Bumble Hives

Project Summary

OVERVIEW

Bumble BFF Hives (BBH, or Bumble Hives), is a mobile app which aims to facilitate the formation of new friend groups. As a user of the app, who was also on hunt for a design challenge, I was compelled to improve the apps UX/UI.

PROBLEM

Users struggled to find friend groups on BBH that truly appealed to them. It was discovered that this problem was rooted in poor UX/UI practices implemented in the app.

DURATION

August 22 - September 2022

MY ROLES

UX Research, UX/UI Design, Usability Testing

MY TOOLS

Figma, Photoshop, Google Forms, Maze

Solution & Design Preview

A holistic set of UX/UI changes were implemented. E.g.;

Improved the visual accessibility of the existing search feature
Designed a naming-tips feature that would provide users with group naming tips
Design filter feature that would allow users to find groups based on various attributes
... and more!

Success Metrics

While I didn’t have the opportunity to gather direct feedback from users, I did receive the following feedback from important stakeholders:

100% of unmoderated UT participants used the new filter feature when prompted to find a group with specific attributes.

70% of unmoderated UT participants used the new search bar when prompted to find a group with a specific name.

100% of moderated UT participants used the new duplicate-warning feature when prompted to create a group that already existed.

UT = usability test

To observe that users gravitate towards using these new features to accomplish tasks, as opposed to using traditional methods, illustrates the intuitive value in these features.

You may be wondering, how does Bumble Hives work?

How did my design process lead to the solution presented?

‍Let’s get into this.

Context & Problem

There are 2 ways (i.e. user flows) in which BBH assists users with the process of making friend groups.

User Flow 1

User Flow 2

The Process

Research

Ideate

Prototype

Test

The design process is not always linear. It depends on the problem and other constraints.

Luckily, this problem was straightforward enough to be able to approach it linearly.

1.0 Research

Recruitment Criteria

Has used BBH in the last 2-3 months
Within the age-range of 18-30 years old
Living in the Greater Toronto Area

Why 1? The app receives updates every several months. By restricting the users whom I recruit to those who have used BBH in the last 2-3 months, ensures that all users are exposed to the exact same interface (and features).

Why 2 & 3? I hypothesize that users of this app residing in the Greater Toronto Area, who fall within the age range of 18-30, likely lead similar lifestyles. Furthermore, if they share comparable lifestyles, it is probable that they will also hold similar perspectives about the app.

Research Goals & Methodologies

Primary Goal

Validate the problem that the process of finding desirable friend groups is too difficult.

Secondary Goal

Uncover the causes behind why users are experiencing the problem.*

* Assuming Primary Goal is achieved.

I decided to employ a combination of 1-on-1 interviews and unmoderated surveys as my user research methodologies.

The purpose of the interviews is to better understand users current practices of finding friend groups and their views on these practices. It will be highlighted whenever users mentioned specific aspects of the users flow that are problematic.

SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

What are your general feelings towards the Hive Explore page?
Do you face any problems when finding Hives?
Are there any Hives which you have left? If so, do you recall why you left?

The purpose of the surveys is to assess the statistical significance of the specific user flow problems that were mentioned during the interviews. The results from the survey will provide me with guidance on what issues to prioritize in the ideating stage.

Research Results & Insights

Validation of the Primary Research Goal

I was able to validate my Primary Research Goal, which is that most interview and survey participants expressed difficulties with the process of finding desirable friend groups (Hives).

e.g. In a Likert Scale from 1-5 which asked for users satisfaction with the process of finding desirable hives, 57.9% report a value of 3 or lower, and 36.5% reported a value of 2 or 1.

Major Insights Gathered

The purpose of the Secondary Research Goal was too uncover WHY users are experiencing difficulties with the search process. I came to the following insights:

1. Users found the search process to be inefficient

1-on-1 Interview Participant: "I typically just scroll from top to bottom of the Hives Explore page to find a group... you're probably aware how long the list is, so I usually just stop or give up half way."

Statistical Significance: 72.7% selected "the search process is too inefficient" as one of their reasons for not being more satisfied with the search process. *

2. Users are overwhelmed by the number of Hives available

1-on-1 Interview Participant: "There's a lot of Hives popping up all the time, some that are similar to others that already exist. It's tough to know which ones are actually worth joining."

Statistical Significance: 27.3% selected "too many Hives available" as one of their reasons for not being more satisfied with the search process. *

3. For the hives that users are exposed to, they do not find them desirable

1-on-1 Interview Participant: "It would be nice if the app categorized groups based off the interests I had... I often just go into groups that I see are at the top of my Hive Explore page, but I feel that there’s others that I may enjoy being a part of more."

Statistical Significance: 63.6% selected “can’t find any hives of interest to me” as one of their reasons for not being more satisfied with the search process. *

* For the survey participants that reported either feeling okay, to dissatisfied, to very dissatisfied, I then presented such participants with the multiple-choice-checkbox question: What are your reasons for not being more satisfied with finding new hives? Participants could select more than one reason.

2.0 Ideate

I brainstormed UX solutions using a “how might we” process. The questions asked were centred around the Major Insights (i.e. Problem Statements) that were uncovered from the research. For the sake of time, I focused this process on Major Insights 1 & 3, and then highlighted the possible solutions that I think would have the most merit prototyping.

3.0 Prototype