Overview
Hearspace: A product designed for private communities to customize and create their own social space.
Hearspace's goal is to create a space for unique and defined communities to have their own space to host events, interact, communicate, and connect.
I worked with a team of designers and web developers designing a social media product.
My Role
Hearspace was a nine-month internship during which I learned and was mentored in UX UI, web design, UX psychology, marketing, and user research.
The Team
- Collaborated on designs through Adobe XD cloud.
- Daily standups for feedback and future goals.
- Specific team roles.
- Researching a real audience with a real need for a private community.
The Challenge
One of the most stressful things you can experience as a community is not being able to get new people to join and not having a way to communicate effectively with everyone inside
of the community.
• How do I create a product and incorporate a design that is customizable for each communities unique goals?
• How do I research end users and create concepts and pitches that relate to them?
• How do I hand off the project to a developer to create the final product?
User Research
User behavior looks different for each community so what are key research questions I can ask?
- Who are the end users we are targeting to create communities with?
- What are universal features users would want in a social space?
- How can we let administrators and owners have control of their own space?
Who are our target users?
Apartment Tenants/Landlords
We researched tenants and landlords who live in apartments and want to meet people, have events, and be more social.
Medical Residents
We researched and contacted medical residents and interns living in the Chicago area who desired way to connect and study with other interns.
Churches and Church Leaders
We researched church members who desired a private place to host church events and activities.
Ideation
Product Design
- The most important feature of our desktop and mobile application was the events page where communities can see upcoming events and activities.
- The chat feature was another important feature for users to welcome new members to the community, ask questions, and meet other users virtually.
- The goal of the application is to have a private community with interaction, events, and social networking.
Main pages of the product
Events are the most important part of the application so users can host, edit, and let there communities know about upcoming activities.
Members of the community can message other members and chat with community leaders or administrators.
Private communities have complete control over sharing events, event visibility, and more.
Only administrators can let new members into the private community.
Branding
Modern Design
- The brandig is simplistic and clean using two lines and a clean modern font for the logo.
- Hearspace's goal was to have a sleek and modern design principles similar to Apple.
Design Iterations
We decided to copy a modern drink website known as Brewbike to understand how we wanted to improve the branding for Hearspace. Using my design and UX skills, I created and replicated the entire site.
What I learned through copying a site's branding.
- Website responsiveness on different screen sizes.
- Learning the Wix web based editor.
- Improving the design, creating our Hearspace style, and going through iterations as a team.
Solution
Project Summary
I worked on both the design of the product as well as the marketing and research to different communities. Along with technical writing for the documentation of what each page should do.
Hearspace has a clean and minimalistic login where only administrators can let users into the private community.
Marketing, Research, Technical Writing
As part of the design team, I was entrusted with the task of researching our audience and creating designs that catered to their needs and preferences.
This user-centric approach was crucial in pitching our designs to different communities, making them feel valued and considered.
For example, I delved into the challenges of on-boarding new members into a community, understanding their perspectives and the hurdles they face. This research fostered a sense of empathy and understanding in our design process.
Technical Writing
My role was creating the documentation to turn the mockup designs into a programmed website.
I researched how to use a brand voice and the proper words programmers/web developers use when coding and developing websites and applications.
Final Product
Next Steps
• Get honest feedback from communities that use the Hearspace product.
• Learn what event features would help communities grow.
• Decide what features the admin desires to take control of their communities.
Lessons Learned
Working with a remote team
I learned a lot working as a team and how users communicate and work together to create a product design.
Learn from your customers
Getting feedback from customers is the best way to improve a design.
