Hello! My name is Sean and I created SoCircle - a platform that enables the discovery of relevant products for those with accessibility needs, connecting users via relevant reviews and community recommendations along the way. For those with disabilities, uncertainty is just another part of the buyer journey. SoCircle curates a selection of inclusive products, using accessibility tags to make finding what you're looking for easier.
Tackling accessibility challenges in the beauty industry starts with connecting users who face similar obstacles on a consistent basis. Today, those users lack relatable recommendations and must sift through the latest blogs or influencers to find the perfect item for their circumstances. Even then, they face uncertainty and could find themselves testing a range of products before landing on one that brings them joy.
The Shop tab is like any other online store, however, accessibility labels like "Low/No Vision" or "Sensitive Skin" make it incredibly simple to find relevant items compared to current sites. Going back and forth between blogs and retailers is exhausting, so SoCircle curates a reliable body of inclusive products to make it so much easier to find the good stuff. But how do you know it's good? Using reviews directly from people with similar accessibility needs.
Reviews are a large part of what makes SoCircle so great, and easy, for those with specific accessibility needs. Reviews on large retail sites are flooded with walls of text from users who don't face the same day-to-day challenges as someone with a disability. People need relevant reviews, and with a tight-knit community, it's an amazing feeling knowing that sharing your experience with a particular product could be extremely relatable to someone with similar circumstances.
Community is the core of SoCircle, but reviews alone make things feel largely transactional and flat-out disconnected. With the Community tab, you can join the conversation in a feed-like format to share your journey, tell others what routines work best for you, and simply connect in a way that isn't possible on large retail sites. Inclusivity starts with people, and together we can shape the future of inclusive products.
First I did research to nail down a product direction and understand the landscape of existing concepts and communities (or lack thereof). Then I began designing in Figma focusing on things like user experience, exploring different opportunities along the way and considering tradeoffs. After shaving down my idea into what I thought SoCircle could become, I began developing it with React using Bootstrap as my CSS framework.
In the beginning, I had a difficult time trying to pinpoint going into the more social media direction, or even solely focusing on reviews like on Yelp. But then I'd run into a chicken-and-egg dilemma wondering who would recommend products, should there be a link to go and purchase it, what if users don't put the right information - it was a mess. Another challenge I faced was nailing the overall identity. I didn't want to lean too far into the traditional tan and olive lifestyle theme because it was more of a tech-related platform due to the social aspect. On the other hand, going too far tech wouldn't allow me to relate to my target audience as much as I'd hoped. I think finally just the work put into learning Bootstrap from scratch was more than I expected but it turned out to be okay. I was roughly familiar with it but this was amazing practice.
I'd say the end-to-end work bringing my idea to life. It's the reason why I have more of a vertical skillset - it's just a lot of fun for me to use my business background and make things that can help others. Specifically on the development end since I'm consistently trying to practice React, and I had to learn Bootstrap for this. It was a great challenge (and it's my first hackathon!).
I don't have the most experience with beauty and skincare, so going out of my comfort zone to learn more about a specific industry was new and interesting for me to learn. I also learned just how difficult (and fun) a hackathon can be. I actually tried to find some teammates but didn't have any luck, but next time I'll have to ask a friend to pair up!
I definitely want to refactor things and polish it now that my time constraint is out of the way. Adding a few more layers could help me from a learning perspective as well (checkout functionality and so forth). I guess I'll have to see! But it will definitely be on my portfolio (https://www.seanedens.com/)
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