Project Details
PROJECT TYPE
UX Design / Mobile Design
TIMELINE
2024
Preview
01 Initial Problem Discovery
Problems
On a peaceful afternoon, have you ever tried planning a weekend hangout with friends in a group chat, and everyone wanted to meet at different times and go to different places, leaving you confused?
It's difficult to…
02 Research
Competitive Analysis
While many apps address specific aspects of group planning, none offer a comprehensive solution like Spot.
User Survey
The responses reveal a demand for a feature that can identify the best date, time, and location, as well as automatically make reservations. The preference for sharing opinions anonymously suggests that people may be reluctant to share their views openly to avoid dissent.
User Interview
To gain a better understanding of customers, I interviewed individuals from various professions.
User Persona
#1 Julia Chavez (Proactive Host)
BEHAVIOR
Prefers planning ahead to avoid last-minute chaos
Frequently searches for new venues
Acts as the group’s decision-maker
OVERVIEW
NAME: Julia Chavez
AGE: 36
LOCATION: New York, NY
OCCUPATION: Marketing Director
QUOTE: "If I’m doing the planning, the least you can do is vote!"
PAIN POINTS
Frustrated when friends don’t participate in planning
Struggles with finding a central location
Faces challenges reaching a consensus on activities
NEEDS & GOALS
An easy way to find a central meeting point
A tool that encourages more active participation
An efficient way to narrow down activity options
#2 Peter Wilson (Introverted Participant)
ABOUT
Peter loves spending time with friends but feels uncomfortable sharing his opinions during group planning, often staying silent in group chats. His friends sometimes misinterpret his silence as indifference.
BEHAVIOR
Reluctant to share opinions in group chats
Often waits to see what others suggest
Prefers passive participation, like voting in polls or surveys
PAIN POINTS
Dislikes the social pressure of having to "speak up"
Too shy to suggest activities in group chats
Reading through multiple back-and-forth messages feels overwhelming.
“How Might We” Questions
Literature Review
Insights from 7 Strategies for Better Group Decision-Making by Harvard Business Review underscore the value of Spot’s anonymous voting feature.
Problems & Solutions
These are the solutions I plan to incorporate into Spot to address the problems effectively.
Business Strategies
Spot has 2 types of users: hosts and attendees. Hosts create events and invite attendees to vote on where and when to meet, as well as what activities to do.
Only hosts are required to pay. They receive a 7-day free trial, after which they must pay $7.99 per month to create events.
Attendees can vote for free. Charging them would significantly reduce participation, making event creation pointless for hosts. Instead, attendees are seen as potential future hosts who may later pay to create their own events.
Information Architecture
03 Branding
UI Kit
04 High-Fidelity Wireframes
Creates an Event (Host)
The host creates an event by inviting friends, entering the event's name and description, and selecting availability.
1st Round of the Voting Game (Attendee)
The attendees receive a notification prompting them to vote on Chill Day. They can vote on the date and time.
2nd Round of the Voting Game (Attendee)
The attendees vote on the cities they want to meet in and the types of activities.
3rd Round of the Voting Game (Attendee)
Attendees vote on the specific restaurant they want to go to.
View Event Details
Once all the voting game rounds are complete, Spot automatically makes reservations and displays the details.
05 Ideation
User Testing
I updated the wireframes based on these user testing results:
1) 56% of the participants found that tapping “View Results” and switching between separate screens for each question’s poll results was quite cumbersome.
2) 49% of the participants said that the “I don’t want to attend this event” button made them feel less inclined to attend the event.
3) 63% of the participants mentioned that manually entering their location for every voting game was tedious.
06 Prototypes
Key Features
Create an Event
The host creates an event.
The attendees can vote on the date and time.
2nd Round
The attendees vote on the location and activities.
3rd Round
The attendees vote on specific places.
Event Details
Spot automatically makes reservations and displays the details.
Conclusion
Designing Spot taught me how to transform real-world pain points into meaningful solutions by integrating AI into the app. By incorporating AI into the app, I learned how technology can simplify complex processes, such as analyzing locations, preferences, and availability to suggest the perfect geographically centric spot and activities for users.
