Project 1: The Hangge Outte
The Problem (spoiler: it’s not the problem)
My client came to me with a problem — her and her friends can’t seem to ever find a hangout spot other than an apartment. I thought to myself, how is this possible? We live in Chicago, a city built on the shores of greatness with a plethora of bars, restaurants, and cafes to tickle anyone’s fancy. My client and I sat down to chat so we could get down to the real problem.
We talked about why an apartment doesn’t always work for her and her friends. It made sense — apartments are small, there are limitations with roommates, and it can be intrusive to the host. These were commonalities among every person I interviewed (scroll down to check out my affinity map!) Everyone also mentioned that ambiance/atmosphere is really important when considering places to go. So it was clear — we don’t want to hang out at an apartment. So where do we go?
“Friends are indecisive and noncommittal”
“We want to be social and get out of the box we live in”
Digging Deeper
So back to the “we can’t find anywhere to go in a city with literally thousands of restaurants and bars” issue. After talking to my client and three other 20-somethings living in the same city, I was definitely seeing some patterns. When a group of friends decide to hang out, it usually starts with a text message. Some options might be suggested, then a couple more get tossed in there. Some people want a chill spot where they can drink cheap beer, while others are wanting to try the newest cocktail bar. They go back and forth. Then the weather gets brought up, there is an explosion of emojis on your screen, you wonder why Tommy isn’t responding at all, and a decision never gets made.
The REAL Problem & The Solution
And so, the problem was not what my client originally thought. The problem is actually that there may be too many hangout options and friends have a hard time collaborating and making a decision on where to go. I wanted to find a way to offer a convenient and organized way for friends to collaborate on finding a public gathering location. I also wanted to meet the social needs of the group while alleviating the stress of decision making.
There are too many hangout options and friends have a hard time collaborating and making a decision on where to go.
The solution I came up with is “The Hangge Outte” (shout out to the “The Hangge Uppe”, a bar in the Gold Coast, which my friends will only pronounce as “The Hanggie Uppie” and you should, too). With Hangge Outte, I wanted to solve for three main challenges: Convenience & Organization, Narrowing Down Options, and Decision Making. Here we go!
Challenge 1: Convenience & Organization
Having an app like the Hangge Outte solves this problem in itself because it offers a way for friends to collaborate on ONE goal: to find a place to hangout, and not an apartment. It does not allow for friends to get off track and discuss anything else and it also removes the pressure that often gets placed on one person (the host).
Challenge 2: Narrowing Down Options
During my research, I discovered that people often turn to Yelp, Thrillist, Infatuation, Instagram and other similar sites to fuel new ideas on places to go. Turns out that even with filters, this still returns hundreds of options to sift through. Not to mention, only one person gets to put their input here and leaves out the rest of the group.
With The Hangge Outte, everyone gets a say! When an invite gets sent, and the friends say “Yay” (or Nay) to hanging out, they are then taken to the first screen which asks them what they want to do. Once each friend responds, the app considers everyone’s anonymous (and therefore hopefully honest) responses and comes up with the top three hangout spots which then get sent to the group. The friends are now asked to rank these three spots. Since these three spots are based on what the friends answered, they are likely to be a good match for everyone! Next to each suggestion, there is a picture of place so everyone can check out the ambience, and also shows whether the spot matches that person’s criteria or not. Once everyone ranks the final three places, the app does the calculations and sends everyone a notification of the place they decided to go! So, a hangout spot has been decided and everyone got a say!
Challenge 3: Decision Making
I’m probably one of the most indecisive person ever, so I get this. I prefer to call myself “easy-going”, but really I just hate making decision for a group…and turns out, a lot of people feel this way.
The Hangge Uppe makes decision-making easier. First of all, it anonymous and required. On the “decision-making pages” (i.e. the filter interface and the ranking interface), there is a countdown timer which urges each person to make a decision and to make one pretty quickly.
Another feature is that each person must select at least one option, but not more than three. If you don’t choose at least one filter (or don’t type in a suggestion), you will get an error message notifying you that you can’t continue. Of course, if the timer runs before you submit, you can still see the final three matches (although those three will only be based on your friends’ criteria, not yours… your loss!)
On the ranking page, there is also a 5 minute countdown. If you miss out on ranking the final three spots, you won’t be sent the final decision and won’t know where your friends are going. Sad.
Reflection & Future Improvements
I really enjoyed this project because it hit close to home and allowed me to really think about how I could solve a problem that troubles me and my friends almost every week. I believe The Hangge Outte does a good job solving the main problems, but there are definitely some things I would want to revisit in the future.
The Chat Feature
I added a chat feature, purposely only allowing the group members to chat AFTER a hangout spot has been determined. I thought this was a good addition because at this point, the app’s purpose was just to find a hangout spot. That was the main goal, and now that the goal has been met, I wanted to allow the group members to discuss other logistics: specific time, rides, etc. I received some feedback from my classmates that this chat feature may negate the purpose and allow people to chat and possibly say “Do we really want to go here? Let’s maybe try (insert bar) instead”. This is definitely true, but text messaging will always exist and that is a problem I cannot solve for. People are always going to have that ability to text outside the app and go against what the app helped them decide (NOTE: I almost typed “what the app decided” and that is not true…the app did NOT decide for them, it was actually just assisting the group in narrowing down options and alerting the group of the hangout spot the group decided to go to.)
Another App
More apps, more problems. I think in the future, I might want to consider making this an extension of iMessages, rather than another application. I would want to do more user research to find out if people would actually download an app like The Hangge Outte or if they would find it more convenient to have it within their iMessages.
“Thanks, but no thanks”
What is stopping people from ignoring the final decision, cancelling on their friends because they don’t like the final decision, or starting a text message outside of the app to discuss other options? Nothing.
This is totally true and there’s really nothing anyone can do about it. But if the problem is that people can’t decide and want help in narrowing down options and finding a hangout spot that meets the needs/wants of everyone in their group, then they should give The Hangge Outte a try.
Take-aways
This project allowed me to learn more about empathetic design. It was hard to not think about what I want, especially with a topic that I can relate to so much. There were many times when I had to stop myself from making a decision because it’s what I would want, and remind myself that I am designing for other people’s needs and not my own.
I had a hard time developing insights, but I worked with my teachers and was finally able to understand how to develop insights from my observations. I realized how important developing strong insights are because they help you determine what you will be designing for.
I also got exposed to the entire UX process, and took my first stab at sketching and prototyping. Overall, project 1 was FUN and I am excited for the the next project…
Thanks for reading!
If you’re up for it, here is a link to my clickable prototype. Enjoy!
