BlendIn
Loneliness is a common experience for many immigrants. Moving to a new country can be a stressful and overwhelming experience. BlendIn is a native iOS app designed to help immigrants connect with their new communities in order to make integration easier.
My Role: UX/UI Designer
Team: Individual, Capstone project
Duration: 10 weeks
Tools: Figma
Designed for: iOS mobile
Video Summary
Introduction
Starting a new life in a new country can be quite daunting. The pressure of adjusting to a new culture is one that a lot of people can relate with. I personally had difficulties adjusting when I moved to Canada for the first time, and this is why this project is so important to me and will be very helpful to the users.
The problem space
The issue of loneliness and social isolation in immigrants has been recognized by researchers, policymakers, and community organizations. Despite the recognition, effective solutions to address it are still lacking.
The task
To leverage technology in order to create a way to reduce loneliness amongst immigrants using methods that prioritize accessibility, inclusivity and addresses the unique needs and challenges of immigrant communities.
My Approach
Design Thinking Process
For this project, I applied the design thinking process because this is a process that has the end user in mind from the start to the finish. This approach was used because the success of the digital product will be defined completely by user interaction.
Secondary Research
24%
of immigrants in Canada reported feeling lonely often
1.50
is the average loneliness score for immigrants in Canada, compared to 1.36 for Canadian born citizens
23%
percentage of Canada’s population that are immigrants
Research Objectives
To examine the factors that contribute to loneliness and social isolation in immigrants
To explore the possibilities and drawbacks of using technology to address the problem space
To achieve a solution that can be utilized by everyone, although it is tailored with the young immigrants in mind as the ideal users.
User Interviews & Insights
I interviewed 3 people aged 18-34 years old who had immigrated to Canada within the last 5 years (2018-2023). I went with this focus group because they would give an accurate representation of what the current situation is since they have only recently migrated (within 5 years). Here are some themes I found:
✍️ Immigrants are interested in connecting with people who have similar interests.
✍️ Immigrants are currently using social media to connect with people around them.
✍️ Some immigrants find it hard to connect because of discrimination and injustice they experience.
✍️ Immigrants want to help newer immigrants to have a better integration experience.
Key Theme: Finding people with similar interests
From the interviews, I noticed that the people were not satisfied with just virtual friendships. They actually wanted to connect and eventually meet these new connections. This information was vital in directing the way I thought about my solution
The Design Challenge
How might we create connections between young immigrants and like-minded people so that they feel less lonely and isolated?
User Persona
Developing the persona
My user persona, Tobi, represents a specific group - recent immigrants who are struggling to find a sense of community in their new environment. He embodies the pain points, goals and motivations identified in the user interviews. Developing the persona helped me create a solution to the design challenge with greater empathy for the user.
Experience Map
Considering Tobi’s needs, I created an experience map to show details of different points of interaction in his quest to find a solution to his pain points.
Task Flow
Why is my task flow ideal for my user ?
I went for a simple and straight-forward task flow that represents different user stories within my core epic - connecting with people with similar interests. These are my reasons for using a simple flow:
💡It is difficult to predict how comfortable immigrants will be with technology and complex digital products. A simple task flow will make the product easier to navigate and understand.
💡Most immigrants in a new country are usually there as students or workers. It will benefit them if my task flow does not have multiple layers, which could tend to be distracting.
Exploratory Sketches
I sketched out my ideas on paper to help bring my task flow to life. The sketches show iterations of different portions on the proposed digital solution.
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Search & Group suggestion ideas.
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Group info page and suggested actions
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Log in/sign up page design
Greyscale Wireframes
My sketches inspired my greyscale wireframes. After they were created, I went through two rounds of user testing with 5 testers per round. After each round, the points gathered led to user inspired iterations to the design and flow of the product. Below, I will go through the 3 versions of my wireframes.
Version 1
Feedback from first round of interviews:
Group suggestions on the “search results” page should be on the main landing page to help a user find other things they might like.
The selection chips should be aligned better
Some font sizes were too small
Version 2
I brought the suggestions to the landing page under “popular groups near you”
I aligned the chips better in search suggestions and fixed the font sizes in the areas where concerns were raised
Feedback from second round of interviews:
User test feedback suggested a button to allow users interact with the suggestion carousel on the landing page.
Search button on the search page to appear when the user selects or types an interest
Version 3
I added interactive buttons for horizontal scrolling on “popular groups near you”
I put a search button on the page after an interest has been searched, instead of the next button on the top in Version 1.
I changed the bottom navigation icons to be bolder and easier to read
Developing the brand
The name BlendIn was coined by joining the words “blend” and “in”. It was inspired by one of my research interviews where the interviewee said they wish they had an easy way to blend in. These are some reasons why I believe the name is perfect for the brand:
The name encourages social integration which is one of the pain points of my user persona
It is memorable and catchy. This will help users remember the name and spread it by word of mouth
It has positive connotations of inclusivity, acceptance and belonging and this helps drive the purpose of the digital product
Welcoming, Engaging, Connected
Being a social app, BlendIn should feel inclusive, engaging and welcoming. The purpose is to welcome people to a place they are not familiar with and this is why I went with something fun and engaging but also simple and not too immature. The colours I went with were meant to foster trust with the user while also staying within the WCAG AA/AAA standards for accessibility. I used sans serif font to improve legibility for the user.
The Solution
After applying all UX techniques learnt over my 12 week bootcamp at BrainStation, I have developed BlendIn - a social app for immigrants to connect with people around them who share similar interests.
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See popular group suggestions near you or search for your specific interest
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Create a group if the search results do not match your interests
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View details about existing groups. If they align with your interests, you can join them!!
Product Marketing Site
I made a responsive marketing site for my product with both a desktop/tablet and mobile web version. The tablet design represents a multi platform use of my product because of the different devices available for use today. View prototypes:
Value Proposition
Customize your search by country of origin
When you sign up for BlendIn, you are asked to set your country of origin or where you are immigrating from. When you search for interests at your new location, you can filter results by members of groups who are from your set country. This will help you integrate while also having someone you feel comfortable around. This will be really helpful to overcome issues like language barriers especially if the members from your country have been in the new place for a while.
The app will also support multiple languages so that users can interact with the product in a language they are comfortable with.
Design Impact & Future Thinking
Tarot Cards of Tech
The worst headline I can imagine about my product is “Racist group formed on BlendIn”. This is the worst because it is literally the opposite of what the app was made for. The aim is to help integrate the immigrants, therefore a headline that highlights any sort of discrimination would be very bad.
I think users will be concerned about the content that groups are allowed to share within their spaces, but this can be mitigated by allowing users report offensive content posted on groups.
My product can cause harm if used to mobilize people into groups to spread hate or cause harm.
As stated earlier, an entirely opposite use of my product would be if people use the app to generate discriminatory groups towards immigrants or other members of the society.
Key Project Learnings & Next Steps
Key Learnings
I learnt the entire UX design process over the course of this project.
I learnt how to empathize with the users and let go of whatever ideas I have if it does not solve the user’s problems.
I learnt how to use constructive feedback to improve my work.
I learnt how to do better project management and time management.
I got a better understanding of Figma and other design tools.
Next Steps
I will like to expand this app to not only cater for immigrants but for the elderly. They will be able to find other seniors near them who like the same things and can go hang out. This will improve quality of life and help them make great connections while staying happy.
I would also like to complete the app for the purpose it is serving right now. I would need a team of software engineers and data scientists to get it started. I believe that this is a very useful app that can be used to solve a real problem.