Project: MyKind: Social Network

Role: Lead Designer

Duration: Four Months

Watch a Screen Recording

Project Vision

MyKind is a design for a social networking platform that encourages people to share an act of kindness every day. 

Challenges

Kickoff

Following a proven technique, I once againg took a goal-directed design approach. Qualitative research methods were used, such as a competitive analysis and a user persona construction. Some of the initial questions for consideration were; 

"What is the product and who is it for?"

"What challenges could we face as we progress?"

"Which users are the most important to the business?"

"What do our main users require most?"

"Who are our main competitors?"

"What research do we need to conduct?"

My user research yielded valuable insights. To make sense of this data, I employed an affinity diagram. This technique helped me to organize and categorize the information into user groups with shared needs. By understanding these distinct needs, I was able to pinpoint user goals and how those goals aligned with the overall business objectives. 

Meet The Users

Competitive Analysis

MyKind competes in a competitive environment against some very prominent brands like Facebook and X. It also has to compete against direct competitors like:

Therefore, designing/developing a social networking platform that places an emphasis on kindness is not a new idea. However, most of the direct competitores mentioned above, apart from BeKind, lack appealing features. They also have very unattractive, bland UIs.

MyKind will allow users to develop the daily habit of performing and sharing acts of kindness... in a beautiful, soft UI.


Preparing the Journey

A user flow was constructed to show the journey that a user follows when logging in, completing the days suggestion for kindness, and sharing that act with other users as a social post.

Paper Wireframes

Wireflow

Low-fidelity wireframes and user flow exploration helped solidify the design direction. This process revealed the core functionalities of the app while weeding out potential distractions. While a little painstaking, this initial phase was crucial before diving into the visual design.

Iteration

After creating the low-fidelity wireframes, five people were asked to try out the prototype and give feedback. Some of the consistent feedback that was garnered includes;

Challenge 1

Entice People

Similar concepts to MyKind already exist. However, they either lack engaging features, are woefully lacking in creative design, or both. A fundamental challenge when designing MyKind was to communicate a sense of friendly kindness throughout the design. This was achieved by creating a soft pastel colour palette with gradient background blends. Cheerful illustrations also help to communicate a sense of friendliness.

Challenge 2

Maintain Cohesion & Accessibility

MyKind was designed to work on a variety of different devices, including desktop, mobile Android devices, and iOS. As such, the layout of the design changes from one device to another. To maintain cohesion and accessibility, a consistent UI was applied in all cases to the greatest extent possible. Material Design icons and components were used for the desktop and Android versions of the website, while Apple's Human Interface Guidelines were used to design the iOS version of the app.  This helps to give users a feeling of familiarity, regardless of how they access the design.

Challenge 3

Core Features

MyKind was designed as both a responsive website and a corresponding native application for iOS. This required some consideration as to the seperation of features. It was decided that the native application should focus on providing users with the core features of the service, namely, offering users with a suggestion for kindness everyday and providing them with the means to engage with one another via a social network. The website has the added non-core feature of providing users with the ability to view their user analytics.

Style Guide

MyKind was designed with the concepts of kindness and friendliness in mind. Soft pastel colours were used to convey these concepts. Blending these colours together as background gradients further conveyed the soft, friendly feel of the design.

To give users on different devices a sense of familiarity, Material Design was used for the responsive website. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines were used for the native iOS app. 

Where possible, simple flat illustrations of happy, friendly characters were used to further enhance the sense of kindness and friendliness throughout the design.

Stickersheet

Takeaways

The internet has enhanced people's lives in countless ways. However, it can also be a cruel place, full of vitriol. And social media can be the cruelest place of all.

That is why a platform like MyKind can be so beneficial. It offers all of the benefits of social media, but with an emphasis on spreading kindness.

While other companies have already produced such applications, none have done so very successfully. Their features are limited and their designs are uninspired. 

MyKind is the solution for a kinder internet.