UX Research
UX /UX
Product
My Role
Timeline
Team
Tools Used
Established a Cohesive Design System 🎨
Standardized the previously inconsistent and outdated interface by creating a unified design system aligned with NTU’s branding.
Enhanced User Experience 📄
Improved clarity and usability with a structured layout, clear navigation, and visually consistent interface.
Reduced User Anxiety 🧘♂️
Implemented a progress bar to provide clear step-by-step guidance, helping users feel more in control and reducing uncertainty.
Improved Navigation 🔦
Used contrasting colors to highlight key actions and important information, making the ordering process more intuitive and seamless.
Young professionals are relocating for jobs.
Graduate students starting new programs.
Career-changers seeking new industries.
As grad students in NYC, we struggled to meet people beyond school and work circles—cold emails felt awkward, and existing apps lacked an authentic middle ground for connection.
Our goal was to bridge the gap between transactional networking and authentic connection, turning high-friction approaches into low-pressure moments.
0-2 Years
Length of time living in New York
18-30 Age
From college students to working professionals
Purpose
# Professional Networking
Target Audiences
People as job seekers and recruiters, marketers and advertisers, or businesses and enterprises.
Purpose
# Social Connection
Target Audiences
Individuals look to expand social circles, especially those new to a city or seeking new friends.
Purpose
Target Audiences
Food enthusiasts, particularly those who want to organize, share, and discover new restaurants.
📆 Scheduling a meetup is hard
Social connections often serve as a gateway to valuable networking opportunities, but it's hard to schedule things with people due to everyone being busy.
🗣️ Starting a conversation is tough
People are more comfortable connecting with people in their industry but they don’t know how to start conversations.
👀 Matching by appearance might be superficial
Appearance-based matching features can lead to superficial decisions and missed opportunities for meaningful and lasting connections.
👣 User retention on app is low
After a meetup, there’s often no structured way to help users maintain or nurture new connections within the platform.
We decided to focus on lowering the barrier to meetups, making conversation easier to initiate, and designing for continuity, not just first contact. A space that’s intentional, warm, and natural—just like a good coffee chat.
Jenny is a grad student balancing solo work and spontaneous social hangouts, who values meaningful connections and cozy spaces to work, and networking like cafes.
Building connections in the city feels difficult and awkward at first, but once a meaningful meetup happens, it’s rewarding, though maintaining the relationship over time remains a challenge.
Instead of swiping on faces, young professionals in NYC connect through shared values, interests, and industries—starting conversations in spaces that already feel familiar.
While overall completion rates and satisfaction were high, this stoplight chart reveals consistent friction around exploring daily matches, planning meetups, and redeeming rewards, highlighting key areas for UX refinement in the next iteration.
Tackling redemption confusion
Interviewees weren't able to complete the usability task because they had a hard time understanding the redemption process. Therefore, we simplified the redeeming process into 1 page and the overall language of the page.
Before
Interviewees had difficulties identifying the differences between "XP" and "Bean Bucks" and didn't know where to find the CoffeeUP card.
After
Exploring daily matches
Users initially struggled to locate the daily matches section, often checking the wrong tab. We refined the navigation bar to improve clarity and guide users more intuitively.
Before
Users were unable to locate the daily matches section under the "Chat" tab at first because they tend to find it under the "Heart " tab.
After
To solve that, we made a navigation tab specifically for people and matches called "Match." Also, we moved all cafe-related info under the "Explore" tab.
We wanted to reduce appearance-based bias, so we introduced avatars that only reveal real pictures after chatting. However, users preferred real photos for trust and authenticity, so we opted to display real images from the outset.
Version A: Avatar
✅ Version B: Real Photo
Onboarding
The process helps users understand how the app works, what value it offers, and personalizes the feed to their preferences.
“Swipe” Cafés You Love
Users can filter by vibe or preference, then scroll to explore more about each spot.
Brew a New Connection
Users get daily matches based on café vibes, goals, and industries, then view full profiles and send messages to connect.
Plan a Meetup with Help from AI Assistant
An optional AI assistant helps spark conversation, suggest cafés, and schedule meetups to make planning meetups smooth. The reminders and check-ins keep things on track.
Redeem at cafés, grow your network
Users can earn Bean Bucks through first meetups, then redeem them at partner cafés to fuel ongoing connections.
Defined a cohesive visual style with earthy tones and expressive type to create a warm, approachable brand identity.
🤝 Lesson Learned
Think outside the swipe box
⚙️ Challenge
Familiar gestures, unfamiliar logic
