Project Overview
UniMeet aims to help international students to have an active social life and great experience during their studies abroad through a social media app that creates community connections for the students at the university.
The Problem
International students may face social pressure and cultural differences especially when starting university. Building a solid network may be difficult for some students and this causes a feeling of disconnection from their peers. That may result in an overall poor university experience.
What do we want to achieve in this project?
We want to help international students to have an active social life and great experience during their studies abroad through a social media app that creates community connections for the students at the university.
How to ensure the security of access to the app?
Students will use their University email to log in. MyUniDays is a benchmark that uses this method to provide discounts to students, for instance.
The Goal
This social connections app will let users have an environment where they can find support and opportunities to connect with their peers and build a sense of community.
How to do that?
Connecting students who share the same interests and hobbies, would like to know about events and activities nearby the university. Moreover, learning languages from different cultures will be one of the main focuses.
How will those opportunities affect users?
The app can provide a platform where students have networking opportunities and build meaningful relationships. It can foster a sense of community among students by increasing social interaction. Thus, the app helps students to enhance their overall university experience.
How far can we get?
We can develop the app based on students' feedback and evolving needs. Taking into account the needs of students will be our priority. Their suggestions and preferences can help to increase the usability of the app.
What topics can we work on?
We started the project with the hypothesis that the following topics could be worked on:
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Study together / Forum. Students can support each other in this space. E.g. Hey community, I'd like to find more information about X topic, could you help me?
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Create events for the community. E.g. meeting point to go to the cinema to watch Marvel's new movie. Academic, social and cultural events can be organized.
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Hobbies, sharing the same interests. E.g. paint, draw, cook, dance, play games, music…
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Tourism. E.g. walk to the Kloster Kamp.
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Practicing sports together. E.g. Ride a bike, skate, football, swim.
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Social networking. E.g. Students create profiles, and connect with each other through chat features.
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Language Exchange. E.g. I'd like to learn French. I can teach Portuguese.
User Research
User Profile
The user profile is Hochschule Rhein-Waal students aged 18-40 with different cultural backgrounds and interests.
Our understanding of the product
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Users should be able to create their own profiles.
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Users should be able to create and explore events and activities.
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Users should be able to communicate with each other.
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Users should have the opportunity to share their interests and hobbies.
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Users’ security and privacy should be protected.
Summary
We make research in order to understand and meet the needs of the target audience based on our understanding of the product. We are determined to conduct a survey that consists of research questions to address users’ expectations of the app.
We achieved 5 answers for this form.
Survey
Types of Answers
In this form we used three types of answers in order to obtain accurate information while being able to listen to what respondents would like to tell us about their concerns and wishes.
Questions, Answers, and Analysis
1. How important is socializing and meeting new people to you as a student?
Analysis: At least 60% of the audience thinks it's extremely important or very important to socialize and meet people during their studies.
2. How often do you attend social events or activities on campus?
Analysis: Students engage at least once in a social event on campus. That could represent their interests in meeting people and participating in university life.
3. What motivated you to join an event or activity at the university?
Analysis: Most of the answers reveal that students seek to know new cultures and friends, and, sometimes, they are just looking for something new to do.
4. What challenges do you face when trying to socialize or meet new people on campus?
"I don't know anybody and am not sure how to approach them. Especially when students have already formed groups."
"​​Cultural differences"
"Talking in another language"
Analysis: Using a platform that helps you find people who have the same interests as you or want to study the same topics is a way to minimize the challenges students encounter when meeting new people on campus.
5. How comfortable are you with using technology to connect with other students and attend social events or activities?
Analysis: We understand that it is important to develop a friendly interface that can help users feel comfortable while using the app to engage in new friendships and social events.
6. How important is it to you that the app includes a way to connect with other students who share similar interests or backgrounds?
Analysis: At least four-fifths of the audience think it is very important or extremely important that the app includes a way to connect with other students. That's the reason we decided to include a chat feature and implement a comment session on the event page. It can help students keep in contact besides the events.
7. What kinds of events or social features would you like to see included in the app?
Analysis: We decided to include in the initial stage of the project only the most relevant topics for users. This way, we keep in the final prototype only the topics with 4 or 5 votes.
8. How important is it to you that the app includes a messaging or chat feature for communication with other users?
Analysis: 40% of the audience thinks that it is very important to include a chat feature on the app. Combining it with other answers during the survey, we decided to keep it simple, just as a way to help students to communicate about the events and interests.
9. What do you think would be the most important benefits of using the app?
"It would be easier to chat with students and plan activities, if you already know your shared interests. So it would be important for the app to make it apparent which interests you share with the student(s) you are chatting with."
"Being updated about activities"
"Access to information about events in one place"
"Making friends similar to you"
"Organizing the events"
Analysis: All the answers have a different perspective and were valid to guide us during the creation of the app.
10. What are some potential drawbacks or concerns you have about using the app?
"Messaging feature can be hard to follow"
"Privacy"
"Fake ids"
Analysis: To guarantee security and privacy to all the students, it is necessary register and login with university email address, and them confirm your email. That way you can only be active in the app while you are a student. About the message feature, we decided to put it on profile information, to keep it separate from the events and not mix everything and make users confused. That way, the user can choose when he will see the messages and could find all messages at the same place.
11. What other apps or services do you use to socialize and meet new people, and how do you think this app could improve these options?
Analysis: Discord, Facebook groups and instagram were the apps and services listed by the audience on the survey. So we use it as a benchmark to understand the interactivity and user experience.
The Product
The brand and visual Identity
UniMeet is the name of the product. It is a short name that shows instantly what is the purpose of the app. A colorful visual was chosen to bring energy, liveliness, and youthfulness to the interface. Also, the events are divided into two main groups, so there are two colors that represent these categories. This way, it is easier for the user to understand which place the event belongs to.
Information Architecture
Wireframes
Wireframes helped us to see how we can engage with the users’ needs and visualize the interfaces. We better understood how we can proceed with the elements and the features of the app.
Mockups
Login Page​
Security is one of our essentials. Because we want students to be safe while they are joining the events. They can login and register with their university emails.
Home Page
Students can easily see and follow the events on the calendar. It allows students to effectively manage their time to participate in the events that interest them most.
Most popular events may take the user's attention and encourage students to explore and actively participate in the community.
Favorite categories enhance personalization. It allows students to receive content aligned with their preferences and discover relevant events more easily.
Events
The activities are divided into two categories: "Get Together" and "Learn". These categories help students to find relevant content aligned with their preferences and goals in a clear structure.
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Get Together:
Hangout
Movie
Game
Sport
Art
Music*
Food*
Festivals*
Touristic*
*Categories will be added in a future update.
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Learn:
Speaking cafes
Study Forum
Other
Create an Event
The "Create Event" section provides comprehensive event information, making it easier for students to evaluate and organize the event.
Create Event Button
Standout and easily accessible "Create Event" button simplifies the process of creating events.
External Link
It can be useful when the event has a dedicated website, registration page, or additional information. Students can easily access more details or complete any necessary registrations directly through the external link.
Image
It can be a powerful visual representation of the event. Students can get a glimpse of the event's atmosphere, theme, or featured activities through the image.
Events
The event page serves as a central hub of information for a particular event, providing students with the necessary details.
Likes
Students can show their support by liking the event, which acts as a social signal and can influence other students' decision to join.
Share
It enables students to share the event details with others through various communication channels. This functionality encourages users to spread the event and invite their friends or colleagues to join them.
Profile
It serves as a way for students to personalize their presence within the app and connect with others who share similar interests. Students can express themselves and establish a sense of community identity. Interests, comments, and likes enhance the user experience and encourage active engagement.
Chat
Students can connect with others and build relationships via chat features. The chat feature enables students to communicate and interact with each other in real time. It allows for direct messaging and facilitates private conversations between students. Interaction Interaction elements such as emojis, gifs, and images can help connectivity among students and make using the application more fluid.
