Comyuno: matchmaking tool and re-design
Final Ironhack Bootcamp project | 2 weeks | with Teresa Prosch
The final project of the Ironhack Bootcamp was a two intense weeks sprint. I worked with my teammate Teresa, and we went through the design thinking process to come up with a re-design and adding a matchmaking tool for Comyuno, the social web-based managing app for events and locations.
What is Comyuno
Comyuno is a social network that connects people based on a specific location, a community or an event.
The web app has a social feed where all the users and organizers can post comments, a section with private messages and a schedule that the users can personalize with a Tinder-like feature, swiping right or left depending on if they want to attend to a session or not.
Empathize phase
We had a meeting with the Comyuno stakeholder, Marc, and he gave us an overview of Comyuno. We took the following main points:
- Comyuno focuses on security as it doesn’t sell user’s data to third parties and uses secure encryption.
- The business strategy at the moment is to move towards networking events.
- With the current web app, iOS users don’t get notifications. Notifications can be seen as something to avoid in general, but in this case, for events, they are crucial to communicating if talks have been canceled or any other change on the schedule.
Our research was based mainly on surveys and reports. Our stakeholder gave us two satisfaction surveys done after recruitment events and we also found relevant insights into event trends surveys that we found online.
We also conducted a guerrilla testing to know user’s feelings and overall impression when testing the current app.
To do that, we set up a Comyuno social network for the Berlinale event (International Film Cinema Festival in Berlin) and assembled a schedule based on the content of the event website and we set up the social feed and messages with potential comments and information.
We went to the Berlinale Palast when open talks were happening and we asked five users to test the Comyuno web app with the Berlinale channel created for that purpose.
Overall, users liked the idea of the availability of this kind of app, they enjoyed creating their personalized schedule swapping right and left with the Tinder-like feature but it took them a while to discover and learn the app functionalities and they found that the navigation wasn’t very intuitive.
Insights and outcomes
The outcomes from the empathize phase were the following:
- For business strategy reasons we will focus on networking events.
- Mobile event apps are the #1 preferred way German attendees want to consume content and share it out.
- 75% of German attendees downloaded a mobile app for an event.
- 60% of event attendees use iOS.
- Users have trouble navigating the Comyuno web-app because of how the information is organized and because the UI is not clear.
- Event attendees are stressed by the unknown, especially when it comes to being navigated through an event and to network with people they don’t know.
We concluded that we need to focus on a native app for iOS (currently iOS users can’t receive notifications because of technical constraints) and to re-design the Comyuno app to make it more intuitive and to cover the main needs of the users when attending events: networking and having up to date information.
Define phase
The problem that we will try to solve is that event attendees are stressed by the unknown, especially when making new connections. They need a way to navigate and make connections easily because they find it the unknown stressful (new location and new people).
So we were wondering How Might We inform, engage and connect event attendees during an event.
Our goal then is to empower attendees giving them all the updated information they need to make the most of an event and make the networking more comfortable with a match-making tool.
Therefore, after going through an open and closed card sorting, we created a sitemap with three features that cover event attendees main stressors:
- Agenda where users can personalize their schedule,
- Social feed where users can engage and be informed and
- Matchmaking-tool to make networking easier.
After finalizing the sitemap, we created the user flow. We kept updating it after our testings with the low, mid and hi-fi prototypes and this is the final result:
Visual analysis
We did a visual competitor analysis and we realized that most of the events or social media platform apps use the same type of blue. Comyuno also uses a very similar blue for its logo and branding.
We tested the current look and feel of the Comyuno app and on one hand, users said that the app looks fresh, professional and very neutral because of the blue and gray colors. On the other hand, they said that it looks busy, cramped, not clear and that the design is nice but expected for a social network.
Ideate phase
In the ideation phase, we used the Crazy 8s method to come up with an innovative solution for our app. We thought about a superhero analogy for the matchmaking: each of the attendees will be superheroes with masks to protect their identity and they will be able to define their superpowers (the skills they are good at). To save the world, some superheroes have a “partner-in-crime” that will have its specific superpowers or skills.
When the user creates its profile, he/she introduces his/her superpowers and also specifies the superpowers of the “partner-in-crime” or type of person is willing to network with. The app will use algorithms to show which are the best matches for the user. The identities of both will only be revealed when the connection request is accepted.
We re-designed the app from a visual point of view as well. We picked a blue color that is fresh, vibrant and modern and also helps to differentiate Comyuno from the competitors. As a secondary color, we choose yellow.
We created low-fi, mid-fi and hi-fi prototypes that we tested with different users. We did six iterations applying changes depending on the feedback given.
One of the main changes applied that improved the learning of the app and the navigation for the user was adding onboarding screens that explained the concept of the superhero idea and the superpowers.
Hi-fi prototype
Hi-fi prototype of the re-designed Comyuno app
Hi-fi screens
On-boarding screens
Channel log in and profile set up screens
Selecting superpowers screens
Social feed and adding a contact screens
Hackshow
Our project was selected as one of the three finalists of our UX/UI course. We had the chance to present it in the Hackshow, Ironhack’s “demo day” where the selected UX/UI, web development and data analytics graduates show the final projects to the public.
The Hackshow this time was held in Factory Berlin and we explained our process and shown our prototype in front of +100 people. It was a great experience to be part of.
Next steps and take away
Our next steps for this project will be to present the project to our stakeholder and as well to test and work on the accessibly of the app.
One of the main learnings with this project was around the sitemap. When we did our first sitemap it was so complex that we had to step back a bit to see what wasn’t working. We reviewed our MoSCoW method and we focused on the “must-have”. After this, we came up with a way more simplified and solution-focused sitemap.
For this project, I worked for the first time with Figma and it turned out to be a great tool for collaboration as it allowed Teresa and I to work on the same file at the same time. Figma is also good for creating interactions quickly, for that reason, we had the chance to test the hi-fi prototype and apply changes to it within the two weeks sprint. From my point of view, with the time constraints, choosing Principle for this project would have meant to have a hi-fi prototype with slick micro-interactions but for time constraints we wouldn’t have been able to test it. On the other hand, using Figma, we got tested rapid hi-fi prototype and iterated but we had to compromise on the micro-interactions.
Update (March 2021)
The Comyuno native app for iPhone has launched and it is available on the Apple App Store.
