Circles is an exclusive social media platform connecting like-mind students through activities and group chats.
Role
Solo Product Designer
Timeline
Nov 2023 – Dec 2024 (2 month)
Idea Synthesis
In a casual call with my high school friends, who now attend different colleges, I observed a common thread of feeling disconnected to school.
This sparked my curiosity about the challenges for making social connections at college settings.
Stakeholder Research
How do students connect to each other?
To understand the challenges for making social connections, I interviewed 10 college students from different years, majors, colleges and countries.
9/10 students identified common interest is as the most significant factors to form close friendships at school, beside academic discussion.
Making connections beyond the classroom without academic purpose is challenging. This highlights the need for more diverse social activities.
Interviewees expressed frustration with ineffective communication channels for school activities, leading to missed opportunities to participate.
How do colleges connect students?
To understand the situation and challenge of colleges promoting and facilitating meaningful social connections among students, I conducted interviews with a former worker in the SVA student engagement department.
Low activities participation rates
Despite efforts to offer a variety of campus activities, many students are unaware of these opportunities, leading to low participation rates and weak social connection outside of classroom.
Ineffective activities promotion
Promoting activities solely through campus / department / class-wide announcements, leads to low engagement from the intended audience.
Market Research
Currently, the official college channels are lack of customization and do not encourage active engagement.
Both stakeholders highlight an inefficient communication channel, therefore started to investigate on that.
Newsletter
School Newsletter provides updates, announcements, and highlights events within the school community.
Pros
Official channel
Directly inform every students
Cons
Get buried in the mail box
Cannot fit every events
Official Website
The event page of the school's official website contains details about upcoming school events.
Pros
Contain every official events
Allow filter and search
Cons
One-way communication
Hidden entry point
Discord channel
The school Discord channel allows students to share resources and engage in real-time.
Pros
Allow real-time engagement
Variety of communication styles
Cons
Overwhelming channels
Low visibility with weird username
Other than the school official channels, I also research on how schools use other tools to promote and organise events and how other communities get connected.
Currently, the official college channels are lack of customization and do not encourage active engagement.
Meetup
Event & interest-based social platforms
Partiful
Private event invite platform
Eventbrite
Event management & ticketing
General social network
Product Goal
Create a space where students can easily find and participate in social opportunities that align with their interest around campus, enhancing their college social experience.
Design Ideation
Crafting the ideal activities card
Activities cards underwent numerous iterations to ensure it effectively conveys key details about each activity at a glance, enabling users to quickly identify their interests.
Before
Pros
Showcase more information
Cons
Overwhelmed by information
Low differentiation between activities and circles card
After
Pros
Consistent and clear visual emphasis on key information
Clear differentiations between activities and circles
Cons
Show less activities above fold
Final Design
Onboarding
Safe to use
Require school email for signing up to ensure authenticity of a school community.
Learn about you
Understand student’s interest for tailored recommendations.
Discover activities
Tailored recommendations
Students can find activities that fit their interest easily.
College promotion
Colleges can easily promote their events to their target audience
Discover circles
Tailored recommendations
With an accessible search and filter system, students can find their community easily.
Activity recommendations
Students are encouraged to participate with peers in their circle
Create activities
Student initiative
Students can initiate activities aligned with their interests, fostering offline connections.
Easy host
It is more accessible to host an event with like-mind individuals at school.
Impact
91% of users expressed that Circles would help them become more engaged in social scenes at college.
Colleges don’t have to build their own app / website / newsletter to promote their events.
Easier to stay informed about school social opportunities with targeted audience.
Next Steps
Design the college version of Circles, include:
UI/UX• Mobile • E-commerce
GetdaLook
Empower fans and fashion lovers to be inspire by and shop for celebrities’ outfits
