NETWORQ

Kendra Raczek, AMELIA JADOW, KELLY MEAD

12/12/2019

MOBILE APP PROTOTYPE

Problem

The LGBTQ+ student community here at UW-Madison faces a lack of connectivity between others in the community, leading to feelings of social isolation. Students attribute this issue to lack of time, awareness, and resources.

Vision

With our app, NETWORQ, we aim to bridge this gap in connectivity between members of the LGBTQ+ student community here at UW-Madison.

Mission

Our app, NETWORQ, provides LGBTQ+ students with a simple, easily accessible interface to learn about and attend upcoming local LGBTQ+ events, as well as allowing users to build their own NETWORQ by connecting with other event attendees.

01 interviews

We conducted a total of 10 in-person interviews of various LGBTQ+ college students on the UW campus to gain insight into community issues and social isolation within the queer student community on campus.

Questions

Conclusions

As a student on UW campus, do you ever feel any type of isolation?
In what situations do you most feel this way and why?
In what situations do you least feel this way and why?
What kinds of things make you feel more comfortable?
Do you feel like you want to be more connected to the general student community?
Do you feel like you want to be more connected to the LGBTQ+ student community?
Are there any factors that get in the way of being connected to either of these communities?
What kinds of things could make you feel more connected?
What do you think could be implemented on the UW campus to help change these feelings of isolation?
What forms of online communication would you use the most to meet/communicate with others? An app, website, social media, messenger, calendar?

Wants

Feel more connected
Meet more queer people
More support from allies
More fun events for LGBTQ+
- Easier way to find out about these events (calendar)
- Spaces without drinking/ spending money
Cultural/identity centers, queer-only spaces
Some don’t feel they need to be connected to general Madison community

Issues

Not knowing many queer people
Not enough events to meet more
Don’t know about when events are happening
Grad/professional/part-time students
Not enough time to meet people
Being the only queer student in classes
Hard to tell who is in community/ visible

Solutions

Calendar that connects all the LGBTQ+ events going on in the area (not just on UW campus but in the local area)
Providing support sessions/groups that are allocated to not only the LGBTQ+ community but a way to feel like the general population is on your side

02 PERSONAS

Each of our 3 group members created a user persona that is an archetypal representation of a segment of our user base. We also created customer journey maps that outlined an example scenario of their current situations.

03 STORYBOARDS

Next we created a 6-panel storyboard for our persona's current scenario and for their ideal scenario by using our application.

04 BRAND IDENTITY

We used the data from our research process to develop a logo, color scheme, typeface, and theme for our mobile app so that it would be modern, clean, and resonate with the LGBTQ+ community.

05 WIREFRAME

To begin the interface design for our app, we first sketched wireframes of each screen, then turned them digital into a flowchart of functionality using Balsamiq.

06 HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

Finally, we created our interactive prototype using Adobe XD and incorporated elements of swiping and animation. We have 41 pages in total, and below we have featured some of them.

07 GALLERY

For our final presentation, we featured our mobile app in the annual Beyond Print art exhibition. Our exhibit consisted of the flow of every screen in our app on circular posters as well as an iPad that allowed audiences to interact with the app. In addition, we created buttons of our logo and various avatars to be given out as marketing materials.