The circle is a community information centre that helps people ask queries about various topics, find information, with dedicated legal and medical forums. The website will enable creating and exploring various neutering events as per their location
Problem Statement:
Building a website that acts as a dedicated forum for information on various topics, get support on legal and health queries. Community completely build by you along with access to host and attend many networking events.
My Role
UX designer for the app from conception to delivery - user research, paper digital wireframing, interviewing, accounting for accessibility, prototyping, usability research
Research Goals and Objectives
Research goal was to identify the pain points faced by people from the LGBTQ community.
Conducted secondary research to identify current offerings in the market fornetworking websites websites and the demographic of target audience. The outcome of the initial research led to narrowing the target audience as 25-40 yrs young and working professionals who would like to have access to a support community and build in person relationships.
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users Im designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was young working and non working adults who would like to find a easy way to find to connect with the community and like minded people.
User Personas |
Eloy is a visual designer and bisexual. He most likely resorts to social and dating apps to connect with more people from his community. But finds it challenging to have an organic and personal conversation with people. He is frustrated with the peer-pressure and how conversations phase out. He would like to have a safe space where he can connect and network with more people from his community, lot more of attending and organising events like Movie nights,, travel together to build in personal connections.
Theo is management graduate and works at an IT firm as a project manager with a small team. She enjoys playing board games it is her way on unwinding with her friends. She finds exploring new games challenging and would like a simpler way to understand them. She is often relying on word of mouth to find out about new games, its availability in the country is an issue, but she also is often unsure if she will enjoy the game or not. Would prefer some kind of sampling to understand it better.
User Research Summary:
The user group confirmed that they are no single platform to find information and network with people from the LGBTQ community.
User Research: Pain points
1. Access
Young and working adults don’t know a convenient way to connect with the larger community for networking and seeking information
2. Trust
Lot of users are afraid of the peer-pressure in the current forums and have issues in verifying the source
3. Engagement
Users find virtual conversations less engaging and difficult to keep it alive.
Goal of the Project
Design an app that will let users easily find information on various topics and enable them to conveniently network with people from their community
Wireframe |
Site Map |
Colour & Typography |
Colour Accessibility analysis |
High-Fidelity Prototype |
Paint Point: Access and explorability
The outcome of the user research identified that most dont have one place to reach out for support on various topic. They would like to build a community / circle of support with the people from their community. They also felt it is difficult to keep conversation going in a virtual mode and the conversation tends to phase out. They would like to have access to a platform where they can host and network with people sharing similar interests.
The app gives access to users to be able to explore and post any queries in multiple forums. Create and join events based on their interest, have access to the profile details of host and other interested people. Users can host events and have a more personal networking opportunities.
Pain Point: Trust
User research also showed that many users are often feared by the peer pressure in the the online platform. They also feel they would like to connect with like-minded people and have a way to host events to help build the connect.
User research also showed that many users are often feared by the peer pressure in the the online platform. They also feel they would like to connect with like-minded people and have a way to host events to help build the connect.
