Kardder

Overview: design refinement and development of a new user base over the course of 18 weeks

Role: UX Research, UI/UX Design, Product Marketing

Toolkit: Figma, FigJam, Adobe

Timeline: 2022 — 2023

Background

Kardder is a social media application created to help connect users with other people nearby regardless of whether they are looking for a casual relationship, friendship, or something more long-term.

The app focuses on building new social circles by connecting users to others nearby with similar interests, hobbies, or activities thus allowing users to find new friends, travel buddies, and workout partners. As of now the app boasts over 315 ratings with and average of 4.9 stars.

Goals

Kardder had already launched its minimum viable product (MVP) a few months prior to me joining the team. However, the design system in place had inconsistent task flow and lacked cohesive brand identity which was greatly impacting the platforms usability. Our high—level goal was to refine and introduce an easily recognizable brand identity, introduce visual consistency between elements, and smooth out the user flow.

Challenges

As Kardder was an early stage startup, the budget and timelines did not allow for real user testing between stages — quantitative data from user metrics and qualitative data from the team’s personal connections were used to guide design decisions. After first launch, we also lacked a user base large enough to populate the map and feed to encourage users to interact. We addressed this in our second iteration by altering designs to encourage long-time users in combination with in-person product marketing across school campuses.

Redesigned Profile Tab

My Impact

I worked alongside a close team of designers and the development team to reimagine how Kardder could fit into prospective users lives. The original model only featured live posts viewable for 24 hours on the map. However, since our goal with Kardder was to facilitate in-person interactions, I introduced location cards to view local ‘hot spots’ that the user may have interest in.

Process

Identifying Current Issues

Before joining the team, Kardder had already launched their minimum viable product (MVP). The overarching goal presented to me was to refresh Kardder’s design. After a look at the product in its current state, I identified the contributors of a few major pain points.

  • Lack of personalized brand identity to differentiate from other social media platforms

  • Disorganized navigation and confusing user flow

  • Current design emphasized the app’s secondary feature more than its main ‘map’ feature

Redesign and Iteration

As our budget was small with a tight timeline, we decided to adjust the traditional design process. After outlining our background goals, I concurrently conducted foundational research while creating design iterations that I presented week-by-week to the rest of the team and company CFO.

I approached the redesign in a relatively traditional manner, trying to streamline user flows to be simple and adjusting the visual design as needed while still staying true to the current branding. During this process, I kept the design principles below in mind which allowed me to keep approach the overhaul of the app with the user at the center.

Competitive Analysis

notable features

  • list of traits/preferences

  • poll options

  • interactive writing prompts

  • gesture control

notable features

  • larger standout pay/request button

  • divided pages between primary, general, and requests

  • 24hr notes for current mood/music

  • gesture control

User Interview Findings

  • users felt pressured to fill out optional pages since they were unable to skip them in the onboarding process

  • the Nearby feature was too crowded and confused many users which prompted them to not know how to search for new friends to follow

  • profile photos were too large causing users to not realize they could view full profiles

  • since the app allowed users to list over 30+ interests, it was too broad and discouraged users from interacting with each other

Problem

Through our research we found that the mobile application was difficult to navigate design-wise which discouraged and limited users. Therefore in our redesign, we focused on streamlining the experience of the app and making features more clear and simple for users.

design changes

New Color Rebrand

Incorporation of a salmon pink color to help make Kardder a more memorable app

New Navigation Bar

added a larger center button for the Nearby tab to encourage users to use the feature to find more connections

Revised Nearby Page

  • we incorporated larger photos and a staggered view so that users would be less overwhelmed by content

  • added a larger center button for the Nearby tab to encourage users to use the feature to find more connections

Places Near You

  • added functionality to see how many friends have visited places

  • ability to scroll through locations on the bottom to find “hot spots” to hang out with friends