An Inclusive Multicultural Media and Social Networking Platform

The Inccubator

The startup, The Inccubator (The Incc) is a multicultural media & social networking platform that brings cultures closer together in celebration of not only themselves but one another. With the website already designed, the mobile was next!

Context

Aim

The aim of this project was to create a simple and engaging mobile experience.

Team of 2 ( Myself+ another UX designer) 3 months

Team and Duration

Product Design + Research
During this collaboration project, I worked to utilize research, prioritize information architecture, and design high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes that paired with the platform’s website.

My Role

PROJECT GOAL

How can we design an iOS mobile app that seamlessly translates the engaging experience of our existing website onto mobile devices, ensuring a harmonious user experience?

SOLUTION

A multicultural social networking iOS mobile application

PROCESS

Ok, but how did I actually get there?

Since the platform website was already established, the stakeholder requirement was to extend the design to the iOS app. While the user research phase for the product itself had been completed, there was still a significant amount of research needed to lay the groundwork of the project.

For the remainder of the project, my focus was on mobile UX Research, developing low to mid-fidelity wireframes, and create the onboarding process for the app.

INITIAL STAKEHOLDER RESEARCH

Gaining a deep understanding of the product through stakeholder engagement

During the first meeting, I quickly identified that the platform was content-heavy. It comprised of four major features: digital publication, social media networking, content creation, and business interaction. Each of these major features had its own unique subcomponents and content elements.

GENERATIVE RESEARCH

Objective: To conduct an in-depth analysis of the exisiting designs and research provided by the previous designers

After closely examining the previous team’s notes, I summarized their goals for the platform website into a set of user stories. These user stories served as guidelines for structuring the information architecture during the mobile app design phase.

As a user:

  1. I want to have access to all cultural channels.

  2. I want to be able to create content.

  3. I want a personal profile to network with other users.

I also identified two key challenges with the existing platform:

  1. A lack of clear focus, leading to confusion among users about the platform’s core purpose.

  2. User confusion about how to navigate and utilize the platform effectively.

This is what the users said..

“This is overwhelming and I am not sure how to start”

“I don’t know if people want to post funny or personal things or if they will want to post professional information.”

“My understanding is that he’s putting together what is a business networking platform, but I was trying to determine whether it is more along the lines of LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter as well?”

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How Might We..

  1. Create an engaging and personalized onboarding process that guides users seamlessly through the platform's features and benefits?

  2. Build an app with a clear focus, ensuring users understand how to navigate and utilize it effectively from the start?

  3. Formulate an app design that is easy to navigate, aligning it with the existing website design for a cohesive user experience?

The strategy to achieve the goals and the “How Might We” questions consisted of three steps:

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

The first step involved establishing a coherent structure for the application, aligning it with the design thinking of the website.

I categorized the application into distinct sections, detailing the various features within each of these segments

Home

Your Daily Digect

Lastest Feed

Content Creation

Content

Content Channel

Creator

Profile

About

Personal Channel

Incc Cards

More

Movers & Shakers

Subscriptions

Incc Business

Refer a Friend

Cache & Data

Support

WIREFRAMES

The second step comprised of brainstorming and sketching screens, and creating low to mid-fidelity wireframes, all of which were guided by the sitemap

Due to time constraints, we opted to engage in design discussions with the founders, who served as both the stakeholders and initial users of the app.

UI STYLE GUIDE

The third step involved creating a comprehensive style guide to serve as a set of rules for the final high-fidelity designs.

Forming the style guide presented two primary considerations. It needed to harmonize with the Incc website design while embodying the application’s core focus. To achieve this, we opted for a dark base to contrast with the blue and yellow color palette, highlighting the platform’s energy and diversity.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

No product did it all

The previous design team had already conducted a competitor analysis of platforms with similar features to The Incc. Consequently, the focus shifted towards conducting a competitive market analysis. With research, I identified the top five onboarding patterns best suited for The Incc.

ONBOARDING

The Incc User Onboarding Experience (The Stakeholder Version*)

*See reference in reflection below

The user onboarding experience not only offers personalization, but coach marks to educate new users about the application features

PRODUCT STRATEGY

At this point, I had a product that addressed the user's pain points. But, if I continued to work and enhance the application, I would consider how viable The Incc is. This meant there were tons of strategic factors to consider! How could it grow? How could it be monetized?

Growth Strategies

  1. Gamification. The Incc can introduce gamification elements to boost user engagement and retention. This can include incentives for posting, suggesting Movers and Shakers, and even challenges.

  2. Content Localization: Investing in translating and localizing content not only can expand reach but also enables learning opportunities for individuals who may not know English or are unaware of cultures apart from their own

  3. Content Partnerships: Collaborating with multicultural organizations, influencers, and content creators can promote The Inccubator and reach a wider audience.

Monetization Strategies

  1. Interactive Cultural Experiences: Create virtual tours, workshops, or immersive experiences related to different cultures and charge users for participation

  2. Subscription Model: Subscribing for premium services can provide users with exclusive content and features such as the Interactive Cultural feature!

REFLECTION

This project was an invaluable learning experience! Here is what I’ve learned from it and how I would improve my approach for the next stakeholder and project

  1. Balance Scope*: Balancing feature scope and maintaining a user-centered approach is critical. Not every feature envisioned by the stakeholders may align with user needs and need to be evaluated.

  2. Advocating for Design Decisions*: I would strongly advocate for better user-centric design choices, offer detailed explanations for why they are preferable over alternative options (and stick to them!) In both the onboarding and app design stages, we face constraints in aligning with the user research due to the necessity of accommodating all the features and requirements envisioned by stakeholders.

With more time, I would…

  1. Perform A/B testing and Further Research: For the onboarding aspect, I would perform A/B testing to understand user sign-in method preferences - Social Media vs. Phone number vs OTP code. For the rest of the application, I want to understand the success rate of the information architecture presented. Is there a feature that has a better place to live? Too many features? Features that are not being used?

  2. Innovate and Introduce New Features: This will foster the company's growth by encouraging user engagement and a broader audience. Additionally, this would be an opportunity to capitalize on monetization to sustain product development for long-term success!