Huddle

Having trouble making friends at college? Huddle is a social networking application that is designed to bring college students together through shared interests.

Research

We began conducting research to first find if there was an actual need for such an application. Upon validating this need, our team began looking into existing networking applications to identify competitive weaknesses.

User Persona Interview

Our team also conducted user persona interviews to get a better understanding of the needs and wants of the students. Students were asked a series of both related and unrelated questions to gain insight into what their day-to-day lives look like and how they view existing social media apps.

Key Findings

From the results of the interviews, we can identify a few key details that are relevant to the success of Huddle:

• Students have a lack of interest and opportunities to engage with extracurriculars on campus
• Apps that resonate with the students are simplistic, convenient, and easy to use
• Campus-based apps are rarely used by the students and when they are, they're only used for academic purposes

With research findings in mind, we began wireframing and constructing the UI of Huddle.

Key Features

With simplicity in mind, we believe we created a platform that solves the lack of social interaction on campus. The key features include:

• Matching: Connecting with students that have shared interests
• Messaging: A further form of interaction and networking
• Mapping: Events that allow students to make new connections

User Testing

To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Huddle prototype, our team conducted two sets of user tests, the first test contained an interviewer who would provide instructions while the student would navigate the interface. The second test was an observative one where students would follow instructions on sticky notes. Click below to view the user test script.