CUPID and Keeping Up are two different apps, created to solve the same problem.
Completed as part of Codecademy’s Learn Design Thinking: Ideation Course
CUPID
Making good times better
CUPID is a mobile friendship app designed to make finding and maintaining friends easier. By keeping the design simple and user-centered, CUPID takes everything users know, and redefines not only making friends online, but getting to meet them in person to form a stronger bond. With CUPID, good times are made better, with friends.
Duration: 2 to 3 weeks
Tools: Miro, Figma
Role: UX/UI Design - Design Thinking Process, Wireframes, Prototypes
Keeping Up
Resisting distance and silence
Keeping Up re-envisions social media to help and encourage friends to keep in touch throughout their days. Through groups, users are able to share snippets of their days with their friends, privately reply to each other’s posts, and even save a video or image shared. Keeping Up is truly a one for all, allowing users to not only record and share moments, but also encourage users to reply to their friends and keep in touch in a world where maintaining friendships proves to be a challenge.
Duration: 2 to 3 weeks
Tools: Miro, Figma
Role: UX/UI Design - Design Thinking Process, Wireframes, Prototypes
Background
Problem: As people grow up and out of phases, their friends do as well. Moving across the country, and working demanding hours, makes finding and keeping friends even more challenging. Adults find that making new friendships and maintaining old ones becomes difficult with time.
Solution: Addressing both concerns separately, two different applications can be designed and tested. CUPID, focuses on aiding adult users not only make new friendships, but also build these friendships up by encouraging users to meet in person. This application would specifically address how adults find making friends difficult because of lack of interest from the other party. Through CUPID, both parties know they are looking for friends, and will put in the work to create these new connections. On the other hand, Keeping Up, is centered around the idea of keeping up with long distance friends, or friends you might not see very often. Through shareable videos and photos among groups, users will be able to stay connected with friends, despite distance or schedules. Both CUPID and Keeping Up transform the mobile friendship application space by promoting connection and bonds between people.
Question: How can the issue of making and maintaining friendships in adulthood be addressed through apps that cater to the unique personalities of each user?
USer Research
Why is this problem important?
Adults want to continue connecting with people and building relations as they grow
Research was conducted on a small group (5 participants) of adults in the United States. Through user research, it was reported that…
40%
reported that physical distance is one of the major pain points in making and maintaining friendships
60%
reported that meeting in person helped friendships grow
40%
reported that it is difficult to transition from acquaintances to close friends
All data gathered from Codecademy’s Learn Design Thinking: Ideation Course
Key Findings
“My other close friends from college are scattered around the world... It's hard to maintain friendships from a distance though."
Solution: Keeping Up addresses long distance friendships by encouraging users to stay in contact by posting videos or images of their days with their group of choice. This promotes communication among friends and friend groups through posting and messaging.
Physical distance makes creating and maintaining adult friendships more difficult.
Not everyone is interested in new friendships, so it is difficult to become close friends with new people.
"... when we met, none of them were looking for new friends, so they were less open to it”
Solution: CUPID works to address the challenge of other people not showing interest in new friendships. Through CUPID, both parties know what they are looking for, and are also presented with activities they can share with each other, to encourage meeting in person. Furthermore, CUPID allows the user to manage their preferences, so they reach who they want to meet.
Making new friends is easier in non-professional settings.
“While also in college, I joined a surfing club and used to regularly surf with friends I made through that club.”
Solution: CUPID addresses this by offering users a variety of activities in their area they can share with people they have connected with. This feature not only provides users a stress-free way to meet in person with their online friends, but also allows for users to pick and choose what they are most interested in.
All quotes gathered from Codecademy’s Learn Design Thinking: Ideation Course
CUPID
Wireframe
Keeping Up
Wireframe
Results + Testing
Concept Testing Method 01: Interviews
In-person interviews were conducted prior to wireframing and prototyping to gain feedback on the concepts ideated. Two different users were tested, a young adult, and an adult.
User #1 (20 years old)
CUPID Concept
First Reaction: Concept feels too similar to dating apps in the market.
Liked: Concept is familiar to the user, so the user wouldn’t need to spend too much time learning how to navigate and use the interface.
Disliked: Concept might discourage private people from joining and messaging new people.
Keeping Up Concept
First Reaction: Unique social media, appears to be different from apps in the market already.
Liked: The concept is personalized to each user, allowing users to keep their identity and personalities.
Disliked: Camera feature feels redundant.
Widget Concept: User thinks offering a widget with the app would further promote connection between friends.
User #2 (40 years old)
CUPID Concept
First Reaction: Concept aligns with the general problem.
Liked: Allowing user to choose from activities near them to share with other users in order to grow the friendship.
Disliked: Concept feels insecure.
Suggestion: Adding an extra layer of security.
Keeping Up Concept
First Reaction: Concept does not feel like a social media, feels more personalized.
Liked: How the concept caters to individual users and their friends.
Disliked: Concept did not include time limits for posts shared.
Widget Concept: Likes the concept of offering a widget.