WHIRL
THE PROBLEM
In today’s landscape of social media, dating apps, and cultural pressures, it can be challenging to find the time to meet authentic people that turn into genuine friends. Why can’t it be like when we were kids, when we could walk up to someone, ask if they would be our friend, and boom, we’re playing on the playground?
CLIENT
UX Bootcamp Project
ROLE
Project Management, Research, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, Presenting
DURATION
2 weeks
THE SOLUTION
Whirl takes the uncertainty of those awkward first meetings and provides a low stakes, fun way to virtually meet people before you hang out.
TOOLS
Adobe CC, Miro, Google Suite
THE IMPACT
Users can meet others in a safe environment, building trust from first contact, that leads to lasting friendships.
PROCESS
RESEARCH
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Our team started with a competitor analysis to see the strengths and weaknesses of apps similar to ours
STRENGTHS
Profile is as customizable as you want it to be
Specific to finding friends in your area
Time limit on messaging matches has user continue to come back to the app
STRENGTHS
Established, large following
User Driven model
Choose to join groups based on interests
OPPORTUNITIES
Support a user in making first contact in a 1-on-1 or group environment
Ease pressure for users to find their best friend/ be perfect
OPPORTUNITIES
Support user in making the first move
Mitigate risk in meeting people face to face for the first time
USER INTERVIEWS
We discovered that it is not only difficult for adults to make connections and form friendships, but that it is exceedingly more difficult to do this online, in a safe and meaningful way.
-User Interview 1
“It’s a matter of trust . . . to know that somebody else wants to include me in their life . . . that’s a huge step into saying “okay, I’m your friend.”
Our survey showed that though most people do not use digital platforms to begin a friendship, they do use them to maintain friendships.
USER PERSONA
Using our research, we created a user persona to summarize the main pain points and desires of the users we researched. This persona will be used to determine how we design the app.
DEFINITION/IDEATION
People looking for companionship need a trustworthy way of meeting real people online, because it is hard to make sure that an online connection will grow into an in-person friendship.
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
After researching and defining the problem, we used our findings to determine the main features the app should include. We brainstormed a list of ideas, then narrowed them down into categories, and plotted these categories on a Moscow Matrix.
We determined that the three main features of Whirl should be:
1. Personalized user profile
2. Whirlpools (chat sessions)
3. Find/attend activities with whirlpool
PROTOTYPING
PAPER PROTOTYPE
After determining the app’s features, we took pen and paper to create our first sketches of what we thought the screens should look like. These helped inform the digital design of the app.
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
We then developed our paper prototype into digital wireframes and created a low fidelity prototype including all 3 features we determined were most important for the app to have.
TESTING
The main features we tested:
Create an account and profile
Jump into a “whirlpool”
Select/send an event to your whirlpool
All users had a 100% success rate with completing tasks
We found that the user’s biggest pain points were:
Clarity of UX copy- didn’t have enough information
Confusion about interactions/buttons
Information for user to fill out felt overwhelming
ITERATING
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
Based on the feedback we received from the user tests, we decided to…
Allow users to choose between group or one-on-one whirlpool
Name buttons
Add back buttons
Skip button for open-ended questions on profile set-up
Clarify UX copy
FINAL THOUGHTS
The goal for WHIRL is to be a guide for those seeking new friends.
Making a promise of friendship out of a digital environment is unrealistic as there’s only so much an app can do.
What we can do is encourage proper meetings that allow for trust - create a fun way to begin talking about what a pair or group will do together for the first time - and finally provide them the tools to make time for one another through activities which can solidify a new friendship.
Moving Forward:
Users add their own events
Filter/rank activities
View events on a map
Heightened security features
