OLD SITE

01. Abstract

“The Map App Flow is my take on a new form of mapping application, redesigned by putting the users social needs first.”

It blends the functionality of traditional in-car mapping systems with highly social friend-mapping aspects, allowing users to ping themselves in and out of the world at will. If a user is out-and-about and wants to allow themselves to be found, then they may simply toggle online, revealing their current location to friends, and the public if they wish. All mapping is purely voluntary, and locations may be toggled to prevent accidental over-exposure of users information.

02. Role

UX Designer UI Designer

03. Launch Date

This project was never officially launched, but used more as a learning tool.

04. The Idea

Around campus I occasionally overhear students chuckling as they realize, they were in the same big building as their friends earlier in the day - without ever having noticed. This concept made me think about how easy it is for us to accidentally move right past each other in a bustling world.

From this idea, I decided to start mocking up a concept for a mapping application that also leverages a social aspect. Excluding Facebook, most social media platforms ignore the physical connection of people from their apps (probably because the second you see your friends, your phone usually goes straight into your pocket!) But in my opinion, due to our nature, humans will always crave physical presence, so hopefully this concept-application will have some merit on the app-store one day!

“My goal for this project was to create an application that would foster real human connection, in the physical world, first and foremost.”

05. The Interface

I felt that to be truly social, the app should incorporate a playful and friendly feeling throughout. To achieve this, I decided to keep the color scheme vibrant and the design choices minimalistic where possible.

06. Competitive Analysis

The direct competitors in the location-based social application space are:

a. FindMyFriends b. Family Locator c. Swarm

These applications are each a variation of mapping application, and each focus on slightly different situational use-cases.

a. FindMyFriends is a default native app on IOS and it leverages the users AppleID to locate and share their location with the people of their choosing. The most direct competitor, due to situational similarity.

b. FamilyLocator is an application that focuses on family interaction and safety. It allows parents to keep track of their children and spouses. It promotes a “circles” feature that prompts users to group their contacts into groups for blanket messaging.

c. Swarm is largely a competition-based application. It’s focus is gamification, allowing users to check into places, and to compete to actively earn points. Being able to see locations of friends and family is a secondary component of the app.

My version is specifically designed to compete with FindMyFriends. My design also allows for messaging friends to plan meet-ups, which puts social needs first. It also allows you to instantly route yourself to your friend-locations with one click, making physical connection its primary function.

07. User Flows

(Pictured Below: Walkthrough of a friend-mapping scenario.)

This user flow allows users to trigger GPS mapping directly to the selected contact within 6 taps of the splash screen (including login and a final confirmation). I wanted to ensure that this mapping feature was easily accessible, subtly encouraging users to take advantage of the live-social aspect this app encompasses.

08. Wireframes

As I began to flesh out this design, I created a framework for the process in which users would move through the application. To keep the application human-centered, I decided to ensure that the most social feature - meeting with friends - was always a simple tap away. To make this easy, I added the “Go” button navigation feature directly into the “Friend Card”.

I decided to put the navigation button there because my survey research showed that a user trying to navigate to a friend, will usually intuitively know to tap on the corresponding contact card.

(Darker frames indicate user start-point, and preferred end-point.)

09. Final Designs

During the final stages of the design process, I really decided to focus on the functionality of the “Discovery Bar” (shown in the first two images below). It is a search bar that plays an important role in user movement throughout the app, allows users to find friends. When a search is entered, the map is triggered, and it shifts to that persons location, allowing friends to easily locate friends.

I also chose to make the “Toggle Visibility” button a part of the Discovery Bar. This small but important feature allows users to control their own privacy - a function that is becoming increasingly important with the advent of location-based technology.

10. Results

As a learning experience, this project presented me with a new outlook on my own personal design process. It made me more confident in my ability to create interesting interfaces, but also left me with an increased desire to understand and comprehend the UX decisions behind some of the biggest applications on the market today.

In the coming months, my goal is to more fully understand the research, data, and decisions that drive some of the most influential design decisions in the world. To learn more about the field, i’m planning to conduct more of my own research. During my next project, I want to more deeply explore the UX side of design, and create a web-native site, fully driven by data and analysis.

Thanks for viewing my project!