Spark SBU, a spark right at your fingertips.

We are a bunch of Stony Brook University (SBU) students that decided to create a friend-making app named Spark. We built this app upon the idea that new friendships are built through spontaneous conversation, otherwise known as a Spark. We also knew that there are many students, ourselves included, who felt that starting a spontaneous conversation in-person may be quite difficult (especially due to the pandemic). Thus, we created a way for SBU students to experience that “spark” right at your fingertips.

PROBLEM

No access to in-person resources & community during the pandemic.

SOLUTION

A robust platform for students to connect with each other

My Contribution.

As the UX/UI Designer of the Tech team:

• I led Spark's brand identity as product from social media marketing to the branding of the app.
• I conducted market research, user research, competitive analysis, and design audit to benchmark Spark against our competitors.
• I took the initiative in refining core user experiences that user research revealed user pain points in.
• I collaborated with 4 software engineers and 2 designers on design flows that optimized usability for SBU students.

Defining the Problem.

From 16 interviews and 4 competitive product analyses, I saw that college students were actively seeking a companionship during the pandemic and when Stony Brook University was still in remote learning, along with opportunities to form interpersonal connections and stay engaged amidst their remote learning environment. Moreover, post-pandemic research reveals an increase in social anxiety and struggle to form interpersonal bonds. Thus, our design goal was driven by the question:

How might we help Stony Brook University student foster meaningful interpersonal connection, engagement, and curiosity in an online setting?

Creating the Solution.

Introducing Spark, connection making app for SBU students exclusively.
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An app is easily accessible to Stony Brook University students on the App Store that engages student with Spark's collaborative friend feed. Students can simultaneously learn more about fellow classmates and build a sense of community by interacting with each other’s personal profiles in the discover page.

Spark helps students overcome the initial barrier of social outreach and deepen connections with their peers, establishing a more meaningful online environment which can expand to both remote and in-person spheres. By helping over 200+ students at SBU campus form positive connections with their peers in the post-pandemic era.

Research

According to Jakob’s law, an intuitive user experience is built by familiarity - no need to reinvent the wheel! So, I conducted 16 user interviews to better understand the user population intentions with using Spark.

User interviews - 16 participants
I interviewed 16 Stony Brook University students (4 graduate students and 12 undergraduate students) to dive deeper into their behavior, motivations, and frustrations while collaborating and cultivating a sense of community remotely.

I discovered two common themes across our interviews:
1️⃣ Emphasis on psychological hurdles that they have to overcome post-pandemic
2️⃣ Actively seeking community and interpersonal relationships (e.g. study groups)

Common statements that the interviewees have said:

Competitive Product Analysis - 4 studies
To gain a better understanding of popular friend-making apps, I researched different platforms like Tantan, Bumble, Yubo and Tinder.

I discovered that many platforms emphasized the basic features users need, rather than focusing on many extravagant functions. From my follow-up research, I found that a majority of friend making users only interact with a few basic functions, rarely taking the time to explore advanced features and templates.

Research Analysis
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Spark (launched in 2021) provides a platform for post-pandemic social anxiety driven or introverted students to network effectively together. However, this product is currently catered to Stony Brook University students only, as opposed to all universities since unfamiliar groups of people are frequently found in other networking and social platforms already.

Thus, Spark saw an opportunity in their target market of Stony Brook University college students, who are constantly forming new connections and collaborating across many groups on campus previous to COVID.

Research allowed me to to understand the specific social, academic and emotional needs of college students better. So, I can pitch design recommendations to help bridge the social gap many students are experiencing in the SBU environment. Our constraints for the project were that our deliverable should have high implementation feasibility, align with Spark’s brand identity, and business goals of expansion.

Core Experiences Redefined.

Effortlessly discover and form connections.

Redesigning the previous discover page due to users feedback on Spark having a "dating app atmosphere" with the heavy focus on pictures. Instead, the redesign discover pages allow users to learn about classmates’ hobbies, availability, classes, and personality at a quick glance instead of focusing on physical appearance. In return it...
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Reduced the challenge of reaching out and increased building connections with students you connect with.

Customize your profile and show your individuality.

Let your classmates know about why you're on Spark SBU, your hobbies, classes, social networks, or fun facts to introduce yourself without the stress of social anxiety.

In the redesigned version of Spark, we've replaced the previous dating-style questions with straightforward ones about a student's current classes and their specific interests in connecting, such as networking or finding study partners. This change aligns with both user feedback and the founders' vision of Spark as a platform for connecting with peers.

The Ongoing Refinement

Design Audit

The goal of my design audit conduct agile methodology by review our launched product after already doing the previous steps of agile methodology. Also, I wanted to understand potential pain points better to focus specific needs of Stony Brook University students.

Some key insights I found from my design audit is...

From the design audit, I realized the launched product has a lot of technical flaws that needs to be marked down to be fixed with the engineers in future launch.

Brand Identity & Logo

Finally, the founders gave me the greenlight to begin refining the UX, UI, and copywrite of the app to cater an innovative way to explore making meaningful connections at Stony Brook University.

Whilst developing Spark, the main focus of branding is simplicity, modern, ease of use and an innovative visual language that could be smoothly enjoyed by Stony Brook University students.

Therefore, I chose an simple and modern font that reflects boldness and simplicity of Spark. The design system colors were chosen to represent playfulness and a sense of delight to the user.

Reflections: What is next?

Spark: Redefined Friendmaking is now in its 2th year of existence, but on August 2022, the founders decided on putting a pause on Spark as a startup. They wanted to rethink the mission and vision of Spark before proceeding into the next stages.

Whereas I am not engaged with Spark: Redefined Friendmaking any further, but where I ended the project off with drawing in more than 200+ users since January 2022.

From the feedback that I've gotten from other Stony Brook University members, I genuinely believes that we have been able to change many Stony Brook University students' lives for the better. Although, the startup started in the main university campus it expanded digitally to cover all of Stony Brook University as a whole.