Sector
Social application
Challenge
Develop a new concept for helping young peaple to find new friends
My Role
Concept Development/Mobile App Design
Project Time
4 weeks
Wayd is a startup committed to tackling the pressing social issue of loneliness. The platform aims to create a safe, structured environment where people can connect, offering strong support and clear guidelines. By providing a set time, place, and shared context for interactions, Wayd offers an ideal starting point for building new friendships.
Through interviews, we discovered that spontaneous events are often preferred over planned ones, as they are less likely to be canceled. One-on-one meetings were also favored over group gatherings, as joining a pre-established group can make newcomers feel more exposed, increasing the fear of rejection. Our target group, primarily students and young people, typically have limited financial resources.
Wayd's ability to track and store user data allows for the creation of richer, more personalized user profiles. By combining data from past events, mutual friends, and user-provided information, Wayd can offer users meaningful connections. For example, users might discover they both attend the University of Oslo or share a common interest, like attending a metal concert. This personalized context helps users engage more deeply in the platform.
Events by companies
Not everyone is found meeting random strangers. As a backup to the spontaneous events a feature where more planned events by companies or organisations would be a good option. Based on the user profile, wayd could recommend activities as well as reduce the threshold to test a new activity. Free samples are common as a way to market a product or service an d give back great revenue to the company's if done in the right way.
Non-profit Student organizations events
The student organizations help to introduce new and old students to new activities and fellowships.
They usually have a platform provided by the university to reach out to their student members. However,
the quality of the service may vary depending on university and there is general opportunities for
improvement in regard of organize content, ease of use and connection between universities. Some
students also move between universities were a single platform would be useful.
The events created by the student organisations is commonly open source and could be used by wayd to receive content and obtain dedicated student members at the first stage of release. A large student user group would in turn attract investors and companies to create events
The registration Users without registration By allowing users without registration to use wayd, would likely reduce the threshold and risk of a drop-off during the on-boarding process. Features, like events created by companies, nonprofit organisations and interest groups could potentially be available to this user group. A functional app without mandatory registration could also motivate the user group, at a later stage create a better profile and share/suggest wayd to their friends when they feel they received a use of the application. Users with registration Users with a registration get access to the more advanced features of wayd. These include being able to chat with other users, participate in flash meetings, create groups, etc. This user group could also receive certain benefits when participating in events created by companies such as discounts and pre-releases. Group events Follow groups Facebook, instagram, snapchat and many other services have groups that you can follow. Groups is important an feature to feel connected in a online community and a way for the users to reach out to like minded people. Groups can also motivate and be an incentive for the users to invite friends and others to the application. To easily generate and create groups in combination spontaneous events might be opportunity were wayd can differ from other services.
Follow Groups: Like many social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), Wayd could allow users to follow groups, fostering a sense of community. This feature would help users connect with like-minded people, invite friends, and engage more deeply with the platform. The combination of groups and spontaneous events is an area where Wayd could stand out from other services. Spontaneous Group Events: Users could easily organize spontaneous group events based on shared interests or goals. For example, semi-public events like "#letsgosurfingalicante2020" could only be discovered by those in the know. While this feature offers great potential, it comes with risks, so precautions would be necessary to prevent misuse.
