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The Earth House

Communipus is a social app that allows college students to ask questions, share experiences, and find groups with no barriers. Users can post things about any topic to be seen by other students attending the same school, and others can react by commenting or liking their posts.
Interior Rendering
Interior Rendering
Exterior Rendering
Sustainable materials
Communipus is a social app that allows college students to ask questions, share experiences, and find groups with no barriers. Users can post things about any topic to be seen by other students attending the same school, and others can react by commenting or liking their posts.
Team
Duration
Role
Time
Individual
1 week
Designer, Researcher
Spring 2021

Communipus

Due to NDA, this project content has been protected.
Interested in learning more? Please Email me!

DIY items

Using Mogic, users can get creative and design their own items. After finishing with their design, users can view the items in AR and get a sense of how they look in their rooms.

Redesigning items

Users can view their currently renting items under the “Collection” tab. From there, they can redesign the items and see what additional modules they will need upon checkout.

Returning items

When users need to return items, they can choose to drop the modules off in UPS Stores or request pickup service. Using Mogic Boxes and disassembling guide, users can easily pack their disassembled modules.

Credit Rewards and Carbon Saving

Users can see the credits they received and the carbon emission they saved by choosing Mogic instead of purchasing furniture. The credits can be used to pay for future Mogic services.

Entry point and public rooms

After entering Co-watch, users can see public Co-watch rooms. These rooms usually focus on certain types of content, and users can watch TikTok videos with other people.

Creating rooms

Users can create their own public or private Co-watch rooms and invite friends to watch videos together.

Live reactions

When Co-watching, users can react to the videos by typing comments or using quick emojis to be seen by others in the room.

Research & Ideation

Research & Ideation

Research & Ideation

Research & Ideation

Research & Ideation

We all know that online school experiences have not been great, especially for remote students. “I feel very disconnected to the campus community”, said a Freshman at Cornell University studying remotely in China. Communipus is a mobile app I designed to address this problem by bringing the campus community online.

Context

“My painting process is very physical and more like an evolving performance”, said Julie Harris. A purpose of EmoPen is to allow users create art as a physical, fun activity. The easy send-to-friend feature provides the users with immersive and engaging communicational experience.

Concept

Ideation shetches

Mood boards

Mockup iterations

From 5 user interviews and 10 survey responses, I learned that students have various college-related questions and want to share their daily lives with the school community, but they cannot easily do that because:
From 4 in-depth user interview, we learn that 
1. There are limited resources to find cultural products, and all of the interviewees rely heavily on word of mouth.
2. Familiar products reduce stress. A couple of interviewees reported that they feel homesick at school, and cultural-specific products help alleviate this feeling.
3. It’s difficult and troublesome to look for products in local stores. Many interviewees who don’t have cars rely on Uber or public transportation to go to local stores.
  • They don’t have direct access to a lot of other students
  • They worry about the credibility of online information
  • The majority of existing college-related discussion forums are only about academic topics

Findings

TikTok provides relaxing and entertaining content to people, but many users feel “empty” and “guilty” after using it because…
  • they get disconnected to real-world when focusing on TikTok
  • they feel that time spent on TikTok was meaningless

People problem

Cornell Asian students need cultural specific products in order to feel more like at home, but they cannot do that well because:
  • They don’t have enough knowledge about where and how to get the products they need
  • It’s difficult and expensive for those without a car to go to different off-campus stores

People problem

When observing interviewees use TikTok, I noticed that:
  • Users like seeing other people's comments on videos
  • Users prefer watching videos sent by friends first
  • Users like sharing videos with friends

Friends are
important

Based on the insights generated from user interviews, we created an affinity diagram to organize problem spaces. We then used the diagram to brainstorm new design opportunities to solve the people problem.

Problem spaces

We proposed 15*4 technical & non-technical ideas. After discussing and combining some of our ideas, we came up with a solution that is both creative and impactful: a combination of a physical “market station” where students can buy and sell cultural-specific products on campus and an app where users can request, browse, and offer products.

Brainstorming

Before brainstorming for solution features, I identified a conflict between user needs and TikTok’s business interest: TikTok wants to keep users engaged with its content, while users try to avoid the feeling of wasting time on TikTok. How can I take care of both needs and make my solution most feasible and impactful?

Business vs. Users

After discussing with Maggie Ying and Zain Khoja (2 designers on Cornell AppDev), I figured out a balance: to design a feature that is both meaningful and engaging. This way, TikTok would keep users engaged in a meaningful way.

Finding balance

  • 3 Solution spaces
  • 85 Feature ideas
  • 8 voted concepts

Brainstorming

  • 3 Solution spaces
  • 150 Feature ideas
  • 3 voted features

Brainstorming

Market research

Analysis of existing popular online discussion platforms

Edstem

Pros
  • Many existing posts
  • Variety of communities that allow diverse content and discussion
  • Rich interactions: upvote, awards, comment
Cons
  • Many existing posts
  • Variety of communities that allow diverse content and discussion
  • Rich interactions: upvote, awards, comment

Reddit

Pros
  • Specialized content
  • Anonymous option reduces privacy concerns and encourages discussion
  • Authorized users and credible information from classmates and instructors
Cons
  • Very limited access to information: only viewable if in the class
  • Only course related discussion and information

How might we
Make it easier for students to access their culturally specific products and services?

Communipus

A mobile app that turns the college campus into a real community

How might we
embed more social values in the TikTok experience?

TikTok Co-watch

From the user observations, I learned that users care about social connections in TikTok, but TikTok currently only allows minimum interactions between users: sending messages and videos.
I wanted to enable users to do more with the Co-watch feature.

EmoPen

The drawing device

I designed and built a physical device that can light up when a button is pressed, indicating "leaving marks" in the air. The device was used for user testings to gain feedback.

Information hierarchy

Information hierarchy

User Flow: Requesting an item

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User Flow: Filtering and searching

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User Flow: Offering an item

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User Flow: Requesting an item

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User Flow: Checking out

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Iterations: Public rooms and creating rooms

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I chose screen 6 because:
  • horizontal room cards allow users to focus on individual rooms
  • having the “create room” button on the bottom of the page makes it easier to click on
  • the “join room” button isn’t necessary since users can search to find rooms

Design decision

Iterations: Greetings before Co-watching

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I chose screen 6 because:
  • it focuses the most on the in-room conversation
  • it has the least visual distraction
  • it has the best usability and visual hierarchy

Design decision

Iterations: Reacting to videos

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I chose screen 6 because:
Even though the retractable emoji bar requires an extra step from the users, it can reduce the visual distraction from the colorful emojis and the possibility of false triggering.

Design decision

Concept video

EmoPen

The mobile application

The mobile app works with the drawing device to allow users to share their EmoPen drawings. The goal of the app is to create a platform for everyone to share mood in a creative way.

User Flow

Logging in

Users can easily create account and log in to their EmoPen account.

Sending drawings to friends

Users can send individual drawings to their friends in the chatbox.

Community page

Users can get inspired by artistic friends and give compliments to them.

Gallery and customization

Users can store artworks they like in a gallery and customize the theme color of the app.

How might we
help college students save money and time on furnishing their temporary homes while minimizing waste and carbon footprint for the society?

Mogic

After extensive research and analyzing different ideas, we decided that instead of trying to encourage people to reuse/repurpose funiture, we should make the furniture easy to be reused. Therefore, we created Mogic, a sustainable, affordable, and customizable furniture-renting system.

Information Hierarchy & User Flow

How it works: a closed-loop system

Furniture design

Mogic furniture is designed in three main modular components: Countertop made in particle wood/chipboard/bamboo board with lamination cover, supporting units (e.g. table leg), and connectors.
Mogic’s choice of materials for countertop and supporting units includes bamboo board and particle board. Connectors are mostly made of metals for higher durability.

Manufacture

The modular furniture requires no other toolkits except for the connectors provided in the set. By removing the connectors, users will be able to turn the furniture back into the original pieces that come inside the box.

Connectors

Mogic’s packaging box is designed with a handle for the convenience of transportation and reduction of mailing fees. Inside the box, there are printed sections indicating where to put each type of module, so users can put the modules into the box accordingly.
Each Mogic package will come with instructions to guide users assemble and disassemble furniture.

Packaging

Making TikTok more social
Co-watch elevates the social value of TikTok by turning video watching into a more meaningful group event. I would love to test this feature in the future to see more users' reactions.

Impact

More users on TikTok
With Co-watch, TikTok can attract more users. It also makes TikTok suitable for more scenarios, such as virtual friend and family gatherings.

Design System

Demo video

Mogic app: Demo video

Design System

For more details about the research and design process of this project, feel free to check out my project paper.

Project paper

Gains

Reflection

  • Ideation takes efforts. When forming a new concept, it is critical to spend time on early-stage research and ideation before diving into actual designing.
  • Users think differently than designers. To design usable products, designers need to talk to wide ranges of potential users and get feedback from them.
  • Iterations come with feedback. It is critical that when designers make iterations on products, they constantly ask for feedback from peers and users to stay on the right track.
Future works
  • More digital design projects! In this project, my research and iterations focused mainly on the physical device. In my future works, I'm excited to focus more on the digital design process.
  • Be selective on research methods. To improve the efficiency of the design processes, I will choose the research approaches that best fit each project instead of applying all of them.
Gains

Reflection

  • Design solutions have tradeoffs. Sometimes the business interests conflict with user needs, and what designers need to do is to find a “sweet spot” where both needs are balanced.
  • Designing a feature is challenging. Designers not only need to design the feature itself but also need to consider where the feature fits in the existing product.
  • Design is not an assignment. There are really no correct answers or grades for design work. All that matters is how much users are benefitting from the design.
  • Feedback is important. To succeed, designers need feedback from users, stakeholders, and peers. They should carry the feedback along the design journey and constantly iterate based on it.
Future works
This is my first semester-long digital product design project. I learned and practiced the user-centered design methods, and I also made mistakes.
  • In the early ideation phase, I overlooked the importance of analyzing and researching the existing app, so I wasted a lot of time brainstorming features that already existed. I will pay more attention to early-stage research in my future works, so I know what is worthy to work on.
  • One thing I did very well in this project was asking for feedback and advice. Discussing concerns with experienced designers and stakeholders is crucial as it helps me jump out of the box and think from a different perspective. In the future, I will keep asking when I get stuck, and I will help others when they need my advice.
  • Allow public discusssion about all college-related topics
  • Build an online community that is not only for academics
  • Promote social connections through simple interface and easy interactions

Mission

Landing survey to learn about new users

Global screen showing all posts

Post details and creating new posts

Inbox and profile screens

Alternative theme color

Design System

Design System

For more details about the research and design process of this project, feel free to check out my project paper.

Project paper

Other projects

Mogic
UX & Product Design
TikTok Co-watch
UX Design
Cornell AsianMart
UX Design
@Zixian Jia 2021