digimate
digimate
The Context
As someone who values staying connected with friends, I’ve often found it challenging to maintain meaningful interactions in the busy flow of daily life. Social media can feel overwhelming, and text messages don’t always encourage deeper conversations. I was curious if others shared the same struggle of staying meaningfully connected or if they had found better ways to foster those relationships. If validated, I wanted to create an engaging, effortless solution where people could easily check in with their friends, share emotions, and strengthen their connections.
The Problem
The problem DigiMate aimed to address was the lack of meaningful and consistent ways for users to stay connected with their friends and social groups in a digital space. Existing platforms often felt overwhelming or shallow, making it difficult for users to share emotions, updates, and maintain deeper connections. This gap was particularly evident for individuals with busy schedules, remote workers, or those feeling isolated, who struggled to find a structured, engaging way to check in and stay connected with their social circles.
The Objective
I wanted to conduct competitive analysis and user research to understand better how people currently stay connected with friends and the challenges they face in maintaining meaningful relationships. Based on this research, I aimed to design a platform that could be tested and refined to address these frustrations and align with user expectations for effortless and personal connection.
The Solution
The TL;DR
Through user research, competitive analysis, and empathy, I discovered that maintaining meaningful connections with friends and groups was challenging for many people. Users often relied on scattered methods, like group chats or social media, which lacked the personal touch and convenience they desired. Using the insights gathered, I developed a user persona to deeply empathize with their needs and brainstormed features for an end-to-end connection management application.
I created a site map and user flows to understand the information architecture better, followed by low-fidelity wireframes, which were tested to observe how users interacted with the product. Using feedback from these tests and the style tile I created, I designed high-fidelity wireframes and conducted usability tests. The final design had a 90% success rate, with users praising the clean and intuitive interface.
The Whole Process
1. Emphasize
Analysis of the Top Competitors Using SWOT
Analyzing competitors through a SWOT analysis highlighted a gap in the market for a mobile platform designed to simplify group check-ins and foster authentic interactions. While existing apps provide similar features, they often fall short in offering seamless functionality and sustained user engagement.
User Interviews
Interviews were conducted remotely with eight participants.
Key questions included:
- How do you currently check in with friends?
- What challenges do you face when staying connected?
- How would you like to share your feelings or daily updates?
Affinity Mapping
From the interviews, I mapped out common themes together. These ones are the top categories I decided to focus on for this project:
Top 3 Research Findings
Users expressed a strong interest in tools that enable group check-ins and collaborative updates, emphasizing the importance of staying connected with their circles without overwhelming individual timelines.
2. Participants encountered minor confusion with certain functionalities, such as interpreting mood options and navigating segmented posts. Clearer labels, tooltips, and categorization were identified as essential for improving usability.
3. Users valued features like infinite scrolling but consistently requested more control through filters, allowing them to prioritize specific groups or types of posts based on their preferences.
2. Define
User Persona
Emma was created as a young professional seeking better friend engagement. My interview insights and the top categories of my affinity map helped me come to this persona. I will use her as a reference throughout the creation of DigiMate to guide me on important design decisions.
3. Ideation
Analysis of the Top Competitors Using SWOT
Analyzing competitors through a SWOT analysis highlighted a gap in the market for a mobile platform designed to simplify group check-ins and foster authentic interactions. While existing apps provide similar features, they often fall short in offering seamless functionality and sustained user engagement.