UX Designer
THE ROLE
Fibbol
Los Angeles, CA
2017
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Designed, tested and refined the end to end user experience of a mobile social platform
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Curated an icon set and drafted written copy for use within the app
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Produced complete UX Development Guides and Application Maps for engineering
SKILLS REQUIRED
PROJECTS
Overview
I was freelanced to design the UX/UI for Fibbol, a comprehensive social communication platform exclusively for college students. I was hired to design mockups and provide documentation to guide development. They wanted to combine Facebook, Snapchat and Tinder into a single platform and offer it exclusively to college students. To be honest, this seemed crazy to me… rebuilding 3 major communication platforms within one experience would be an audacious endeavor.
Although I could barely begin to conceive an effective strategy to bring this product to market, my scope of responsibility was limited to the design of the product. I handed off designs specs (twice) but unfortunately the team at Fibbol never finished production to bring the product to market.
I started by studying the aspects of the existing communication platforms college students loved.
How did they engage with one another today? What role did each of these platforms play in daily communication? How loyal are their users? Driving people away from tools used habitually is quite challenging. But by understanding our audience’s uniquely important values and behavior, I was able to align each value driver quite well to the needs of our audience.
I divided the Fibbol experience into the three main areas that were most important to college students: engaging with friends, discovering content, and meeting new people. By delivering on these needs through one cohesive solution, we enabled continuity as users moved from one part of the app to another. Study groups revealed this became one of our greatest assets; users loved the ability to meet new people then continue conversations and social engagement within one app.
To get started, users needed to verify their affiliation with a specific college or university to gain access to that campus’ unique experience. Fibbol was built for on-campus communication measured by geographical proximity.
Although engaging with existing friends would be available regardless of location, users were only able to discover new content and meet new people when on campus. Verified college students can also interact with other campuses and communities when located nearby.
With distinct networks budding from each campus, Fibbol was designed to foster exclusivity and privacy--two key values identified through research.
Messaging on Fibbol included the ability to share text, photos and videos with the option to self-destruct after a specified duration, similar to Snapchat. I also designed support for third party content such as websites and content from other social networks.
Photos and videos spanned edge to edge in messages, similar to the style I created in Tap. Alternatively, users can share content to their Story, leaving content viewable for 24 hours after posting.
Despite people still using Craigslist Personal's at this time, many were apprehensive about it's security and privacy. Tap's solution aimed to satisfy this with built-in messaging, disappearing photos and video chat.
Meeting new people had a feel familiar to Tinder but versatility that goes beyond dating. There was no hidden match required. The interface was used to drive new conversations with both New People or Friend Requests. Users chose to ignore new people or engage with them; no in between. We provided filters so it was easy to browse based on interests.
Although the design looks familiar, interaction was pretty unique. The Request tab displayed invitations from others to chat. The New People tab was filled with new suggestions. However, the right button triggered a message, not a friend request.
Social media functionality mimicked Facebook but offered a fresh, refined look and feel. Users shared multimedia posts and engaged with familiar comments and shares.
Fibbol also brought up and down voting as popularized by Reddit into the social media experience.
With a familiar interface, users knew exactly what to expect as they got their hands on the Fibbol social media experience.
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