Role
Strategy
UX/UI
Prototyping
Crea
Client
Noow.world
Noow.world, social app definition
Challenge
To define a solution to create meaningful relationships amongst the Millennials.
What is noow.world
An app to meet like-minded people on-the-go.
What makes noow.world unique
Noow.world is the only meeting service using surrounding ‘things to do’ to match people on-the-go.
Role and responsibilities
Market and competitors research.
User research and interviews.
Personas and journey definition.
Product positioning.
User experience definition.
Wireframe, prototype and test.
Context
Millennials are lonely and want more relationships in real life
Problem
Removed from their roots, juggling work and personal life, 53% of the Millennials are lonely and want more meaningful relationships in real life.
Pain points
30% use dating and meeting apps but 40% are unsatisfied with the experience:
- 60% say that they want to share ‘similar interests’. Indeed, they are not into hook-ups, they are the least sexual generation since 1920s; And the disconnect between online profile and what they find attractive in real life makes the experience disappointing.
- They are spontaneous, don’t want to plan ahead.
Audience behaviour/insight (
Goal
To develop a service to meet around personal interests right now.
We aim to get 60,000 users by month 7 after the soft launch.
Main Participants
People settling in new locations, single travellers, people with flexible schedules (freelancers,…) and people who want to experience their surroundings differently
Based on desk research and guerrilla interviews, we identified our target audience and created proto-personas to cover the range of approaches, as well as, to stay anchored in users’ needs.
Julie, the newcomer
Julie is 24 years old, from New Zealand. She has been working for a start-up in London for 4 months. She enjoys the big art scene offered by London, as well as, visiting Europe.
Goals
- Having a great time in London.
- Discovering London and enjoying international exhibitions/events/gigs.
- Finding cool people to go out with, and sharing her passion for arts.
Hobbies
- Art, literature, fashion, hanging in coffee shops, chatting, partying.
Problems
- Feeling lonely because far away from friends and family.
- Not having many friends in London.
- Difficulty to turn work relationships to friendships (colleagues already have their life and live in other areas).
Scenarios hypothesis
Ben and his fragmented schedule
Alex has been in London for years. He is 27, freelancer, and ends up having weeks and days off at random times. When he is not contracting, he likes to hang out. He is open-minded and easily chats with new people.
Goals
- Enjoying life.
- Having a big circle of friends and acquaintances.
- Exploring and trying new things.
Hobbies
- Music, skateboard, art, hanging in coffee shops, partying.
Problems
- Feeling bored/isolated during the week when he doesn’t work.
- Finding Meetups too constraining (not enough, not at the right time, not responsive).
- Doesn’t like dating apps.
Market research & positioning
The instantaneity of a dating app combined with a meetup approach
Current offer
On-the-go meeting solutions based on ‘one interest’: Dating apps
Their unique purpose, often dating (Bumble, Tinder, Happn,…) makes them responsive to Millennials’ mobility and fragmented schedule.
Planned meeting solutions based on ‘multiple interests’: Meetups
The diversity of the activities resonates with Millennials’ eclectic interests but implies planning delays (unfrequent events and events’ date far ahead).
Strategy
To bring an instantaneous quality to ‘multiple interests’ services by replacing the user-generated offer (activities organised and proposed by users) with existing nearby activities (events and evergreens).
UVP (Unique Value Proposition
)
The first meeting service using surrounding ‘things to do’ to match people on-the-go
Guiding principles
To be about friending and not dating/hooking up:
No profile piles to swipe.
Matches based on interests – not on pictures.
To be efficient and on-the-go:
Contextual and personalised contents.
Key moments in the experience of users
‘As a newcomer, I want to meet people sharing common interests so that I can create meaningful relationships.’
‘As a person with fragmented schedule, I want to meet people sharing common interests so that I have a +1 to do the things I like.’
Want to meet new people
“I would like to do something but don’t know many people in London. I could use Tinder to find a date but hookups are not my thing.”
Select reason(s) to meet on the app
“I really fancy going to an exhibition. Let’s see if I can find someone willing to join this afternoon.”
Journey 1: Find places of interest and see who wants to go
“I love the Tate Gallery, let’s see who is looking for a +1 to go there.”
Journey 2: Find like-minded people and their places of interests
“Great, there are also five people who are into exhibitions. Let’s check which exhibitions they are interested in.”
Chat with like-minded people
“Let’s ask him if he fancies joining: Hey, I saw that you want to go to the Tate Gallery. I am free to go this afternoon!”
Meet in real life to share interests
“Hi, I am so happy to meet you for this exhibition! It is always nice to chit chat about art.”
Userflow helped us to identify key actions within the app and the screens to focus on first
Places of interests as reasons for connecting, chating and meeting
Users enter their interests to discover like-minded people and things-to-do.
Like-minded people profiles show their interests and places of interests. The things-to-do profiles show people interested in going there.
Everybody and everything is around, so users can get in touch to meet on-the-go.
User profile screen
Result screen
Other user profile screen & thing to do profile screen
Chat screen
Product highlights
The first on-the-go meeting service using surrounding ‘things to do’ to match people.
The first aggregation of city guides’ contents.
Noow.world shows who and what is around based on a selection of interests.
- Tailored: The people and ‘things to do’ share interests with the user.
- Versatile: Find either like-minded people (and ‘things to do’ with them) or ‘things to do’ and people to go with.
- On-the-go and tangible: People and ‘things to do’ are nearby and located in real time.
- Ice-breaker: Nearby ‘things to do’ are used as conversation starters and as places to meet.
- Easy: Quick set up, one click to search and another click to chat or get info.
Concept validation & guerrilla testing
People settled for less than one to two years, or in town for a limited period, warmly welcomed the idea.
Fifteen persons, age 20 to 30, were asked questions about their meeting habits and then, they were presented with the concept.
90% of the newcomers said that they would use the app. 50% of the interrogated people had similar app ideas. Local people could project themselves using the app if they were travelling abroad.
The main questions were:
- Do you use social media?
- Do you use city guides?
- How long have you been in London for?
- Are you looking to meet new people? If yes, how do you do it? When was the last time that you did it?
- Do you sometimes use apps to meet? If yes, what do you think of them?
- What do you think of this concept (showing visual)?
App structure
Around to be on-the-go
We used a map and geolocation for the result/main screen since the app highlights who and what is around and eventually guides the user towards people/places.
The key screens were wireframed to enhance the concept of ‘common interests’
Users are defined by their interests and by the ‘things to do’ that they like
‘Things to do’ are defined by their interests and by the users who liked them
High fidelity screens
User testing
The prototype received good feedback.
Potential users were shown the prototype.
A large majority really liked the design and found the app easy to use.
Though, the older part of the millennials interviewed was worried about the fact to share their location.
During the app testing, the main questions were:
- Could you describe the interface?
- Could you send a message to another user?
- Could you go on your profile page? Could you describe the page? Are you comfortable sharing that information about yourself?
- (Back to the map) Could you click on a pin? Could you describe the page? Do you see a use for it?
- What do you think of the app interface? Would you change anything?
- What are your main concerns?
The prototype creation and its testing allowed us to refine the app
Confidentiality and real-time information
User location
The users’ position is not revealed. The user gravitates around the area and shifts.
Up to date information
Only active users are searchable and things to do profiles are up to date and show opening hours.
Moderation
Support and automation
Launch
Noow.world
Meet for what you like. Right now.
Coffee giveaways in coffee shops.
Giveaways on the app.
Influencers’ demos on Youtube.