Intersection
Intersection is a mobile application that encourages new college students to find groups by matching interests and taking various incentives.
Scope
Problem framing
Concept Development
Validation
User testing
Implementation (iOS)
Client
Grouphub Technology
Duration
2020. 10 - 2021.11
My Role
UX/UI design
Design strategy
User research
Design handoff
Branding design
WHAT'S THE CONTEXT?
Intersection is an early-stage startup based in Boston, MA. The founder aims to create an online community that encourages new college students to find groups and share life with friends. The team was small, and we worked in an agile manner by continually updating our concepts from user feedback.
THE CHALLENGE
The challenge was to redesign the brand image and user experience flow and improve user engagement on an existing mobile application. It has:
+ Increased the conversion rate and generate business plans.
+ Improved user engagement and retention rate.
+ Connected like-minded college students with one another.
+ Created a sharing system between communities.
+ Created community bonds in local activities.
WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?
New college students do not know how to find a suitable group or buddies with similar interests.
Finding the right group with lots of like-minded partners is not easy and new students struggle with it.
Finding the right group with lots of like-minded partners is not easy and new students struggle with it.
Lacking interaction between the group members and it is sometimes difficult to find another topics to continue chatting.
Life sharing is a good way to build a tight-knit community and most students are more than happy to share their tips and experience with those who are just beginners.
Life sharing is a good way to build a tight-knit community and most students are more than happy to share their tips and experience with those who are just beginners.
OUTCOME
DESIGN APPROACH
PERSONA
By conducting guerrilla research, we interviewed 12 people and identified four types of college students who could be our target users.
KEY FINDING
POV (Job to be done) FRAMING
POV 1 - Elira, a sophomore at Boston University, has never cooked for herself in the dorm and started learning how to cook three months ago. She needed to motivate herself to make her own dinner every day. She joined an Intersection group because the desire to share and the social connection are powerful incentives to keep her cooking. She now uploads photos or videos of her dinners every day and shares her newly learned recipes with the group members.
POV 2 - Ike, a recent graduate of Queens College got a good job offer. He needed to connect with local college students who have job search needs and share his tips and knowledge with them. He created one Intersection group because he is passionate about coaching others and it gives him a sense of fulfillment. Now he mentors some sophomores and juniors for one hour every day.
POV 3 - Selen, a freshman at New York University, started cosplaying in high school in Virginia. She needs to stay in shape and get the latest ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, and Novel) information. She joined an Intersection cosplay group where she could share her outcome with other local cosplayers, and she built up a lot of confidence by receiving compliments from others. She now attends a local ACGN event twice a week.
POV 4 - Luca, a junior at Boston College, has been playing guitar for three years. He needs to connect with local like-minded people with whom he can discuss and share his knowledge. He created the intersection voice chat because he likes the sense of achievement of seeing someone start learning guitar because of his playing or the discussions in the group. Now he has a mini 40-minute concert in voice groups every week.
USER INSIGHTS
User Needs
+ To have a long-term strategy and incentive to share and chat.
+ To join a supportive interest-based community and share knowledge.
+ To create social bonds and companionship in sharing and chatting.
+ To be able to share user’s interests experiences.
+ To join a supportive interest-based community and share knowledge.
+ To create social bonds and companionship in sharing and chatting.
+ To be able to share user’s interests experiences.
User Goals
+ To share life with like-minded college students.
+ To connect with experienced people who can share their experience and knowledge with others.
+ To explore local activities and events.
+ To stay active and make new friends.
+ To connect with experienced people who can share their experience and knowledge with others.
+ To explore local activities and events.
+ To stay active and make new friends.
OPPORTUNITY
How might we create a sustainable online communication community with engaging strategies that can help connect like-minded college students?
THE SOLUTION
Design System
UX FLOW-MOBILE APP
UX BENCHMARKING
Measure success by using the Google Heart Framework.
FINAL THOUGHTS & TAKEAWAYS
Working for a startup has been a great experience for me. I really enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and seeing how our services impact people's lives. It was very interesting to test what kind of incentives would work for them and how local college students interacted with each other with the recommendation system. One of the features of our service features that set it apart from others is that it has many types of groups to promote easier networking for college students. This ensures that all the users can find or create their own affiliations, and also facilitates knowledge and experience sharing.
Although Intersection has grown a certain number of users during this period, it is still very challenging to scale up a sustainable business model in such a short period of time. It seems that local business owners need to see the profits that we can bring to them immediately.
TEAM
1 UI/UX Designer
1 Design Director
2 Engineers
1 Marketing
2 Business Analysis
