RALLY
Rally is a mobile app designed to reduce the complexities of planning social outings.
Elevator pitch
Rally is a social app that flips the script on social media, encouraging face-to-face interaction and the making of memories rather than isolation and app addiction. Rally aids people in creating and sharing a plan easily, meeting up, staying together, and finding friends on a night out.
Statement of intent
Rally is an app that utilizes location sharing amongst friends, upon user approval. It acknowledges and caters to two types of users: the planner and the non-planner. Rally provides a clear way to create and view a concrete plan (displaying all information in one place), incentivizes non-planners to 'RSVP' to a plan in advance, and eliminates the difficulties that come with trying to get ahold of someone while out at a bar. Users can create both a planned event or a quick share. A quick share is when a user shares their location and a description with their friends on-the-go. Rally offers many features that help to improve a users night out as well as to plan it.
How might we
make planning and attending a night out a smooth, stress-free process for both the planner and attendees?
create an incentive for people to commit to plans for a night out in advance?
utilize location sharing for users to keep track of friends while out?
Tools
Figma
Illustrator
Duration
January - May 2023
Roles
UI Designer
UX Designer & Researcher
Graphic Designer
Co-Creator
RESEARCH
Precedents research
UNTAPP‘D
“It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Dodgeball
Dodgeball would send a text or email to the user's friends with their location to initiate a meet-up. The user could also text Dodgeball with a list of things they were looking for at a bar, and the app would reply with a list of suggested bars near the user. However, Dodgeball did not utilize location services.
Find my friends
Find My Friends is a location-sharing app that utilizes indefinite location sharing. The user must grant permission for their contact to have the user’s location, but once they do, it is shared until the user either removes that person’s permission or turns their location off altogether.
User interviews - Round 1
Round 1 interviews focused on asking the target audience questions surrounding how they plan and participate in a night out.
Methodology
eight 1:1 in-person interviews
Participant screening
Young adults aged 21-35 who enjoy going out to bars
What do you find is the most difficult part of planning a night out with a group of friends
What do you find is the most difficult part of committing to a night out with a group of friends?
What are some things you keep in mind or worry about when going out with friends/ a large group of people?
Sample questions
“On a night out, I’m usually worried or concerned about making sure everyone stays together and knowing whether or not people are leaving or changing location.”
“I like going out because of the social interaction and the opportunity to see people I wouldn’t normally think to text personally.”
“It’s difficult to get everyone to respond and be on the same page about what we are doing and agree on it.”
Quotes
We concluded that our participants were unsatisfied with their current methods for planning and keeping track of friends on a night out because current methods are not catering to major user needs. While our participants struggle with their current communication methods, location sharing proved useful on a night out for keeping track of friends and helping individuals feel safe. However, the most popular option, Find my Friends, is an indefinite sharing method only utilized for close friends.
Key takeaways
User interviews - Round 2
Round 2 interviews focused on question surrounding location sharing and safety.
Methodology
Conducted nine 1:1 in-person interviews
Young adults aged 21-35 who enjoy going out to bars
Participant screening
“If we are going to hang out and get separated, having each other on Find My Friends is necessary.”
“No, the buddy system doesn’t work on a night out. I frequently end up alone. As adults, it is a lot to ask of your friends to keep track of you. As bad as it may sound, everyone has their own agenda on a night out, and safety is often not the top priority. Find My Friends is a much more reliable source.”
“I feel safer the more people that have my location.”
Quotes
Do you believe that the buddy system works better or worse than using Find my Friends on a night out? Why?
Have you ever felt threatened by your location being shared on Find my Friends or Snapchat? Why?
Why do you start sharing your location with someone? Do you put a lot of thought into sharing your location with someone?
Sample questions
People have a mutual understanding that sharing their location with someone means trusting them. They do not take it personally if someone does not want to share their location with them because that person has a right to that decision and to their own privacy. As nice as Find My Friends is for safety and convenience purposes, the fact that it is indefinite leads to possible over-use, over-reliance, and a potential lack of privacy. Also, indefinite sharing means an even higher level of trust, therefore users are not going to have everyone they may want to briefly share their location with on Find My Friends because they are not at that level of trust.
Key takeaways
User personas
We created five user persons, two non-planners, and three planners. Below are two personas representing the two main user types that would use Rally.
GAVIN GARDINER
Non-planner
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“Having a way to coordinate plans to my friends, and keep tabs on them would really help me feel better about going out in a big group.”
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Planner
Perfectionist
Introverted
Home-body
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Make a concrete plan early on
Have her friends commit ahead of time
Plan a fun night for herself and her friends
Know where her friends are at all times
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Make sure her friends are safe and stick together
Spend quality time with friends
Make good memories
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Long shifts call for a night out with friends to blow off some steam
Wants different atmospheres and experiences; loves going to multiple bars
Get socializing in with friends
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Ivy is a senior in college studying Design and Computer Science at San Diego State University. She spends a lot of her time doing school work, and building a portfolio for a job after college. She works for her school doing small graphic design projects, and hopes to get an established career in graphic design after she graduates. She loves playing with her roommate’s cat Clover, and watching tv when she has free time. She often spends her weekends with friends or her boyfriend, going out for a drink or doing other fun activities.
OLIVE MARTEN
Planner
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“Having a way to find my friends without them needing to be on their phones would make going out a lot easier!”
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Impulsive
Layed back
Extroverted
Active
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Find the best plan
Keep his friend group together while they move from bar to bar
Have a spontaneous night
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No one replies when it comes time to meet up
Committing to plans too soon
Losing track of people when moving from bar to bar
Committing to something and then a better option comes along
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Long shifts call for a night out with friends to blow off some steam
Wants different atmospheres and experiences; loves going to multiple bars
Get socializing in with friends
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Gavin is a 23 year old, male. He is CU Boulder Alumni who graduated two years ago, and studied Accounting and Finance in the Leeds School of Business. He now lives in Denver with two of his friends from college. Gavin loves going to the gym and eating healthy. He is very active, and hikes and mountain bikes on the weekends. When it is winter, he skis often. Gavin is a very social person who loves spending as much time as possible with his friends. Gavin is currently in between corporate jobs and works as a waiter to make some quick cash. He enjoys going out on the weekends with his roommates for a drink after work.
Competitive analysis
Affinity diagrams
Used to identify themes and sub-themes within the Round 1 interviews.
First, we wrote out all of our interviewees and their corresponding feedback. Next, we broke up all feedback based on the following common themes:
communication, drawbacks, concerns, priorities, benefits, and miscellaneous.
Lastly, we took the above themes and broke them up further into sub-themes.
Round 1 interviews
First, we wrote out all of our interviewees and their corresponding feedback. Next, we broke up all feedback based on the following common themes:
trust, safety, relationships, convenience, privacy, and miscellaneous.
Lastly, we took the above themes and broke them up further into sub-themes.
Round 2 interviews
DESIGN
Problem statment
Planning and participating in a night out with friends becomes more of a hassle than anything else. Getting people to commit to the plans, decide on a spot and time to meet, agree on where to go, and keep track of friends throughout the night are all reasons why plans fail or fall through.
User flows
Low fidelity wireframes
Mid fidelity wireframes
User testing
We conducted eight user tests for our mid-fidelity wireframes.
I received feedback to make this screen more apparent that the user is, in fact, checked in to the event and is participating in the current alert. Also, this alert should be forward-looking and show the current and next check-in location.
I received feedback to make the top nav bar smaller by adding the search icon to the bottom nav. Also, there needs to be some differentiation in design among the bottom nav options when one is selected.
I was also told to remove the “view” buttons on the notifications screen and instead make the notifications clickable. I also obtained feedback that this screen is confusing and should be split up between friend requests and RSVPs to make things easier to find.
User testing suggestions also included that “Map view” on the event screen should show the locations for all of the bars or check-ins for an event, with some indicator of the current check-in. Potential users also said they would enjoy an icon or something of the sort on “Map view” to show the number of people at each check-in location and a way to see the list of people at each location. Lastly, having both “go home” and “leave event” buttons is unnecessary.
High fidelity wireframes
We conducted ten user tests for our high fidelity wireframes.
Through more user testing, people said that an event should have a radius that encompasses all of the check-in locations. This would be beneficial for users to see their friends who are walking in between locations as “on the move” rather than removing them from the event altogether.
Potential users asked how they would pass the hosting on to someone else if they wanted to leave or if their phone was going to die? They felt there should be a way to do this.
I received feedback that there should be a title or labels on the home screen to make it clear what it is displaying. Also, possibly make quick shares smaller so there can be more on the screen at a time.
Potential users said the “Quick share” screen should utilize an “on” and “off” button rather than a “share” button so that all you have to do is go to “create” then “quick share” and you can view your quick share from there in real-time and easily turn it on and off as you want to.
A/B testing
We couldn’t decide which Home screen design was better suited for our app, so we conducted A/B testing. After completing tests with five users, we received feedback that while design A offers a familiar feed design, design B provides the same information and a map view. This helps the user visualize where all of their friends are in comparison to other people and themselves.
