OurStory

PROJECT OVERVIEW

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The Brief

Context: University assignment, 2 design students.

Theme: ‘Neighbourhood Connections’ 🏡

Objective: Facilitate deeper connections among neighbors in the local community.

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My Interpretation

Research Question: 🔍 "How can we facilitate residents living door-to-door in student accommodations to build new friendships?"

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What Happened

My main roles: Sole User Researcher & UX Designer 

Methods Used: Questionnaires, Interviews, Observational Study, Affinity Diagramming, Infographic, User Profiles, Persona, Sketching, Storyboarding, Wireframe, Prototype, Usability Testing, Mockups, Video Presentation.

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Stage 1: Empathise 

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Data Collection

Guided by design thinking, we strategically employed method triangulation – an amalgamation of questionnaires, interviews, and observational studies.

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📝 How did I get the data?

-> 77 Online Questionnaire Surveys 📝

-> 3 In-depth f2f Interviews 🗨️

-> 24 hours of observational field notes 👁️

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🗃️ How did I make sense all of it?

→ Statistical Analysis

→ Affinity Diagramming

→ Affinity Diagramming

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🔍 What did I find?

→ User Context 🖼️

→ User Beliefs 💭

→ User Behaviours 🚶🏻‍♂️

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This approach delivered a robust understanding of user behaviours, preferences, and environmental interactions. It also tested and confirmed my theories behind the common user experiences I observed.

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Affinity Diagramming

I  used affinity diagramming and infographic visualisation to clearly understand who our users were and what beliefs they had about making friends at student accommodations.​​​​​​​

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Key Findings from User research:

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1. Unique Barriers Exist

📉 Surveys showed that 43% of our respondents had generally less positive experiences in student accommodations.

-> Only 13% knew someone before moving in to their building.

->  58% are international students

->  95% report at least one barrier to making friends: nervousness, being too busy, introversion, and cultural or language differences.

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2. Budding friendships 🌱 form through shared experiences 👥 in shared spaces 🏘️

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What shared spaces?

->  92% shared a lobby or elevator.

->  75% shared a kitchen or living room.

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What shared experiences?

->  Only 10% interact with a community board.

->  Most meet neighbours by introducing oneself (47%), small talk (50%) or attending gatherings and events (65%).

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3. Convenience is key 🔑

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Students are busy!  -> 28% have a part-time job on top of full-time study 📚

Time is limited! ⌛  -> Most residents move out after 1-4 years.

Encouraging low-cost interactions is essential. -> Many resident make friends through first introductions and small talk 💬, 

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Our main takeaway

-> Our product design should aim to break down barriers to friendship and facilitate fun, convenient, low-cost interactions among residents.

This is especially important in shared spaces.

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Stage 2: Define

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Identified User Needs 

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‘Meeting new people can be awkward.'  

→ make it natural  (gently facilitate and nudge interaction, don’t force it)

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‘Small talk is boring.’ 

—> make it fun  (share experiences and spaces in fun way)

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‘I’ll talk when its convenient’

→ make it convenient  (make it quick and easy to talk with others)

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User Persona

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Stage 3: Ideate

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Design Precedents

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Comparative analysis of features from existing platforms influenced the ideation process.

We drew inspiration from other community apps like:

TalkCampus: a mental help forum app that connect university students around the world.

Next door: an app designed for local communities talk to each other that requires addresses and names to post.

Facebook: where we look at certain features that would be familiar to everyone who uses social media.

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Sketching

Sketching was crucial for sharing our ideas with all members. It allowed us to visualize our application's full functions and concepts.

Sketching allows us to choose the best ideas and build on them collaboratively at a low cost and in less time. The process, known as 'back talk', is tangible and documentable. This method enables us to gather informal user feedback without incurring high implementation costs.

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Storyboarding 

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We utilized the method of storyboarding in various aspects of our design process, including storytelling, film directing, and both hand-drawn and digital illustrations.

We used this tool to visually explore a user's interaction with the product and anticipate the user experience through these drawings.

Our goal was to identify a method that would allow young students living alone for the first time to receive local support from their neighbours and alleviate any tension caused by cultural and conversational pressures.

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Stage 4: Test & Iterate

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Wireframing

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Paper prototypes

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Usability testing

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Stage 5: Deliver final Prototypes

Our final product is a social media app tailored for student accommodations, designed using design thinking principles. "OURSTORY" displays the power of UX/UI design and innovation, blending digital interactions with real-life connections through our technical expertise and iterative refinement. It represents the synergy of creativity, user-centricity, and meaningful human connections in the digital era. View the final prototypes below!

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