Contents
- Overview & Problem
- Discovery & Research
- Ideation & Core Needs
- Prototyping
- User Testing
- Final Design
The problem.
Problem Statement
Students who live off campus and commute want to connect with others and make friends. Current digital solutions lack support for both event discovery and relationship building — leaving commuters without effective ways to socially participate.
Objectives
Create a platform enabling students to discover and attend events easily, and to build genuine social connections.
Research foundations.
Literature Review
- Students are most influenced by peers when choosing social activities
- More likely to attend events if invited by someone they know
- Prefer activities with people they are already familiar with
- Commuting time, distance, and social drain reduce engagement
- Existing web platforms felt ineffective for social discovery
Competitive Analysis
Examined Meetup, Thursday, UofT Student Organization Portal, and Eventbrite. Key gap: platforms are either too broad or too narrow, and none accommodate commuter schedules.
User Interviews
7 UofT commuter students interviewed remotely via voice calls.
Key Findings
- Preference for smaller groups with shared interests
- Difficulty forming meaningful relationships without structured context
- Academic prioritization consistently overrides socialization
- Commuting exhaustion creates a strong demotivation loop
Core user needs.
Relationship Building
Connect students with shared interests in a low-friction way.
Flexibility
Events convenient in both time and location to the user.
Consolidation
Cut through noise; help students make decisions quickly.
Social Proof
Peer validation increases likelihood of attendance.
Storyboard
Shortlisted Features
User Personas & Journey Maps
Two personas — extroverted and introverted — developed to empathize with diverse student needs.
Task Flow
Golden path: discovering and registering for an event.
Initial Sketches
Figma prototype.
Validation & iteration.
Method
8 participants tested the prototype completing event discovery and registration tasks.
Key Insights
- Misleading iconography caused navigation confusion
- Feed and Collections sections were unclear in purpose
- No confirmation feedback after registering for events
Iterations Made
- Updated navigation iconography
- Added post-registration confirmation screen
- Clarified screen labels and hierarchy
- Added suggested friends section
Art direction & final design.
Three style tiles were explored. The calming green palette of Tile 1 was chosen for its alignment with the app's community-focused tone.
Evolution of the Prototype
Final Screens
Core Features Shipped
Lessons & next steps.
My Contributions
- Led Figma prototyping end-to-end
- Conducted competitive analysis and 2 user interviews
- Facilitated and documented user testing sessions
- Designed final UI mockups and art direction
What I'd Do Differently
- Build onboarding personalization earlier in the process
- Add event attendee preview lists to leverage social proof
- Prioritize accessibility from the first wireframe
Challenges
- Time constraints limited scope of features
- Not all testers matched the target commuter profile
- Prototype fidelity limitations impacted some UX flows