wip it! - Catalyst 2022 Designathon
Context: wip it! is the conceptual mobile application created for the Catalyst 2022 Designathon @ Boston University. Teams were prompted to ideate, prototype, and present a design solution to industry professionals.
Design Challenge: Creative Arts Track - Design a solution to the question: “How can we create a platform that can unite people using art?”
Solution: Creating a digital platform where creatives of all backgrounds can upload their “works in progress” in order to break down barriers of pressure or intimidation, and to promote collaborative and supportive communities.
Role: UX Designer
Duration: 36 hours (March 25 - March 27, 2022)
Team: Chau N., Melanie H., Emily D.
Tools: Figma, Figjam
It all starts with brainstorming!
My team and I prioritized the process that creators have to go through in order to create and post content online. We did a competitive analysis of current platforms that had already existed in order to understand what features we wanted to include in our application. We found that creators feel some type of pressure or feel like they have to compare their progress online, due to the concept of posting finalized work.
Creating a solution
My team and I wanted to focus on three main features as the base for our product:
Collaboration: The look and feel of the app would be a collaborative space with no barriers for people to feel welcomed and supported. This was developed through an Instagram-type layout on the homepage.
Sharing: Users would be able to share their works-in-progress by posting casually on “wip it!” and be able to have other users view their works.
Personalized: By adding a tagging system, users are able to find and connect through similar hobbies or creative tools that were used for their projects.
We created a user-flow map in order to predict and conceptualize the user journey. This provided my team and I with clear expectations of screens that needed to be created.
Prototyping
Final Video
Final Thoughts + Future Plans
The overall experience of participating in a designathon was so fun! Working with a team under a set amount of hours was challenging and pushed our creative boundaries. I learned how to work under pressure and submit something with a fast turnaround time, and I look forward to participating in future designathons in my free time.