Hachi

A Local Social Network

Prototype

Problem

Social media has a tendency to promote Relative Deprivation* (Compare and Despair) in some people. Comparing your financial, social or relationship standing with global icons can be unhealthy.

*Relative Deprivation is defined as, “... the discontent people feel when they compare their positions to others and realize that they have less of what they believe themselves to be entitled than those around them.”

Is Kim K my friend?

Solution

An app that promotes physical communities and offsets ‘Compare and Despair’ by confining the posts you see and share to your physical proximity.

Role

My role in this project was the UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher and Visual Designer.

Highlights

User tests revealed that when the subject was told the story of Hachiko before using the app, they performed much better than if they were told how the app worked without a narrative.

Armed with this information I created an onboarding experience where I illustrated Hachiko's story.

Post A Picture

Simple navigation to take a picture, but once the picture is posted it ‘lives’ in the location you took the shot. The map shows where you took your picture and where others took their photos.

Find Photos

Find photos on the map and walk to them to open.

Find Memories

Locate your photos or photos you’ve give time to.

Process

Research

Over 5 hours of interviewing was conducted to understand how people use social media, what they liked and didn’t like and where opportunities to improve Hachi were.

Wireframes and MVP’s

Initially no consideration was taken into the visual design of the app. Rather than spending a lot of time developing visuals and guessing what people would find useful, I created prototypes that I knew they’d struggle with, but when I explained what I was trying to achieve they would often answer, “Well why don’t you try it this way…”

Visual Design

A lot of the visual feedback was centered around making the story of Hachiko the driving narrative of why the app existed. Below are some quick visual explorations telling the story of Hachiko in the app.

The Result

80% of users reported that they wouldn't download a new social media app. After using Hachi, only 20% of users reported they still wouldn't download a new social media app with 60% of those same users wanting to download Hachi just to see what was in their neighborhoods.