Design Process

Ideate

Together we brainstormed ideas on sticky notes, drawing inspiration from personal experiences and daily scenarios. We then narrowed them down in an open discussion. There was one idea we felt particularly drawn to:

What if you could send free compliments to people’s phones
in real-time without them ever knowing it was you?

Now imagine this…

You’ve been sitting at a coffee shop for hours. You’re hangry, in a creative rut, your back hurts, your eyes are tired from staring at your laptop. You start to feel anxious from what little progress you’ve made. So, you decide on a bathroom break, leaving all your valuables unattended. Pfft, no one’s going to steal my stuff, you think.

When you return, your items are still there - untouched, as expected - but you also find a sticky note left gently on your screen…

You flip the note over, then back. No name. You quickly scan the coffee shop and see a few others deeply focused in their work. I wonder who it’s from. But it didn’t matter. You smile, feeling all warm and tingly inside. You reread the note and hold it close to you, for just a moment, before sticking it to your keyboard surface. There, right where I can see it.

Taking one deep breath, you feel rejuvenated and inspired to start grinding again. You log into your laptop, fingers placed upon the keys, and so your real work finally begins…

This concept was inspired by a shoutout once received on a social app called Yik Yak.

DEEP DIVE

I remember feeling very touched by someone I'd never met. Our group got to exchanging stories of experiences where we’d felt validated and seen by others. We talked about emotions and how such unsolicited yet selfless, pure gestures made us feel good about ourselves and in turn, encouraged us to see the good in people too. We also discussed anonymity as a ‘mask’ that empowered our truest intentions and solved issues of awkward face-to-face interactions. We concluded:

That something as simple as kind words from a stranger
has the power to positively impact a person’s day
and inspire them to pay it forward.

For our app, we defined this as our Mission:

Research

Competitive Analysis

We looked into existing competitors such as Yik Yak, Brighten, and Kindr to confirm the novelty of our idea. Unlike other apps, ours differed in several ways:

1. It would eliminate the social media component entirely. Though users are required to create basic profiles, they wouldn’t ‘add friends’, maintain a social following, or interact on a feed.

2. Anonymous compliments would be sent directly to a user’s private inbox and never displayed on their profile. We wanted to encourage human compassion in its purest form, while removing the need for public validation.

3. Other apps allowed users to send/receive compliments only to/from those on their friends list. Instead, our system would be limited by GPS location (i.e. within 500 ft radius).

Our app would ultimately combine these key features:

Prototype

Sketches

We focused our design on 2 major user flows: sending a compliment and receiving a compliment.

I took the lead on creating the sketches. After discussing our feedback as a group, I then designed the wireframes using Photoshop and Invision.

WireframES

Test

IN-CLASS TESTING

Using the Wizard-of-Oz method, we performed our tests with a human operator we called the ‘Messenger’. This role served as a medium between our prototype and users.

To prepare for testing, I created reaction signs that represented real-life interactions between the anonymous sender and recipient.

Handwritten notes were delivered by the Messenger to recipients in a closed envelope, representing an app notification to the recipient’s inbox, alerting them of a new message.

Recipients then responded with a reaction sign, after which the Messenger would relay to the anonymous sender, representing an app notification of the recipient’s reaction to the sender’s message.

Our testing involved both navigating our prototype and interacting with our Messenger. We outlined step-by-step protocols for testing both user flows. I played the role of facilitating these tests:

1. Sending a compliment

   🗺Navigate to Maps
   👤Select a recipient to send a compliment to
   💌 Write a compliment on the paper provided
   *Messenger delivers compliment to recipient in an envelope 📩
   *Messenger returns to sender with the recipient’s chosen reaction ❤️
   
   

2. Receiving a compliment

   💌 Navigate to Inbox
   *Messenger arrives with a compliment in a closed envelope 📩
   💭Read the compliment written on the paper
   🤔Choose a reaction to the compliment given
   *Messenger delivers chosen reaction to sender 📲

DISCOVERY PHASE

From observations and survey insights, we identified some pain points for iCompliment:

1. Users had trouble navigating our app and found our ‘back’ arrows to be confusing.

2. Few felt uncomfortable sending messages to strangers and would rather interact with friends.

3. Some were concerned with being sent inappropriate messages and needed to feel protected by unsolicited interactions.

ITERATION

We decided on the following changes:

1. Global Navigation on all pages

2. Addition of an Address Book feature

3. Implementation of a Flagging System

REAL-WORLD TESTING

As our project came to a close, we performed one last round of user testing. We needed to evaluate the public’s reaction to iCompliment in real-world situations. This time, it took place at UC San Diego’s most infamous setting during finals: Geisel Library.

From ground floor to the 8th, students were crammed at every table, faces buried in notes, morale crushed by books. All of UCSD flocked to Geisel — some praying to the Sun God for passing grades on their upcoming exams. The time and place was perfect for spreading a little positivity.

We randomly selected 13 students to participate in our testing and used the same Wizard-of-Oz method from before. They were asked to select a person in the room and write them a note of encouragement. The following were their reactions:

Results

iCompliment received extremely positive feedback by the public and nearly all users loved participating in our simulation.

During final presentations, our classmates also applauded the success and creativity of our project. The best compliment, however, came directly from our Professor:

Reflection

If we were to further develop this app, some questions we’d considered:

• What’s the longevity of this app? How can we keep our users engage and wanting to come back to using the app?

• How can we ensure the safety and privacy of our users? What security measures are necessary to prevent and resolve anonymous misconduct?

• How might we expand on this “pay it forward” concept and reflect them as other features?

Though the app isn’t available in today’s market (yet), this project was incredibly rewarding for our team. iCompliment demonstrated that compassion for others doesn’t have to be hard at all. The power to positively impact another person’s life is right at our finger tips.

I especially loved this project because I got the chance to design an experience for topics I care about: spreading love through simple acts and celebrating what makes us human. Whether or not this app becomes reality, this project helped me to reaffirm my values:

Other projects

I’ve worked on design projects ranging from website, mobile app, lettering, and illustration.