CIRCULO
A user research and concept validation project to learn about and combat the effects of social distancing.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Circulo was developed through user research and concept validation to strengthen relationships that have been impacted by social distancing. Circulo provides reminders to reach out to select contacts. Additionally, events of interest are provided for users to attend virtually with those they would like to keep in touch with.
We wanted to explore how potential users are interacting with their social circle during the pandemic and how social distancing has impacted those relationships.
This two-week sprint involved planning, conducting and synthesizing qualitative user research as well as developing mid- and high-fidelity prototypes for concept validation.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
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User Research
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User Experience Design
TIMELINE
Two-week Sprint
TEAM
A fully remote project with a team of 4 User Researchers and User Experience Designers
USER RESEARCH
& ANALYSIS
Our team determined that we could establish patterns for how social distancing measures affected social interactions by conducting user interviews.
We assumed people want to feel less isolated by connecting online.
So we targeted:
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those working remotely and; therefore, familiar with online communication tools
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those already using online communication tools with video functionality outside of work at least once a month
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age 21-50
We conducted 4 user interviews remotely via Zoom.
We used affinity mapping to find patterns in our observations and develop insights. A pattern of shrinking social circles emerged as people were repeatedly interacting with the same group of family and friends they are comfortable and familiar with.
“Pre-Covid, I really enjoyed going to dinners and events with my friends and meeting new people. Now that in-person events are limited and covid safety precautions have to be taken, I don't feel as motivated to reach out to my friends as there isn't much to do and I don't want to impose on them.”
- Research Participant, Age 33
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
From our insights we developed the persona, Stella, who has the goal of reconnecting with those she has lost touch with.
Stella allowed us to further summarize our research and insights into a problem statement that addressed her pain point of lacking motivation to proactively reach out to maintain social interactions.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS & CHOOSING A DIRECTION
We initially decided to look at other potential competitors in the space of motivation and accountability. However, after reviewing our user interviews' synthesis and analysis, we decided that we wanted to also provide the social activities that Stella used to keep in touch with her social circle that were now lacking.
We wanted our solution to lie in the middle of our competitive landscape matrix as a balance of:
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Peer-Driven: interaction options dependent on other users' inputs
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Data-Driven: interaction options dependent on the users' inputs
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Personally Inspired: experience & outputs curated by user
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Community Inspired: experience & outputs curated by those the user interacts with
We also determined our features of importance would be the ability to add friends, encouragement to socialize, reminders, messaging and video capability. And these would be best implemented on a mobile application platform.
Within our design studio we ideated on potential solutions to alleviate Stella's lack of motivation to reach out.
We decided that the tasks most instrumental in motivating Stella to reconnect with those she lost touch with were:
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Onboarding
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Finding an event of shared interest
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Getting a reward for reaching out in order to encourage that behavior
MID-FIDELITY
PROTOTYPE
Within our flows for creating a profile and finding an event to attend and invite friends to, there were 4 screens of importance we would validate with usability testing:
Adding contacts to keep in touch with.
Once Stella allows the synching of her contacts during onboarding, she can select those she wants to keep in touch with more often.
Selecting interests to curate offerings.
Once Stella selects activities she enjoys with friends. Events can be suggested to her based off of these preferences.
A Dashboard with visual reminders and events of interest.
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Contacts Stella has not reached out to in a while are present on the dashboard as a reminder to reach out.
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Events that Stella may enjoy based on the activities she selected during onboarding are brought to the forefront.
Additional visual reminders and the ability to invite friends to events of interest.
While deciding who to invite to an event of interest, Stella is again reminded of contacts she has not spoken to in a while who may also be interested in the event.
INCREASING FIDELITY WITH BRANDING & USABILITY TESTING
Usability testing of our mid-fidelity prototype revealed some issues to address as we planned to further increase the fidelity.
Our decisions in increasing the fidelity of the visual design were led by a team member specializing in visual design.
Our goal drove our branding decisions
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Our color palette is accessible
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Our typeface is friendly and round
Improvements to selecting contacts to keep up with based on usability testing.
Usability testing suggested the need to distinguish between which contacts were already on Circulo and which contacts were not.
Access to profiles of contacts using Circulo
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As we increased the fidelity of our prototype, we developed the profiles of contacts Stella would like to keep in touch with who are also using Circulo.
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Stella could cross-reference her shared interests with her contacts and find events of interest to invite those contacts to.
Adding additional messaging to clarify that contacts have been invited.
Usability testing suggested that we needed to add additional messaging to indicate that invitations to attend an event were submitted to Stella's contacts.
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
SOUND IS OFF
UNMUTE FOR ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
TIME: 3MIN 7SEC
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
This project indicated there is an opportunity to strengthen relationships affected by social distancing measures by providing motivation to reach out in the form of visual reminders and events of interest.
Our solution tested well and may be further developed by exploring:
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the virtual event experience
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video chat
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the rewards system for encouraging users to reach out to members of their social circle