The Problem
Recent college graduates cannot seem to stay in touch or plan reunions post grad as they relocate across the country.
What do recent college graduates need to supplement long distance friendships in order to maintain engaging, long-term relationships between friends.
Success Statement
College graduates entering the work force across the country will have a service to use that mimics the everyday experiences and ease of connection they felt when they lived near one another, while streamlining quality and coordination of virtual gatherings between friends.
Target Audience
College students/graduates age 20-25 with friends who live and work in different locations.
Research
My research methods included an 8 question survey with 6 short answers and 2 long answers. In addition to lead my research, I used articles and case studies to better understand my target demographic.
I decided to start through surveys with semi-structured and long response answers, psychology research about motivation and behavior, and journal articles.
My most effective method came through the surveys I conducted, as I had over 70 responses from my target population, young professionals ages 20-25.
Through these methods, I found that the most meaningful interactions college graduates had with one another after graduation were experiences that mimicked those experienced while they were in school with one another such as going out to eat, getting a coffee, and grabbing a drink. Respondents tended to miss the everyday experiences the most.
In addition, I found the barriers that friends experience the most included lack of clarity with one another’s schedules, along with distance and lack of communication.
This lead to my design solution of creating a service to streamline these methods while in a long distance setting by planning virtual hangouts with one another, along with a mailer box to facilitate their hangout.
Design Process
I began coming up with a name for this service through looking at thesaurus.com and dictionary.com to see synonyms for the words; meet and reconnect.
This lead me to the word flock, which means to congregate in a group.
To develop my logo, I explored fonts that had a playful feel while not pushing one gender as to open this service up to whoever would like to participate.
I developed a mood board with bright, bold colors to gather inspiration from brands that had a young adult demographic.
I incorporated colorful illustrative elements highlight the three different types of boxes that users could select based on their schedules and availability, and to highlight the three types of conversation cards users would use within their conversations with one another.
To highlight the times of day- morning, midday, and nighttime, that users would select based on preference, I incorporated sky-like illustrative elements to highlight the different times of day.
These cloud graphics in combination with the flock-bird icon set created a pattern that I used on my various design deliverables.
Design Solution
The difference between this mailer and web service- called Flock, is that users enter their schedules so they have no conflicts with one another, and can plan activities for a hangout depending on the time of day.
This service links through the Zoom® app, but provides the customization through the Flock website to coordinate and streamline the scheduling process for busy, young professionals who are adjusting to entering the workforce.
Engage with the website: Flock XD Prototype
For morning, midday, and nighttime the contents of the boxes change, but the key element within them are icebreaker cards so that users make sure they are catching up with one another- as from my research, as 55.8% of respondents haven’t seen their friends from college in 2+ months!
The goal of Flock is to create the everyday experiences that friends don’t get when they do not get when they are long distance, such as grabbing a cup of coffee or grabbing a drink, while creating an interactive, fun experience for friends to catch up with one another within their busy lifestyles.
