Glide
GUI Digital / Application Design
scroll down
Project Overview
Glide is a soul-soothing app that enables users to transcend the limits of time and space, connecting with people worldwide. Through anonymously sharing photos of the sky, it offers a sense of calm amidst the restlessness often induced by social media. Everyone can find a tranquil refuge in the shared skies, fostering a distant yet close companionship.
Duration
Time
4 months
July 2022 - May 2023
My Role
Team
Individual Work
UX Researcher
UX Designer
GUI Designer
Interaction Designer
Social disconnection during the pandemic
Initial Problem Discovery
Students feel disconnected and isolated during the social distancing of Covid-19 pandemic, leading to mental health illnesses.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented strategy of "social distancing" emerged, which is crucial to curbing the spread of the virus. However, it has also come with significant costs. Research indicates that many individuals have experienced profound feelings of social isolation and loneliness during this period, which could lead to serious mental and physical health consequences.
-A recent survey conducted by UNICEF revealed that the COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on the mental health of adolescents.
What trigger's people's feeling of isolation
Initial Problem Discovery
To understand the current challenges of our users, we did in-depth background research, including 24 survey respondents and 7 interviewees. Most of them experienced accumulation of stress from increase usage of social media, and lack of outdoors activities to relief stress.
Lack of outdoors activities.
Students experienced sudden decrease of time on outdoors activities, feeling anxious and depressed with stress building up.
60%+
Social anxiety caused by social media.
Students seek for sense of connection with others through social media. However, resulting in increased social anciety and imental stress.
70%+
Design
Challenge
How can we create a form of communication that transcends time and space, allowing us to interact with others without the anxieties and pressures of social media?
Peek into the solution
An interactional app that helps people socialize with others in a healing way.
We designed an app so students can bridge connections with others around the world, even when they couldn't meet physically. This app initiates socialization without over interfering one's balanced lifestyle. The following specific features help bring out the creativity in students' self identification and curiosity to explore and communicate with others in different environments.
01
Capture New Skies
Users can acquire new skies by capturing their favorite gliders in interactive games, discovering new horizons!
02
.png)
.png)
.png)
Customize Glider
After uploading the sky photos, users can customize their glider and travel the world according to their preferences. The app provides multiple customizations for users to express their sense of identity in the online world.
03
Receive Skies & Create Unique Albums
Users will receive an anonymous photo of a sky from anywhere around the world each day. To keep track of all of the skies, users can create albums according to their prefered genres.
04
Revieve Messages from Worldwide
The sender of the sky can receive surprising messages from people who recieved their picture of skies. The map view allows users to pin point the places where they send/recieved pictures of the sky to/from, as a way to keep track of their jouney.
What do people need? : Meet Emily, our student adapting distance learning
Behavioral Archetype
Countless students like Emily are forced to adapt to the sudden change of distance learning from home. Many of them struggle to maintain close relationships with their friends. Thus, spending excessive amount of time on social media to seek connection with others. Resulting in increased social anxiety and fear of missing out.
Navigating Social Anxiety under COVID-19...
User Journey mapping
Emily represents individuals who were significantly impacted by the social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her story highlights the challenges of adapting to virtual interactions, managing FOMO, and the difficulties to adjust to the new life style. This allows me to understand the pain points throughout the process and plot out the necessary design solutions.
Designing new ways to sonnect with others
Information architecture of the app
The information architecture comprises of 4 major domains aimed to bring out process of receiving and sending out skies - Home, Upload, Gallery, and Profile. The user flow is designed to enhance interconnectedness between each domain and simplifying the experience for user.
Journey through the application
Design Solutions
To build from the insights generated in user scenarios, we started ideating on potential features that can help us encourage healthy communications for people under stress of social distancing.
We explored 3 major features:
Improving the flow and experience
Mid Fidelity prototype
Based on research and conclusions, I began sketching out the main functional interfaces of Glide. I optimized the design to improve the user flow and simplify the user experience. This process also allowed me to analyze whether the hierarchy of each function in the interface arrangement is in line with usability. I then refined the final mid-fi prototype in Figma.
Submit photos/videos - Users can upload photos/videos directly from their phone albums or take an instant photo/video to start. After custpmizing their glider, they will be sent off to an approximate direction to a random destination.
Save skies and send messages - This feature allows users to create albums and collect the skies that they like. At the same time, providing the opportunity to send an anonymous message to the photographer.
Glider tracker - Users can track where their glider is heading for once they have chosen their traveling direction. The map view shows an overview of all the gliders that are currently traveling and their approximate arrival time.
Create postcards - Users can create postcards from their favorite skies to share with friends and familes. Or simply print them out for collection.
Character Concept Design
Visual Design
During this phase, I started sketching out the avatar character representing the users, connecting the core values of the app from the user's perspective with elements of the avatar. Even during the pandemic, I wanted to give users a sense of excitement to travel around the world, so I decided to create a glider as the user avatar for Glide, embodying an image of freedom, relaxation, and vitality.
.png)
Scenery Design
Visual Design
In order to facilitate a smoother immersion into the context, I designed the app’s scenery with a narrative approach. I created a world view centered around a grand canyon, combining the avatar’s attributes of the glider to convey a sense of adventurous freedom. This concept will also be further extended in the future UI design of the app.
Visual Brand and Identity
Visual Design
I chose a refreshing and energetic color palette and created simple components to comprehend with the theme of the design. Further on implemented to the final prototype of the app design to bring out its essence.
Reflecting back
Highlights of the design
