Dissolve
Dissolve is a text-based take on ephemeral social media–with a catch. After a post has been posted, it will automatically expire in 24 hours, BUT it cannot be deleted until then.
CLIENT HCI 553 - Social Interaction Design
COMPLETED 2019
ROLE Designer, Researcher
DELIVERABLES Mid-Fi Prototype, Report
THE PROCESS
Creating a platform that finds the balance between risk and virality.
In the current social media landscape, there exists apps that can incite virality and apps that have temporary posting. But when someone wants to post something that is both viral and temporary, there aren’t many options. The goal of this project was to create a platform that would find that balance between risk and virality. A space where users can post freely in temporary permanence.
Competitive Review > Persona > Low-Fidelity Prototype > Usability Testing > Mid-Fidelity Prototype
COMPETITIVE REVIEW
Analyzing the insights and frustrations of current social media apps.
A virality melting pot constantly creating the next big trend and topic. They use small character counts don’t allow edits for a more in-the-moment experience for both those tweeting and following.
Insights
Easy to find trending posts and users based off hashtags and content.
Simple posting rules creating consistency in both post length and newsfeed.
Easy to find new people and content.
Frustrations
Character limit can make longer posts less suitable for this platform.
Negative trends can create a mob mentality.
Profiles can become cluttered with retweets and posts being in the same feed with limited sorting features.
Snapchat
One of the first and most successful ephemeral social media apps. They excel at sending and receiving temporary content, and innovated the Story feature that’s used on many platforms today.
Insights
Easy to send and receive temporary photos, videos and messages.
Posting to your Story is simple and quick.
Serves as a place to post without long-term consequences.
Frustrations
Hard to find new people.
Lacks many tools to see viral or trending posts.
Has become oversaturated with competitors due to the Story feature becoming so prevalent.
PERSONA
Bonny Rain loves spontaneity and trends but doesn’t always know which platform to post on.
Background
Extroverted UX Designer who fancies the thrill of life. She loves the viral nature of Twitter and is constantly sending her friends unique and weird Snapchats. She likes to connect with the world and see what’s going on at that very moment in time.
Needs
A place where she can post exactly what’s going on in her life to update her friends.
Somewhere she can be spontaneous and weird without worrying about the long term consequences.
A way to see what’s going on in the world at that very moment in time.
Frustrations
Doesn’t know which platform to post on because she wants virality but also doesn’t want permanence.
Doesn’t like seeing old posts and feeling like she’s caught in the past.
Doesn’t want some of the more weird and odd things she posts to stay on the internet.
LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
Showcasing ephemeral social media.
The purpose of this prototype was to showcase what an ephemeral sharing social media platform could look like, based off of the current landscape. For this iteration, I focused on a few key tasks:
Liking a post
Finding trending posts
Viewing your profile and expired posts
Home
Trending/Search
Profile
Home
Trending/Search
Profile
USABILITY TESTING
Conducting a usability test on the usability of the user interface.
I conducted a Chalkmark Study on the usability of the UI and feedback on the user experience. I improvised on the structure of Chalkmark to simulate usability testing by having users conduct the first-click test, then see the correct answer and provide feedback on their choice. After analyzing the feedback, I concluded that 3 features could be improved upon or added:
Dark Mode
More color vibrance
Better Search/Trending Icon
Task 1 Results
Task 1 Feedback
Task 2 Results
Task 2 Feedback
Task 3 Results
Task 3 Feedback
Overall Feedback
MID-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
A more refined and approachable user experience.
For this prototype, I iterated on the low-fidelity and added/changed features based on the insights gained from usability testing. The most notable changes included the addition of dark mode, a more vibrant color profile, and a search icon that better represented both search and trending.
Home (Dark)
Home (Light)
Search/Trending (Dark)
Search/Trending (Light)
Profile (Dark)
Profile (Light)
REFLECTION
Learning from the success and mistakes from other products can lead to real innovation.
Through this project, I got a better understanding of how different characteristics and features can set social media platforms apart. I also gained a better understanding on aspects of the user interface that have become naturally known for the medium, such as trending existing in search and liking and commenting on a post. Learning from what each platform does right and wrong lead me to the idea of temporary permanence, marrying the virality of Twitter and ephemeral nature of Snapchat. From that process, I learned how to take a look at a landscape of products, learn from their success and mistakes and innovate something that moves the needle forward.