Gatherly
2023
Overview
Gatherly is an event and networking app for introvert international students, fostering connections, shared experiences, and emotional support to enhance mental resilience and overcome introversion.
My Role
Scope
The Problem
International students often face loneliness and isolation while studying abroad, there is a need of an application that can help students connect with each other, build supportive relationships even with their busy schedules and academic workload.
How we started?
To ensure an unbiased approach towards the challenges faced by international students, we initiated our design process by extensively researching the emotions associated with studying abroad. This involved conducting both primary and secondary research, which included studying articles, research papers, and essays to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.
In order to gather valuable insights into the firsthand experiences of international students, we conducted qualitative user research, consisting of 15 interviews. The main objective of these interviews was to obtain detailed information about the specific pain points, frustrations, and issues encountered by international students while studying abroad.
Interview Insights
Loneliness: International students often grapple with loneliness as they navigate life in a new country, away from their familiar support systems.
Cultural Shock: The abrupt exposure to a new culture can be jarring, leading to feelings of disorientation and confusion among international students.
Stress from Lack of Connections: The absence of strong social connections in the new environment adds to the stress experienced by international students, making it challenging to adapt and thrive.
User Persona
Empathy Map
How Might We
Ideation & Brainstorming
While brainstorming through ideas, our main focus was to create an app which helps international students to socialize and network, along with managing their time schedule
What do we offer?
Information Architecture
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
Insights from Usability testing - Round 1
Participants: 3 international students
Prototype used: Medium Fidelity
They liked the idea of find a buddy feature.
There were issues in user flow when we asked them to select a date and edit event in calendar.
An option to add a new event to the calendar was needed on the home page rather than inside the calendar feature.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Insights from Usability testing - Round 2
Participants: 2 international students
Prototype used: High Fidelity
They were able to edit calendar dates and add new events to their personal calendar.
They liked the flow of the app and felt it would be a good platform to connect with like minded people.
Prototype
Reflection
Engaging in my first end-to-end UX design project provided me with a comprehensive immersion in various facets of the design process, including research, testing, iteration, and a deep understanding of user experience principles. Upon project culmination, I recognized that there remained considerable room for further refinement to tailor the project to the specific needs of the target audience.
What worked well: Talking to recent international students was extremely insightful. Conducting usability tests early and often was helpful.
What didn't work: For round 2 of usability tests, we should have started well in advance as everyone had busy schedules. Focusing an one critical MVP feature would have been a better options rather than including 3 features.
What's Next?: Design is never finished, so my next steps would be - Conducting more usability tests on users within the target market and design interfaces for profile and search page