Potluck Pals App
Overview
In a three-hour design jam hosted by Airbnb, a group of six UMSI students and I developed a mobile app concept to address the needs of international students interested in connecting with their new communities. After rapidly conducting research and creating low-fidelity prototypes, my teammates and I were selected as the first-place winners of the design jam by a panel of Airbnb recruiters and UX professionals.
Project Timeline
Three hours
My Role
UX Researcher, Illustrator, Interaction Designer, Presenter
UX Methods
Interviews, Personas, Prototypes, Sketching
Summary of Findings
“Create a solution that helps international students find support in their new communities.”
At the beginning of the design jam, participants were asked to create a solution for some of the problems experienced by international students when acclimating to their new communities. Working within a three-hour time span, our group had to be strategic about the research we conducted. We began the process by developing our own set of research questions:
What are international student’s major pain points when adjusting to their new communities?
What does “support” mean to international students, and what kind of support are they seeking?
Who do international students want to connect with in their new communities?
How does an international student’s culture affect how they connect with their new community?
We interviewed several international students that were present, and gathered three main findings. From these interviews, we also developed personas to better understand our two target audiences.
Social Support
While there is an abundant amount of academic support, social support is difficult to find. Structured activities are available on campus, but don’t facilitate the organic development of close relationships.
Language Barrier
The language barrier is an intimidating hurdle for international students, who are afraid they will suffer social consequences if they accidentally say something wrong.
Cultural “Bubble”
Many international students gravitate towards others who hail from their same country or speak their language, but this creates a cultural “bubble” that reinforces the feeling of being an outsider.
Introducing Potluck Pals
Potluck Pals is a mobile application that encourages users to engage with students from different cultures by allowing them to host and attend open potluck events.
Preliminary concept illustration
Features
Sign-in process that requires a “.edu” email address to ensure users are only connecting with verified members of their community
Profile creation that allows users to specify what types of potlucks they’d like to host and attend
Simplified interface for creating or joining an event to accommodate users with varying levels of language proficiency
Guest limits to allow users to host a potluck that’s appropriate for their space
A field that allows hosts to choose ingredients for guests to bring if they will be cooking together
Features
A search process that focuses on connecting users based on their physical location and desired cuisine
Event pages that use visuals to communicate important information like guest limits, needed ingredients, and more
In-app group chats for potluck hosts and guests to connect prior to the event
User profiles accessible through event pages so guests can learn more about their hosts and vice versa
Event history that shows previous events (both hosted and attended) to help users build credibility and demonstrate their interests
Preliminary concept illustration
Design and Prototype
As an independent project, I designed the Potluck Pals app and created a functional prototype with Sketch to bring our vision to life.
(Re) Introducing Potluck Pals: Key Features
Create a profile that shares your culinary interests with the world
Search for potluck events in your area and join the ones that most interest you and fit your dietary needs
Create and share potluck events with your community
Browse user profiles to learn more about event hosts and guests
Suggested events based on user location, specified interests, and popularity
In-app links to blogs and articles to share information about hosting, cooking, and more
Lessons Learned
Being considerate of all of your users’ needs and maintaining a team-oriented mindset is a recipe for success.
While some user groups may be considered secondary to the target user group, their experience is still important to consider while designing a product. When we created Potluck Pals, we were trying to address the pain points of international students who are interested in connecting with their community. However, in order to ensure that Potluck Pals would meet the needs of our target audience, it was critical that domestic students also interact with the application. Knowing this, we completed interviews with domestic students and created a domestic student persona. When explaining why our group was selected as the winners of the challenge, representatives from Airbnb stated that they were impressed by our consideration of both international and domestic students.
This experience was also a lesson in collaboration. When working with a small team and a tight deadline, working collaboratively and distributing the workload among all team members is critical to ensuring the success of the project.
