Favorly

1. Prototype link (Please submit a link to a playable prototype, not a link to your design file) link

2. Describe your project (max 150 words)

As technology replaces the human elements of physical gestures and face-to-face interactions, many college students struggle to feel connected to their campus community. Despite being in a vibrant, interactive environment, students often feel hesitant to initiate conversations or reach out to peers. While opportunities to engage are abundant, individualism has made it harder than ever for students to develop a true sense of belonging.

How can we cultivate a culture of reciprocity and support among college students to reinforce the human need for connection and community?

Favorly is a mobile application designed to help college students build trust and camaraderie by facilitating playful favor requests and deliveries. The app values the gradual development of nurtured bonds through small acts of kindness that restore shared humanity over time. By incorporating community forums and AI-driven favor recommendations, students can grow more confident in both asking for help and offering support, ultimately strengthening the community.

1. 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)

Connecting personal experiences, our group acknowledged the alarming disconnect among college students—walking by one another without a glance or studying beside each other without speaking a word. We moved forward by exploring the idea of nurturing the core human need for interaction and connection among college students through asking for and receiving favors.

To begin our discovery phase, our group employed various methods, such as user surveys and secondary research, to better understand students' overall sentiments about favors, as well as their experiences and emotions. We designed and distributed a user survey to a diverse group of college students. This method allowed us to collect quantitative data that provided a deeper understanding of students' relationships with their community. We discovered that 100% of students would lend a favor to friends, and 60% would also lend a favor to a stranger. This overall positive sentiment further validated the opportunity to build upon these small gestures. However, the results for asking for a favor revealed a contrasting sentiment: 40% of students do not feel comfortable asking someone in their community for help. Of those, 88.3% cited inconvenience as a reason, while 48.3% were worried about embarrassment.

To supplement the findings of the user survey, we also conducted secondary research to better understand the emotional experiences of college students, as well as the psychology of favors. We gathered insights from pioneering research at Boston University, which reported that 66.6% of college students struggle with loneliness and feelings of isolation. Since college introduces an entirely new environment for most students, research from the National Library of Medicine states that humans have a fundamental drive to belong and feel a sense of connectedness to their community. Furthermore, the research emphasized that failure to do so causes “significant emotional and cognitive stress.” This highlights that while it is human nature to crave connection, the growing number of students who feel disconnected suggests that social interactions are weakening.

Along with our research into the emotional experiences of college students, we also explored the emotional impact of lending and receiving favors. Studies from Psychology Today inform us that “favor-asking creates a dilemma of trust.” The concept of building trust often stems from a neutral or even negative relationship with an individual. After performing a kind favor for someone, the human need to alleviate cognitive dissonance is addressed by mentally agreeing that they do, indeed, favor the person.

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

Our user research and secondary research findings reveal that college students desire a sense of community as they navigate a new environment filled with unfamiliar surroundings and peers. As this social need has become strained over time—due to an increasing number of students participating in and encouraging conversations about social interaction—it emphasizes the importance for students not only to cherish their existing friendships but also to feel comfortable reaching out to the broader community of people at their college. As inherently social beings, students rely on the community as a whole to feel grounded and connected.

The goal of Favorly is to encourage users to reconnect with the human desire and practice of “leaning on the village.” Drawing from our research, which shows that students are more likely to help their friends than strangers, we made the design decision to include a “Friends” tab for viewing specific favors, encouraging initial use of the platform. This feature is intended to promote comfort in extending a hand to strangers over time. The default page is the overall “Explore” tab because we want to encourage students to lend favors to the wider community when they feel ready.

To further support students in reaching out beyond their close circles, we made two crucial design decisions: a community forum and AI-powered smart matching suggestions. The community forum allows students to see others picking up favors, which fosters a sense of community and encourages them to continue contributing. The AI system automatically matches students based on their selected onboarding preferences and app usage, recommending favors they are more likely to accept. This increases the likelihood of students not only picking up favors but also asking for them, promoting human connection. The goal is to cultivate a community of students who feel they can depend on each other for a variety of situations.

Referring to the psychology of lending and asking for favors, it is through the act of performing a favor that a positive bond is created. Thus, our design decision to allow the documentation of this shared experience—available for not only the two students involved but also the entire community—aims to make these connections tangible and long-lasting. Additionally, sending a personal message after the favor is fulfilled helps reinforce and highlight the positive efforts and emotional connection fostered between the two students. The collection of personal favors asked or lent in the profile serves as a memory book, complete with photos and personal messages, to remind students of the genuine human connections they have cultivated over time.

In conclusion, these design decisions for Favorly are rooted in both user and secondary research. Favorly is a long-term effort aimed at providing a sustainable rediscovery of the human desire for connection.

Built With

• figjam
• figma