Hack4Rice

Prototype link (Please submit a link to a playable prototype, not a link to your design file) Link
Describe your project (max 150 words)

Making plans with friends shouldn’t feel like work, but between indecisive group chats and conflicting schedules, it often does. That spring break trip to Cabo that you and your friends were talking about? Probably still stuck in the group chat. Sharing new experiences with others is innately human, yet young adults struggle with logistics and finding inspiration, leading to missed bonding opportunities.

So, how might we make planning group activities and discovering new experiences easier for young adults to strengthen friendships and turn ideas into actual plans?

Huddle is a mobile application that helps groups seamlessly organize gatherings and explore new experiences. Whether it’s a spontaneous outing or planned getaway, Huddle suggests personalized activities based on group preferences, availability, budget, and location. With shared idea boards, AI-driven suggestions, and smart coordination tools, Huddle eliminates the stress of planning, so that your plans can actually make it out the group chat.
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. (Max 500 words)

For our user research, we combined 1:1 interviews and a comprehensive survey to discover qualitative and quantitative insights on young adults’ experiences with planning group outings. Our goal was to uncover key pain points in the process of group planning and understand how young adults find inspiration for new experiences.

We conducted six user interviews to gain deeper insight into the personal experiences of individuals when planning group activities. We asked interviewees about their motivations for spending time with friends, and experiences and struggles with planning group activities. First and foremost, we found that groups typically self-organize into leader(s) and those who go with the flow and conflicts may arise from differences in work styles. The leader either enjoys planning, or feels forced to take initiative otherwise plans wouldn’t happen, and the followers may want to be more spontaneous but feel pressured to help out. Our findings also revealed that unaligned availability and lack of consistent communication were common obstacles to making plans a reality.

To support our insights with quantitative data, we designed and distributed a survey form that aimed to identify the biggest obstacles to group planning and understand young adults’ attitudes toward discovering new experiences. The survey asked questions such as “What tools/apps do you use to make plans with groups?”, “Based on your experience in group planning, please rank how difficult to overcome the following obstacles may be”, and “How frequently do you try new experiences?” We received more than 30 responses, and the data played a crucial role in strengthening our understanding of user needs. We also found that 92.9% of participants use group chats as their main communication channel to plan events. We also discovered that 65.6% of respondents ranked lack of availability as the most difficult obstacle to overcome and 40.6% ranked distance as the second most difficult. Finally, 31.3% of respondents considered type of activity the most important factor, and location the second most important factor to consider when deciding on a place to go.

Our research confirmed that spending time with others is something young adults enjoy doing to relax––96.4% of respondents reported having fun and relieving stress as their motivation to spend time with friends, and 44% reported doing so multiple times a week. This insight served as our key motivation for creating Huddle––companionship is indeed a human need, and we sought to focus on group hangouts, which are enjoyable but harder to organize than 1-1 time. The survey provided us a deeper understanding that guided the development and prioritization of Huddle’s main features, which together, aim to address the challenges of planning new and enjoyable experiences for groups.

User Survey: link
Describe your most important design decisions. What research findings and/or user testing results led you to make these decisions? (Max 500 words)

As mentioned earlier, 44% of respondents have group hangouts multiple times a week. However, it can be hard for groups to meet up, especially when there are differences in availability, budget, distance, and more. Huddle’s design aims to increase social interaction through effortless event planning and ease the search for new discoveries through AI-driven suggestions.

Our research shows that 90.6% of respondents discover new experiences through word of mouth, and 81.3% discover through Instagram. However, we also found in our user interviews that these methods are much easier in the city than in suburban or rural areas. To address this, Huddle features “Idea Boards”: centralized areas where group members can collaboratively post activities or events they find interesting. The collaborative nature of Idea Boards, in combination with AI, also accommodates group member’s different preferences, another obstacle to planning. AI-powered suggestions and search are sprinkled in for personalized recommendations based on group members. With this feature, group hangouts will never get old––people will constantly be able to discover new ideas that are tailored to them. Once a user finds an idea they like, they can click it to view more details and suggest an event to their group, kickstarting the planning process.

Our user interviews revealed that a lack of consistent communication often causes a group plan to fall through. For instance, someone may suggest going out to eat, but when it comes to choosing a restaurant, no one can decide where to go. Therefore, an essential feature within Huddle is creating Groups, where members can contribute to a shared Idea Board and react to events to express their interest. Through anonymous voting, everyone has an equal voice and involvement in the planning process. Polls will appear at the top of the Home page for high visibility, but users can also nudge slow responders to remind them. Once confirmed, AI integrates this upcoming event into everyone’s calendar and the organizer can manually remind members of the event.

To address the biggest obstacle to group planning (conflicting availability), Huddle uses AI to help users find a time to meet. By default, event creators can manually enter a date and time, but they can also ask AI to do the job! With calendar integration and general availability preferences provided during onboarding, AI will find different options for times to meet and group members can then vote. This process reduces the frustration of back-and-forth group messages in which people say they aren’t available and the plan eventually fizzles out.

In conclusion, these design decisions are driven by findings from user research, with the goal of easing the process of planning enjoyable group experiences. We hope that Huddle can help your plans make it out of your group chat!