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Gather logo
Prototype link:
Describe your project:
Gather is a new way for people to share their skills, experiences and knowledge with anyone, allowing for people to unite over topics that they feel passionate about. In order to do this, users can create their own "gatherings," which will be focused on a specific topic. Once a gathering has been posted, if a user has shown interest in that topic, the gathering will be pushed to their explore feed where they will be given the option to register for it. Hosts of the gathering will be given a template structure and tips to help guide them through keeping the event running smoothly and ensuring that every attendee feels comfortable and is enjoying themselves. Within Gather, there is also a system for friending people you meet at gatherings. You will also be able to acquire badges for accomplishing certain tasks, which can be used to customize your profile.
Describe your research process and findings. If you conducted any surveys or interviews, please include the survey form and/or interview questions here. If you conducted secondary research by pulling from online sources, please include a link to your sources:
Google Form I used: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGsb_aFjt6HXzwH423J9ctznBBFdoYoGBYHkwJNYJZUxDk5A/viewform For my research, I created a Google Form that asked general questions regarding their experiences with interacting with people of other generations, their reasoning for these experiences, and general insights they had into why there is a gap between generations. To get responses, I utilize convenience sampling to get quick responses from family members of a wide variety of ages, and then used snowball sampling by having them pass my survey over to colleagues to fill out, allowing for me to get a decent diversity of responses. For my research, I did not utilize any secondary sources or interviews when conducting research for this project.
The first major finding of my research was that the respondent's cross-generation interactions went best when both people were partaking in activities that both of them were interested in. In specific, many respondents said that "mentor programs" or "working on common interest projects together" would be a good way to increase connections between people of different generations. What stuck out the most to me was a personal experience that a respondent wrote, saying "The connection I had with my cousin in the Philippines worked because we had unstructured time doing everyday things (eg cooking, watching movies, doing makeup) without pressure or performance." This finding was significant because it highlighted that different generations working together on projects of mutual interest had a much more natural and strong connection.
I also learned a lot more about which barriers to connection between generations were most prolific. Firstly, many respondents selected that they sometimes feared judgement or misunderstanding, which would lead to connections fizzling out. Secondly, many respondents also stated that differing communications styles played a big role in being unable to form strong connections with people of other generations. Furthermore, general awkwardness was also stated as a prominent reason why connections with other generations didn't work out.
Describe your most important design decisions. What research findings and/or user testing results led you to make these decisions?
During my designing, my most important decision with Gather was to not specifically center the app around being a way to bridge the gap between generations. While this is an important goal of the app, referring back to the quote that stated, "The connection I had with my cousin in the Philippines worked because we had unstructured time doing everyday things (eg cooking, watching movies, doing makeup) without pressure or performance," designing Gather to specifically be about solving this problem would risk driving users who were not interested in interacting with other generations away from the app. By designing the app as a way of sharing or teaching skills and experiences, Gather not only allows for the passing of knowledge, culture and other important topics to people to happen but also brings people of different generations together, whether that to celebrate their culture or work on a woodcarving project together.
Another important design decision I made was the inclusion of the Host Guide. One of the major takeaways from my research was that communication between generations is often awkward, and that differing communication styles would often cut connections short. With the Host Guide, I aimed to design it in a way where it was helpful to hosts who may be in a different generation than many of the attendees to keep conversation going and to keep the gathering engaging for everyone, allowing for each person to feel more comfortable and more open to connecting with the other attendees. The Host Guide also serves as a way to take pressure off of the host so that they don't need to be stressed out during the event, allowing for them to also feel more comfortable.
Finally, my last key design decision was the incorporation of achievement badges for completing certain tasks. This decision was made as way to reduce stress and awkwardness even more by making participation in the app more like a game. With the badges, it serves as another way for people to bond over the app and strive to make new connections.
If applicable, describe how you utilized AI in your design process in detail. Please explain where AI fit into your workflow, which tools you used, and the specific purpose AI served at that stage. Include a concrete example of how AI influenced a design decision:
During my design process, I utilized Claude and Figma Make to assist me in some areas. Firstly, I used Claude to help me come up with names of achievements, help me phrase text placed in the demo, ensure research questions were strong but not to hyper specific and to generally fix grammar and word choice throughout the project. I used Claude for these purposes throughout most stages of the project, with my usage dropping off a lot during the stage where I was building the base structure of my prototype. I also used Figma Make during the building of my prototype in order to generate pictures for my achievement badges and take images and put them within a circle so that I could use them a profile picture. For example, the profile picture for Jamie on the friends page was made using Figma Make, where I submitted an original picture to be cropped into a circle.
Built With
- figma
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