Yichi (2018)
Delivering a better event experience.
For unsociable and taciturn people, social events can be nightmares. Not everyone has the courage to walk into a stranger and say "Hi". To break awkwardness, Yichi can help.
The !Single Hack
Yichi was, first and formost, the deliverable (and the winner) of the !Single hackathon, where participants were given the statement of:
How might we...
help single university students find their love?
Our Solution
Yichi is a mobile app that motivates people of attending social events by matching them an attendee companion. By encouraging social engagement, participants would have an expended network and a higher chance of encountering their love.
Hack Team
Summer Xu - Designer, Speaker
Amber Chen - Marketing Specialist
Jude Gao - Front-end Developer
Chris Su - Back-end Developer
My Role
Research, Interview
Ideation
Branding
Prototyping, Visual, Animation
Presentation
Research
We wanted to design something feasible, exciting & unique.
We started by taking in.
01. Interviews & Insights
"How did you find your boy / girlfriend?"
We found most people encountered their crush during social events - a club event, a birthday party, or a class - and then romance begins.
There's also a huge percentage whose boy / girlfriend were introduced by their network.
02. Online Research
We found dating / social apps function as an informational source, but do little on building connections between people:
- Dating Apps - Relies on profile picture; no physical connection but messages; uncertain incentives.
- Social Apps - Functions as bulletin board without motivation; event engagement relies on host.
03. Learning Why
"What may stop you from attending an event?"
We found many students, especially introvert ones, resist events as they're afraid be left alone.
"It's too embarrassing to stand alone while everyone is chating happily."
"It's awkward to join a pack..."
"Sometimes my friend can't make it, so I decide not to go either."
From all these, we formed a new problem statement:
How might we...
For
single, unsociable people
To
increase their willingness of attending social events
By
coping with their uneasy emotions
So that
they are more likely to encounter their love there & expand network
Yichi (For Hack)
Name & Wireframe
Among many good names, we eventually chose "Yichi"
(yea, fine, "itchy", now stop giggling)
because it:
- means "together" in Chinese
- is easy to remember (2 syllables)
User could post, browse, sign up for events.
After registration, they can choose if they wanted a companion, whom they can message later.
Branding & Visual
We wanted our interface to be bright, clean and motivative, so we went with warm yellow to deliver the optimistic & refreshing feeling.
Yellow is also the colour of outdoor sunshine.
UI Presentation
Animated logo
Two "i"s are like two people, when they're connected, it makes up a smile and is no longer gray.
Loading Animation
I made an animation to indicate "matching companion" in progress.
Yichi 2.0 (Redesign)
Yichi was dropped aside after winning the hack. However, believing good design is all about iteration, I redesigned it.
I tackled on an advanced problem statement of:
How might I...
Create
an empathetic, mobile solution
For
all event participants
To
enhance their event experience
By
improving event engagement & interactions
So that
they'll increase expectation towards social events
A Better Interface
First, I optimized Yichi's pages and redesigned the interface into a professional, clean way. The 3 new pages are:
- Discover (for new events)
- My Events (tracking schedule)
- Messaging
How do they meet?
We've decided to pair attendees, but how? I used a paired card design in Yichi 2.0. In an event, two participants with the same card shall meet.
With a distinct background and a clear, friendly visual, participants will be easier to spot their companion (the connector) and to trigger a conversation (the icebreaker).
It would also let attendees look forward to the event because they'd know someone is waiting for them.
Team Spliting
Some events, like an orientation, forms participants into teams for activities. Traditionally, organizors give out coloured bands or telling participants manually.
Yichi 2.0 offers a smarter solution. Team information can be found top on the Event Detail Page, and participants can check it anytime.
Instead of bands, now participants can just hold up their phones to spot their teammates.
Member list is also included for better engagement & management.
Using Yichi to devide teams can be beneficial. Compared to the traditional coloured-band method, Yichi is:
- Environmental friendly
- Smart & flexible
- Easy to manage
- Can be customized accordingly
Regarding to its last advantage - can be customized - I believe it could increase people's expectation of attending an event.
For example, a Pokemon Go Event could use different Poke Balls (an element in the game) as team logos, while hiking events can use different leaves. It would be more interesting than plain colors.
Prototype
Takeaway
For hackathon, it felt amazing to conduct cross-discipline cooperation with strangers. The joy of rapid product design and winning a competition is unparalleled.
For the redesign, I very much enjoyed it. Upon my research by far, I don't see any event apps offering such thing, so Yichi is kind of unique. If I had more time, I'd love to propose it to event apps and see how they think.
After the hackathon ceremony, the CEO of KE Solutions got in touch with me and wondered if I was interested in designing their latest product.
So I got hired. :)
