Mix'd
Mix'd is a revolutionary mobile app for international students, tackling cultural shock by facilitating meaningful cross-cultural connections. With features like interest-based matching, personalized meeting suggestions, and in-app tools, Mix'd aims to create a global community. The app addresses feelings of isolation, navigate cross-cultural challenges, and feel at home in their new environment.
Jan 23 - Dec 23
User Interview, User Research, Concept DesignStyle Guide, UI Design, Business Requirements, Usability Testing, Pretotyping
Figma, Miro, Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator
Social Networking
Academic Hypothetical Project
Project Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of this initiative is to provide crucial support for international students post-immediate arrival, aiding them in overcoming the challenges of cultural shock, With approximately 948,519 international students in the USA, where 85% experience cultural shock and almost half (49%) report depression, the need for targeted assistance is evident. The introduction of Mix'd, a university-tailored app, serves as a dedicated platform to foster cross-cultural friendships. It endeavors to create an inclusive space, mitigating language barriers, personal space concerns, and awareness gaps. By addressing the challenges faced by international students, especially in the critical post-immediate arrival period, Mix'd aims to transform the adaptation journey into a collective and enriching experience, offering a supportive community.
Impact
Once the app was designed, subsequent steps were taken to assess its success through user testing and pretotyping methods. A total of 5 participants engaged in the testing, performing 17 tasks each. The results indicated a favorable ease of use at 89.6%, with a commendable 90.5% success rate in completing tasks. Users expressed satisfaction with the app's functionality.
However, recognizing the need for a broader perspective, a website was created and promoted by various universities to gauge interest from a diverse group of students. The website attracted 172 visitors, with an impressive 68.4% of international students showing genuine interest in the app.
For a comprehensive understanding of the project, please scroll down and explore the solution and the detailed process.
05
Users- Usability Testing
90.5%
Success Ratio
68.4%
Skin in the game
Let's dig in more!
The problem
Ambivert international students often face significant challenges related to cultural shock post-immediate arrival. This includes struggles in communication, difficulties in building relationships with locals, and a sense of isolation due to cultural differences. These challenges contribute to heightened cultural shock, impacting the overall well-being and adaptability of ambivert students. Recognizing this, there is a crucial need to address these issues to enhance the post-arrival experience for ambivert international students.
Why Is It Important?
Through our secondary research, we have gained insights into the significance of addressing cultural shock among international students. However, a crucial aspect is whether this phenomenon truly occurs. The responses to this query were obtained directly from international students. In conducting interviews with 12 individuals, we discovered various factors contributing to cultural shock, including challenges in time management, navigating distinct academic cultures, and adapting to new social norms. Among these factors, the most prominent issue identified was the difficulty international students face in making friends. This underscores the primary concern within the problem space.
Cultural shock wave
Cultural shock unfolds gradually, progressing through distinct phases outlined in the accompanying image. While the challenge of making friends has been identified as a cause for international students, having someone to talk to emerges as a pivotal factor in navigating and overcoming the crisis stage.
At Mix'd, our aim is to prevent international students from reaching the crisis phase depicted in the wave illustration. The app is designed to provide support at every stage of their journey, with a particular focus on being there for students upon their arrival when excitement and anxiety intertwine.
Style Guide
The moodboard is a vital tool in designing Mix'd, influencing the app's style guide and overall mood. Carefully curated images, colors, and design elements serve as inspiration, ensuring a cohesive aesthetic. Key themes like togetherness and exploration guide design choices. The images convey seriousness, while friendly colors maintain a stress-free atmosphere. The app aims to foster community, encourage connections, and ease cultural adjustment, reflected in the curated visuals aligned with these principles.
Let's explore the app
During the registration process, new users are required to enter their school email ID and associated password. To verify this information, users will be directed to a university website where they must input their email address or campus key along with the password.
To address concerns related to racism, the app refrains from displaying the user's profile picture. Instead, users are encouraged to create an avatar, offering a general visual representation of the individual they are connecting with.
Usability Testing Insights:
When questioned about the onboarding process, users expressed enjoyment and engagement, noting their excitement at observing the progress bar at the top, signaling completion and the opportunity to earn rewards.
In Mix'd, users select from three options to become part of the community. The home screen features a progress bar, indicating events to attend before a new match. "Your Mix" provides match details and allows reporting of inappropriate activities. Users can upload post-meeting photos, view scheduled events, and set preferences. The progress bar prominently connects users with new matches through event participation. Upcoming events are listed, and points can be earned by uploading one photo per meetup. Event discovery is streamlined with tags like "dance" based on user preferences.
Usability Testing Insights:
New users found the placement of "upload a check-in photo" confusing and suggested that it could be relocated or presented differently for better clarity.
The Events feature is crucial, addressing a common challenge revealed in user interviews. Initially, users often skip university and external events due to a lack of companionship. Mix'd now bridges that gap by providing users with a friend to accompany them to cultural events and schedule meet-ups. With the ability to share events and plan within the app using the chat feature, Mix'd ensures users no longer miss out on social and cultural experiences.
Usability Testing Insights:
The term “schedule an events” caused confusion, as it implied the ability to add an event to the shared list for everyone rather than just for the individual and their mix.
During interviews, users revealed hesitation in starting conversations and a fear of saying something wrong, hindering their social interactions. Mix'd addresses this with an icebreaker feature, suggesting questions to initiate conversations. Users can send or type their questions. The app also includes modes for selecting locations based on user preferences, fostering common ground for event attendance. Events may pop up during chats, prompting users to schedule a meeting. If both agree, they can meet in person, reschedule, or dismiss the pop-up for later consideration.
Usability Testing Insights:
A key insight from this section was that users often found it confusing to determine whether the app or the matched person was initiating the meeting request.
For international students, rewards serve as a constant source of motivation, keeping them hooked with the Mix'd app. In this segment, users can utilize earned points to redeem coupons listed in the app. The section also displays the user's coupon history. Redeeming coupons is a simple process—users click on the code, and once scanned by partnered establishments, the code is automatically removed from both the user's and their match's phones.
Usability Testing Insights:
A major insight was, as a new user, they initially interpreted the rewards icon as tickets for registered events and found it unclear in the first instance what the rewards icon represented.
Users customize event preferences, skip unwanted events like parties. "Past Mix" records previous matches and shared events. "Photo Memories" stores user-uploaded photos for download or sharing. "Notifications" consolidates app notifications. "Redeemed Points" tracks point usage. "Edit Profile" allows changes to nickname, full name, and avatar. "Settings" includes actions like logging out, adjusting privacy settings, and configuring notifications.
The “New Match” concept, born from brainstorming sessions focused on fostering new friendships, unlocks upon completing the home page progress bar. Users can choose to accept a new match or continue with the existing connection. Information about the new match is accessible on both the home page and in the chat section. Crucially, users can maintain communication with previous matches, ensuring ongoing connections on the platform.
Usability Testing Insights:
The user, not reading the instructions initially, misunderstood the purpose of the overlay, thinking it was solely for earning points rather than indicating a new match.
Usability Testing
Pretotyping - Rapid Validation Method
How did I reach out to users?
The optimal strategy involved posting on Instagram and LinkedIn, platforms widely used by the target age group. The focus on universities aimed to capture the attention of a larger audience, particularly international students, with a specific emphasis on targeting Instagram pages dedicated to international students. This approach successfully drew more students, and the subsequent results will be elaborated upon further.
Skin in the game!
Pretotyping Results
