BuddyLink
Connect through what you love.
Role
UI/UX designer
Timeline
48 hours
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Team
Solo
BACKGROUND
About 33% of college graduates move to a different state. Many adults find it difficult to make new friends, especially after school or when moving to a new city. Traditional methods of meeting people—such as work, social gatherings, or events—often don’t provide a reliable way to connect with like-minded individuals.
PROBLEM
Research & User Interviews
Given that this was a 48-hour design challenge, time was limited, which meant I had to quickly gather insights to inform my design. To ensure the app met the needs of the target audience, I reached out to my sister and her friends—new college graduates who had moved out of state for work. They represented the perfect demographic, as they had firsthand experience with the challenges of making new friends in a new city. Through informal interviews, I gathered valuable feedback about their struggles with loneliness, the difficulty of finding like-minded people.
Talking with them validated my idea for creating BuddyLink, an app that connect individuals with others who share hobbies, making it easier to find friends and join activities they love.
Differentiating BuddyLink with different apps
What makes BuddyLink different from other friendship finding apps? Existing social apps do not fully address the friendship-building experience.
Out of the 7 people I interviewed, 4 had used platforms like Bumble BFF and Meetup. They all shared the same frustration: the people they met through these platforms rarely turned into genuine friendships, primarily because they felt the connections were surface-level and lacked common interests beyond just meeting new people.
So, for this design challenge, I wanted to design an app that bridges this gap, making it easier to find real friends who share similar interests.
DESIGN PROCESS
I started by creating a user flow diagram to visualize all the app's features and pages, ensuring an optimized user flow and experience.
After gaining a better understanding of the flow, I began designing mid-fidelity wireframes to refine the layout and structure, focusing on usability and visual clarity.
One of the key moments in the design process was deciding on the navigation structure. Initially, the layout was overly complex, making it hard to intuitively flow through features. I had to simplify it to make the experience more seamless, while still retaining the app’s exploratory feel.
SOLUTION
Personalized profile
Users create a profile with personal details and hobbies, allowing BuddyLink to match with like-minded individuals and make finding friends easier.
View profile
Users can browse through profiles of potential friends, exploring their interests, hobbies, and personal details.
Schedule meetups
Users can schedule meetups through messaging, making it easier to connect in real life and turn online interactions into lasting friendships.
Integrated calendar
Schedule activities sync to the user's calendar, with the option to export it an any format for easy access.
TAKEAWAYS
The power of simplification: With limited time, I learned the importance of simplifying features. Focusing on core functionalities allowed me to create a more intuitive and streamlined experience for users.
Time management: The 48-hour constraint taught me how to manage my time efficiently, prioritizing the most impactful features and ensuring I stayed on track without compromising the overall design quality.
User-centered design is key: Validating ideas through user feedback early on was crucial to refining the product. It helped ensure that the app met the real needs of the target audience.