University, it balances a playful spirit with a professional tone.