Background
Unify is a networking app for people living abroad. People sharing same culture, background and moved to a new country can share their experience and give recommendations to those who are unaware of certain things. It allows users to find and connect with people based on the language the speak, country, location, and interest.
Role
End-to-End UX UI Designer
Timeline
5 Weeks
Tools
Figma, Whimsical
Adobe Illustrator
Platform
iOS Mobile App
Problem
Solution
Moving and settling to a new country can be quite challenging. There are many difficulties an individual goes through in a completely new country. Not many resources are available to bring communities and people together. Not every information is available on the internet but it can be made known by getting in touch with people who has gone through it.
An end-to-end app allowing new comers to get connected with individuals in a foreign land.
A look at the competitors
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Research was done using two methods, Competetive analysis and user interviews, each having separate goals and objectives.I studied about the current existing apps in the market specifically made for immigrants. Based on market research, not many platforms are available to help people in foreign land and bring this community together. Even if available, they are not that popular because of certain drawbacks and its weaknesses. There was a lot of opportunity to build those bridges by taking user centered approach.
Empathizing with users
I wanted to find out the overall experience of an individual moving and settling down to a new country. Knowing all of their difficulties and how did they overcome it helped me clarify what functionality I needed to have in the app.
Target Audience
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People who have experienced living abroad or settled in a foreign country. I interviewed five participants between the gae group of 20-35 years living in US and Canada.
"I miss my people and talking in my native language"
"Its frustrating to look around for specific information"
"I wish I had at least one person whom I can ask anything without hesitation"
User Needs
Easy way to find people sharing same background in foreign land.
Meet and get connected with new individuals to avoid loneliness
A place where they can get all information needed by asking the community.
Country and language specific information.
How might we ease the challenges of people landing in a new country who want to know about the place and people’s experiences and feel connected?
Meet Camila and
Min-ho
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With all the information I gathered out of user interviews, I decided to create two different personas which helped me create an app which will fulfill the needs of majority of group of people.
Although the end goal is similar for the personas but both have different perspective which will help me solving the problem considering the larger group of people in a much better way.
Getting to know personas better
After creating the persona, I went ahead and did future state user journey mapping of my personas . Based on the assumptions and the insights I got from user interviews I was able to understand the emotional state of users and visualised the best case scenario completing the task.
Both personas had different goals and it was important to understand them deeply from research to the last step of the task.
I was able to find the opportunities by knowing how my personas with keep using the app and will be delighted by the whole experience.
A walk through Min-ho's behavioural patterns.
A walk through Camila's behavioural patterns.
A walk through Min-ho's behavioural patterns.
Time to organize
At this point I needed to narrow down the scope to what was essential for the launch of an app. I focused on common needs and painpoints users mentioned and with the help of user journey map I was able to understand what pages I’ll need to have.
With all the gathered information, I had answers to what funtionality I’ll need to fulfill user needs. I focused on what basic features users woud likely use and created an app site map.
User Flows
Before moving to design part, I wanted to know different paths personas would take to complete the following task and it also helped me to know which pages I needed to design first.
• Camila wants to connect with people from her country.
• Min-ho is looking for a group/community where he can ask question
Mid - Fi Wireframes
I focused on designing for four major flows any individual would likely do. Most important was getting into the app. For that purpose, it was important to let users know about the app and created onbarding splash screens and the steps to get started with the app. Other flows involve forums and nearby pages.
Logo Design and UI Kit
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For the UI design, I wanted to have modern, fun and helpful branding which I further used in my Final designs.
HI-FI Designs &
Prototype
I created the final designs out of all research, ideation and ui design elements. I Prototyped screens needed to do usability test and check the success rate of the design
Usability Test
To understand how easily user navigates and understands the different sections of the page I did usability test with five participants by giving them the folowing task,
• Creating an account and follow the steps
• Post a question in the forums
• Look for people around and add them
• Look for people by search option
Usability Test Results
I created affinity map to find out the success rate and what changes I’ll need to make based on priority.
Sucess
• All users were able to complete the given task.
• All users liked the colors and design of the app.
• Major flows can be done easily
• Straightforward and intuitive.
Painpoints
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• Confusion understanding the funtionality of add a post icon.
• Home and Forum in near me page looks unusual.
• For selecting interest need to go all the way down.
• Selecting people to connect might be igonored at first.
Revisions
Users had confusion understanding navigation bar and the post icon. To make it more simpler, I decided to place navigation bar in the bottom and the name of section they are in on the top so that users know where they are.
Navigation Bar
Going all the way down to add their topic of interest was a pain, so I decided to have sticked to the page and so that user knows they have the option to add more right when they are on the page.
Add Interests
Users would like to see more information about people before adding them. In order to solve that problem, I added more information about the profile and users are able to see their profile before adding them.
Profile View
Selection
Some users mentioned that they might avoid this section. Importance of that section does not align with the design as it need to be more prominent. I highlighted those selection area to make it stand out.
Final Thoughts
Overall I am satisfied with the final outcome. If there’s anything I would do differently would be testing early with wireframes which will eliminate errors in the final design and will save a lot of time.
Due to time constraints, I was only able to interview five particpants, however I would like to know views of some more particpants. These project had a lot of scope and I got many suggestions while interviewing people, which I would like to consider moving further.
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