Hobbi App | Case Study
Design of a social platform for hobby enthusiasts
2023
My Role: UX Designer, UI Designer
About the project
Hobbi is a social hobby platform, developed and designed in collaboration with 3 other UX/UI designers.
Based on the information and requirements of the brief, the team engaged in thorough research and went through the full product development process.
The goal was to design a mobile app that allows hobby enthusiasts to connect in a meaningful way, to meet new hobby friends and to practice their hobby more often. All in an easy-to-use and visually appealing package.
Problems
In order to address the pain points of hobby enthusiasts we first had to define them. We discovered 6 main problems that are all tightly connected to communication and information. People need to connect based on their shared hobbies, by expressing themselves and engaging in group activities.
Many people want to take up a new hobby but can’t decide which one to choose.
Certain hobbies are exponentially more difficult without a partner.
Finding people who are similarly enthusiastic about a hobby can be challenging.
Most of the hobby information available online is poorly structured or misleading.
Some people have a hard time expressing their enthusiasm about a hobby due to lack of support by their peers.
Finding group hobby activities can be challenging.
Solution
Hobbi is a platform that empowers users to meet new hobby friends, attend events and engage in meaningful conversations related to their hobby, while embracing a user-centered approach, grounded in simplicity and functionality.
Competitor analysis
After examining their features and functionality we could conclude that there is a market gap that we can fill. Most of the available solutions covered only one or few of the identified problems and none of them impressed us with their functionality or style.
It was time to meet our potential users. Get into their heads and try to understand their hobby related struggles, as best as we can.
Following are the most important findings, based on 76 respondents.
User personas
After we had sufficient insights about people’s problems and preferences in relation to practicing their hobby, we extracted two user personas. These personas would serve as the main foundation upon which we base any further decisions, especially in regards to the app’s features.
Feature Prioritization
After examining their features and functionality we could conclude that there is a market gap that we can fill. Most of the available solutions covered only one or few of the identified problems and none of them impressed us with their functionality or style.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
It was tempting to jump straight onto Figma and start the wireframing process, but there was a benefit to doing it on paper first. We cleared at least some uncertainties regarding the main elements and the layout. And it was considerably faster, as we were not overthinking it too much (which we’d do a lot later on in the process).
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Next we advanced to the high-fidelity wireframes to refine the design. This would provide a clearer understanding of both the app's visual aesthetics and its functional capabilities. The hi-fi wireframing process was focused on 4 of the main user flows.
Usability Testing
We conducted usability testing using both the high-fidelity wireframes and the prototype of the app to determine if the design meets the needs and expectations of our intended users, as well as to evaluate its effectiveness and user-friendliness. Based on the results, we did a number of iterations, followed by more testing.
