ScoutSocial
Connecting with new friends
The Application
ScoutSocial is a mobile application designed to foster community building. It enables users to discover new events, activities, and friendships, helping them make the most of their city.
Solo Project: UX/UI Designer
Business Goals: Increase the conversion of accepted invites to event attendees.
Design Path
Competive Research
Personas & Empathy Mapping
UI Design
Final Design
Interviews
Sketching
High Fidelity
Prototyping
Competitive Research
I analyzed three competitors—Eventbrite, Facebook, and Meetup—to identify strengths and weaknesses in their applications.
Likes 👍
-
Clear registration process: The path to register for an event is straightforward, with a consistently visible call-to-action.
-
Recurring event management: Displays recurring event dates and allows registration for multiple dates.
-
Event details: Includes a map and direct link to the host or venue.
-
Effective use of white space: Screens are well-designed, avoiding a cluttered or overwhelming appearance.
-
Sharing and calendar integration: Provides options for sharing the event and adding it to a personal calendar.
Dislikes 👎
-
Lacks attendee information: Does not display the number of people attending or other attendees.
-
No reviews available: Does not link to reviews or ratings for event descriptions.
-
Focus on free events: Highlights only free events, potentially overlooking other options.
-
Map limitations: The map includes venues that are not currently hosting events.
Action 👌
-
Social integration: Encourage users to connect with Facebook or other social apps to view friends attending events.
-
Interactive map: Implement an interactive map feature to help users locate nearby events.
-
Relevant venue listings: Exclude unrelated hotels and restaurants from the event map.
-
“Sold Out” tags: Add “Sold Out” indicators to main event photos to clearly communicate availability.
-
Event sorting: Enable sorting by relevant tags and dates to improve event discovery.
Interview Findings
Interviews
Next, it was time to start speaking with actual users. I sent out an online survey and contacted six of the participants for interviews.
"Personal recommendations over promotions"
"Facebook is necessary, but to chaotic and cluttered"
"I wish all event promotions showed you exactly where they are up front"
Once I organized the data a few things became clear:
3) Allowing people to see what friends/how many are attending creates more interest and connection.
1) Word of mouth goes a long way. People valued their friends' suggestions over all other outlets.
4) Including an interactive map is helpful, especially for tourists that are new to an area.
5) Having a mix of professional events and meetup style events gives users more options and freedom to create their own activity.
Empathy Map
I developed empathy maps for three distinct personas to better understand potential users' experiences. By outlining their unique perspectives, I created more detailed personas, which informed a more targeted and effective design approach.
Personas
.png)
.png)
Social Sara enjoys meeting new people, is interested in local activities, and wants to explore her new surroundings. Mark is busy with work and seeks to find a few friends to share activities with during his free time. The challenge is to create a solution that addresses both of their needs by facilitating the discovery of interesting events and opportunities to make new connections.
MVP Statement
This application will allow users to find events by date, location, and interest filters to better connect them to their new community. ScoutSocial will feature different styles of events from casual meetups to performance-based shows. To increase the conversion of clicked attendees to actual attendees users will be given the option of being paired with another user who is attending the same event.
Main User Flows
1. User wants to login and edit their profile
.png)
2. User wants to find an event using the filter selection and save the venue information.
3. User wants to find an event by location and wants to match with a buddy to attend.
Sketches
UI Decisions
UI Elements
Color Palette
Font
UI Decisions
I selected two bright primary and secondary colors to complement the abundant white space on the screens. This approach ensures that small pops of color effectively draw attention to key call-to-actions (CTAs) without overwhelming the user.
High Fidelity Screens
Popular events nearest to the user are highlighted on the homepage. Users can view the number of attendees for each event and have the option to message them to connect before the event.
After registering for an event, users are prompted with the option to connect with a new buddy who is also attending. This feature encourages users to start a dialogue and build connections before the event takes place.
The map enables users to explore their surroundings freely. By selecting a location, they can view key details about an event. If they find an event of interest, tapping it will take them to the reservation page.
Usability Testing
Two rounds of usability testing were conducted for this product. The first round utilized a paper prototype, and the second round involved a digital prototype. Test participants were assigned various essential tasks within the application, asked to verbalize their thought process, and their actions were observed and timed. This approach provided valuable insights into the application's strengths and weaknesses.
Example Major Issue:
Users were hesitant to sign up due to the term "location tracking" found in the description.
Summary
The initial wording on the location permission page led to confusion among users regarding whether the application would track their location when not using ScoutSocial. Additionally, the "select alternate city" option was unclear to some users, raising concerns about whether location services would be automatically activated.
Recommendations
To ensure users had full confidence in the application, the wording was revised for clarity, and a more explicit option was provided for selecting an alternate city for those who wished to opt out of location services.
