My Neighborhood

Surveys were chosen as a primary method for this project due to their suitability in capturing a broad spectrum of data and insights from a diverse group of people.

Due to the fast nature of this method and the ability to reach out to a vast group of people, it was the most obvious choice. Within a span of 4 days, we collected responses from 43 participants. A summary of the findings is as follows:

95% of respondents are aged between 18 to 34.
88% of respondents lived outside of the US before coming to Seattle.
65% of them were in Seattle for less than 3 months.
45% of the people who move into Seattle suffer from social isolation.
37% of people’s plans were disrupted by bad weather
People often find it hard to meet other people with similar interests

The surveys were a good starting point To gain a better understanding of our users, our team interviewed five participants. 3 of them were students and 2 were working professionals.

We ended up discovering that while everyone had different stories or reasons to move here, and discovered that they all had similar issues.

Raw notes from all these interviews were captured and Miro was used to affitinize the data.

We collect all of the Lo-Fi prototype from each member, and combine our favorite feature and part in to our Lo-Fi Prototype on the white board.

Then, we put the Lo-Fi prototype into figma, and craft our Mid-Fi Prototype

In the usability test, three students were recruited to try out the app. We asked them to imagine they’re new comers in Seattle, and decide to give the app a try to complete the following tasks.
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1. Find someone named Dragonite, whom you met at an event, and connect with them.
2. Register for the Mr. Rainier Hiking trek event.
3. Plan a bar crawl for the upcoming Friday and share it with your community.
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All three participants successfully completed the tasks. However, there were some insights from the test. One participant found the “Find Friends” header confusing, thinking it implied they were already friends with those people. Another participant mistakenly went to the activity page to find friends.

‍To address these feedbacks, changes were made to the prototype. “Find Friends” was renamed as “Find People,” and the “Buy, Borrow” section was deprioritized and moved below the “Find People” section. The usability test helped identify areas for improvement, ensuring a more user-friendly experience.

After that, we created 30 pages in just 2 days! These pages cover the home page, community, activities, and finding people.

Here’s our solution to tackle the issues newcomers face:
‍Connect with Similar Interests: We help newcomers find others who share their interests.
‍Weather-Based Event Planning: We assist newcomers in planning events considering the weather.
‍“Cheer” for Real Connections: We encourage newcomers to physically “cheer” each time they meet, boosting their friendship.

Our goal is to go beyond just online connections, addressing the loneliness newcomers often feel in Seattle through real-life interactions.

During our final class, when we presented a video demonstration and shared our storyboard, we got a lot of feedback from our classmates.

I love the concept of using a phone to share cheers with others.
The video is soooo funny.
I’m fond of the idea of using music to separate between different scenes.