SocialTrak
Overview
Description
Social Media is a tool that has been ingrained into the fabric of life. To make life easier for individuals to stay connected, this revolutionary tool also has a sinister side that affects countless individuals. With the emergence of social media, we see an alarming rise in the negative psychological and sometimes physical effects it has on young adults. It is imperative to address this issue that affects the future generations. As a young adult, it is my responsibility to help my peers.
Addressing the Issue
My Impact
Timeline
Create a product that allows individuals to keep track of and monitor their social media to manage and decrease the harmful effects that may come along with the use of social media, like depression, anxiety, and loneliness. For this product, I have utilized data from research to create a seamless, effective, and stress-free experience that allows users to track and monitor social media activity.
The Solution
My Role
User Experience
Visual Design
4 weeks
The way to address this issue and decrease the number of people affected is by limiting and tracking the amount of time an individual spends on social media platform.
Timeline
Conducting Research
Qualification:
Users must be between the ages of 18 through 30
Users must have at least two different social media platforms.
Users must be regularly active on their platforms (At least 2 hours a day)
Survey:
Purpose: Creating a survey allowed me to filter and find ideal participants for the study. The survey gave me a general sense of the participant’s attitudes towards social media.
Interviews:
Once the participants were narrowed down, I selected three that met the criteria. In addition to asking about their experience with social media, I also wanted to gain more insight into how they use social media and how they can try to limit or monitor it. I wanted to see how they could accomplish this task.
Insights from Interview
People are very aware of their emotions
Individuals use cleansing to improve their mindset
Validates the importance of monitoring and limiting social media
Block, follow, and mute is essential for people
Design to emphasize these features
Like an app that limits and tracks their activity
It is beneficial to have a “seek help” option
Participants expressed that there are limited resources
Visualizing and Identifying patterns
To organize and analyze the data from the personas created and the interviews conducted, I used affinity mapping. Since this issue seemed large and complex, I used this tool to narrow my focus. Categorizing each element allowed me to design my product better.
Help with the brainstorming process.
Better organize the data.
Having different sub-sections
ie.) Purpose, Negative aspects, Positive aspects, Solution, Quotes
How to better understand the user
Compared with affinity mapping, the empathy map allowed me to understand the user better. Unlike an affinity map that organizes research, this approach allowed me to empathize with the user and put myself in their shoes.
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Asking the right questions is essential to the success of the product. Through extensive research and interviews, I have developed different How Might We questions to address some of the users' problems and pain points. These questions were designed to analyze the users' perspectives and behaviors.
5 Essential Questions
How might we improve awareness of the effects of social media?
How might we encourage individuals who are experiencing negative emotions to seek help?
How might we relieve some of the negative emotions of using social media?
How might we monitor social media use?
How might we promote the importance of physical and mental well-being?
Personas
Creating persona allows me to keep the focus on actual user needs, ensuring the final product is more intuitive and engaging.
Persona #1
Persona #2
Persona #3
Userflows
Userflow 1: App Usage
Userflow 2: Community
Userflow 2: Profile
Challenges:
One of the challenges I faced was trying to seamlessly incorporate the feature to help individuals track their social media usage and to give them resources to seek help. Before creating a brief sketch of how I wanted my product to be displayed, I had to create a path or a user flow that many individuals are familiar with. I have extensively researched products that could compartmentalize their information to accomplish this. For example, Instagram or Soundcloud utilizes a navigation bar with three to four different sections. In my product, I incorporated a feature allowing users to easily access their information in the middle of the navigation screen. The placement of this component emphasizes important information the user may need.
Paper Prototype
After creating a brief user flow that was easy to follow, I sketched out how I wanted my product to look. I wanted to design my product in a way that gives access to all the information a user may need through a few clicks away. The two crucial problems I wanted to address with my design are presenting the data of user’s social media and connecting and seeking help easily.
(Feed/App usage)
(Profile/ Devices)
(Challenges/Help)
Low Fidelity WireFrame
Usability Priority
High Fidelity Wireframe
Final Design
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![Starting a community]()
Community Page
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App Usage (Pie Chart)
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App Usage (Bar Graph)
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App Usage (Linear Graph)
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Profile Page
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Edit Profile
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Exploring Challenges
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Challenges Page
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Leaderboard
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Reminder Page
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Help Page
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Adding Social Media Page
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Adding Devices Page
Reflection
This being my first capstone project, I faced several challenges, particularly during the initial brainstorming phase. I initially chose an idea that was too broad and unclear, which set me back throughout the project. Despite this, I persevered and uncovered valuable insights that allowed me to develop a product more tailored to user needs.
From this experience, I learned that users value a seamless and worry-free experience. While they appreciate having a range of options, they prefer a simple and uncluttered layout. Understanding that users are creatures of habit, designing in a familiar way increases the likelihood of engagement with the product. Although this product aims to limit social media usage, users still want to stay connected and seek support.