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ROLE
OVERVIEW
With the rise of Instagram, influencers are now becoming a thing and lots of amateur photographers and models are quickly getting famous. However, communications between to two parties are still handled using friends or direct messaging. Qollab wishes to solve this issue by providing an efficient and transparent appointment booking system for the two parties to quickly establish connections and collaborations.
I did extensive research on the user demographics of the Snapchat App to help further analyze what pain points to look at. As for 2017, the majority of the user base is teenage/early adult females in the USA.
Messaging app and platform developed by Facebook.
A photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook.
An image messaging and multimedia mobile application created by Camp Mobile, a subsidiary of South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation. It features virtual stickers using augmented reality and photographic filters.
15 / Orlando, FL / High School Student
Sam loves taking selfies and pictures of her volleyball practices and her dog. She shares them with her friends and chats about her everyday experiences through messaging.
Pain point: When Kevin travels to different parts of the world, he has trouble finding people to collaborate with. Planning out a photoshoot can also get logistically challenging and tiring for him when he’s on the road.
31 / Los Angeles, CA / Filmmaker
Johnny is pursuing his dream to become a movie director. Snapchat is his channel to show his friends and acquaintances his inspirations and more so the funny moments he runs into.
Pain point: Getting into the blogging business is extremely competitive, Andria would need to have high-quality photos on her social media to best showcase her style and gain more attention.
52 / Puyallup, WA / Housewife & Secretary
Marie is a single working mother of four kids. Living far away from all her kids, she uses Snapchat to connect with her children, getting their latest updates and interesting finds.
Pain point: Moving to a new place without knowing anyone so in desperate needs to make connections with people through creative things to do together.
The two biggest threats for Snapchat as of the year 2017.
The explore page also acts as the home page of this app. This means that everytime qollab is launched, users are brought to the explore page, ready to browse and make connections.
Search results can be organized by filters or keywords for a better and more precise browsing experience.
SMALL EFFECT - Snapchat’s main revenue streams come from Live Stories & Discover from different businesses & brands, yet only less than 30% of all users use these features
HIGH EXPENSES - Snap Inc. paying high costs but generating shockingly little revenue: just $3.1 million, while the bottom line stood at -$128.4 million
27 / Ann Arbor, MI / Graduate Student at University of Michigan
“I love the hilarious face filters Snapchat has. I don’t like the news and the ads though.”
Insights:
40 / Pacifica, CA / Senior Animator at Industrial Light & Magic
“I’ve not used Snapchat but I got a sense that it’s a teenager’s thing.”
Insights:
28 / Brooklyn, NY / Interior Designer at ODADA
“I dream of being a Snapchat influencer one day."
Insights:
Based on my interviews with 2 target users and one Snapchat expert, these were the three main insights I got.
Advertisements or brand promotions on Snapchat not only frustrate users but are very ineffective
Snapchat users appreciate the creative and entertaining elements in the app the most
What differentiate Snapchat from other popular social media apps is the spontaneity in creating entertaining content
Lens filters, stickers, artwork created by people within the Snapchat community.
Focusing on building a creative community within all users, where people are able to bounce inspirations back and forth, and steer away from brands and businesses
More older users -> more money -> more stickers -> more purchases
Focusing on building a platform for creative expressions with more options.
Provide in-app purchases for selfie filters, video filters, stickers created by both Snapchat and usersaround the world , video editing templates (stop motion, time lapse...etc)
In-app purchases can 1) be more profitable 2) allow users to focus on the quality and variety of content they create
Stimulates artists and designers around the world to create, collaboratively making the app a better community & beautiful place
Minimizing ambiguity in UX to appeal to Gen Xers and even the Baby Boomers.
Older users have higher incomes, more attractive to advertisers, and more likely to purchase
Lack of first-time instructions on the Snapchat app makes older users not want to come back to the app
Add hints and tips, improve design elements for more intuitive affordance, and provide comprehensible feedbacks
In January 2017 Johnny attended the Women’s March in downtown LA with his friends. Even though he wasn’t so much of an active protester, he was really enjoying the atmosphere and energy of the day. Johnny was at the march for about 2 hours and was taking photos of hilarious protest signs. He was also very busy sharing his captures on his phone through Snapchat.
Visually, the color scheme would stay yellow, like what Snapchat originally has. However, the interactions are enhanced with more descriptive and intuitive graphics and feedbacks.
This project got me thinking a lot about how much I love the process of research and interviews. I thoroughly enjoyed researching and analyzing the different limitations, pain points and potential changes of Snapchat and loved how I could use my design thinking skills to bring out a few creative solutions.
Nevertheless, this project was made in early 2017, though, so a lot has changed since then and are probably no longer applicable. It was still a very rewarding experience!
