Connect

Connect via Connect

Team

Abheek Chakrabarti — Co-founder and production manager

Bella Rivera — Co-founder and head of marketing

Edan Sneh — Co-founder and creativity director

Nick Marzetti — Co-founder and lead designer

Problem Overview

We were able to conduct research both through interviews and surveys. Some concerns that were expressed through our research included the need to verify accounts, to balance responsibilities, and to prioritize their children. Furthermore, current dating and social platforms are geared towards a younger generation and fail to address the needs of a more general audience. Many users struggle to naturally connect with others on these platforms because they do not facilitate building connections based on mutual interests. These platforms also hardly address users’ scheduling concerns.

Solution

Today, many users are tethered by commitments which are a barrier to stress-free socialization. By using Connect, our users can address key issues like finding childcare and creating a work-life balance through our calendar scheduling interface. Connect is designed to be accessible and intuitive so the user can spend less time learning and more time connecting.

Paper Prototype, Testing Process, and Results

We tested the paper prototype on friends and family (mainly middle-aged individuals as that was our target demographic). We also tested it in the comfort of the user’s home because that is likely the environment in which users will be engaging with our app. One of our most salient results was confirmation. Many people who we tested with (even when we did testing with fellow students) made comments about feeling unsure about whether or not they completed the main tasks (i.e. booking a babysitter, adding an event to your calendar, etc.). Thus, we decided to include confirmation pages after the successful completion of tasks within our app. In addition, after the confirmation, we would take them back to the home page to really drive home the point that they are done and can now start over with a new task if desired. Another result found was issues with visibility. In the prototype, the design was mostly icon and color-based. This led users to be confused sometimes on what these things actually meant. Thus, we were led to include words for assistance. In the calendar, we added a key that told the user which colors were associated with which kinds of commitments, and we added words beneath the icons in the navigation bar to clarify which pages they were associated with.

Digital Mockup

Task 1: Meeting an individual and/or group of people in a non-traditional setting (based on shared interests)

These frames demonstrate the app’s ability to help people meet others in unique settings that share their interests. The top frames walk through the ability to search for events to attend and add them to your calendar based on categorical interests. This relates to Task 1 because it allows users to meet in settings that are unique to their interests, as opposed to the traditional bar mingling or restaurant date. When they choose an event to attend, they will not only get to enjoy fun activities that suit their interests, but they will get to interact with people (some hopefully users of our application as well) that share that interest.

The bottom frames demonstrate the feature of the app that recommends users to connect with based on mutual interests and hobbies. This also relates to Task 1 because the app facilitates direct connection between people who share things in common. In the last frame, you can see that, once connected with someone, there is an option to chat with them. This feature creates opportunities for users to plan their own dates or bond over the conversation starters that they now have due to their mutual interests.

Task 2: Scheduling/availability for those who are parents

These frames outline what the user will see as they are trying to accomplish our second task of scheduling a babysitter. This feature is targeted towards our users who are also parents and need to find a person to take care of their kids while they are out socializing. The first frame looks at the possible options for a babysitter based on the dates you are looking for. The results are arranged based on ratings (highest at top). The tags for each babysitter give information about what kind of child the babysitter is available for (depending on things like age or gender). Then, the user has the option to click on a babysitter and view more information on them. The frames above provide more information on the highest-rated babysitter, Jose.

After reading a description and reviews of the babysitter, the user can book the babysitter with the button at the bottom of the second frame. From here, the user will be directed to the third frame where they can send him a message or call him (the fourth frame simply shows how the keyboard looks when sending a message). Finally, the user will be directed to the final frame which is the confirmation page. At this point, the task is complete.

The calendar interface (third frame) prioritizes the scheduling aspect. It makes it easier for people with busy schedules (especially those who not only need to balance their own schedule, but also that of their children), to plan events, dates, etc.

Decisions/Changes:

• Adding confirmation for completing tasks
• We decided to add this feature as a way to confirm the completion of our primary tasks/features. Another method of confirmation is when the user is taken back to the main calendar screen which is the landing page.
• Removing scheduling feature from connections page
• We decided to remove this feature because it seemed awkward to have an explicit button for scheduling a date/meetup. We determined that it is more natural for meetups to be planned via messaging instead of through the main calendar. This was also beneficial from a design standpoint because it made the frame a lot more minimalistic.
• Adding labels to the navigation bar
• This was just for more clarity for the users. Completing tasks could be made more difficult simply by not knowing which page to go to. In addition, maybe some of metaphors used in the icons are not universally understood, especially to an older generation of adults, which is likely going to be a large portion of our target demographic, so we thought it would just make the application overall clearer and more user-friendly to add labels to accompany the icons.
• Only having the option to book a babysitter after adding the event to the calendar
• This change was made so it is clear what the expected sequence of events should be to complete a task (ie. scheduling event before booking a babysitter). Now, the user simply needs to decide whether to attend an event and add it to their calendar if this is the case. Subsequently, a confirmation screen will appear with the option to book a babysitter. This way, there is a clearer flow and less confusion for the users. It also ensures more error prevention because the tasks are being carried out in the order that is intended by us, the designers, and the application handles that order of events correctly.

https://www.figma.com/file/yBsIyL6anClkrdJCDVbQZk/Connections-Mockup

Summary:

After we conducted our user research through surveys and interviews, we were able to identify a need for a social app which prioritizes real-world connections over creating a platform that urges its users to interact in an artificialized environment. Furthermore, a significant number of our interviewees and survey respondents wanted the app to address common issues like maintaining a work-life balance and being able to socialize stress-free by finding a reliable caretaker for their children. In response to these needs, we designed Connect, a mobile app that is centered around a calendar scheduling interface. Connect is event-driven and parent-accessible as it encourages face-to-face social interactions based on mutual interests. The application also has a built-in babysitter feature for users to book verified care-takers for their children. We hope our app will provide a refreshed social experience and help people make natural connections in a new social environment. Most importantly, we want to incentivize our users to spend time away from the app, not on it.