Meetup
App to find and connect with others with similar interests
Overview
Context
I have been very interested in Meetup as a passion project because I am an avid user. I have used it when traveling and living abroad, and I believe there are very few resources that really helps with organically bringing people together. That being said, I truly believe there is so much more that Meetup can achieve.
Scope: Identify and implement solutions for better usability on the Meetup mobile app.
Role: UX Researcher, UX Designer
Tools: Figma, Photoshop
Duration: 10 weeks
App Analysis
I went into the app analysis with one main goal: to increase user interactions. What this means is to simultaneously increase the user base and to facilitate interaction within the users.
The first thing I saw was that the app was difficult and intimidating to navigate as a new user. This could be an immediate turn off for people wanting to sign up. The idea of understanding and differentiating what events or groups are out there, how to find active groups and, feeling connected with others before an event are all stress-inducing to say the least.
In addition, there are many events and groups that are largely inactive. Not only does it create bad optics, but it also creates more friction and resistance for users to want to join new groups. If there was more chatter and more activity within the groups, more people would join and interact as well.
So these two issues could be summed up with create a platform with better navigation and increased communication. By rethinking and redesigning the app from these perspectives, I believe this will help create a more social and intuitive app with better communication and better navigation.
Key Focus:
Better Navigation
Better Communication
Research
Interviews
To get a better sense of how people interacted with the app, I interviewed 10 volunteers, individually, through a video call. Each person was familiar with the app, but not all had used it before. They all spoke on their knowledge and experience (if any) of the app. The ones that did, had various interactions with the platform.
Key highlights:
There's a large initial barrier (navigating the platform, finding the right event, joining an event) that prevents someone from trying out a meetup
The first meetup is crucial in determining a frequent user and becoming part of the community
Some communities and interests are more successful than others
These interviews were very helpful in understanding the broad initial experiences user had with the app and highlighting specific pain points that could be addressed in my redesign.
Next, I took the insights and created two target personas to understand how they would interact with the app.
Personas
At first glance, everyone’s goals are similar. Everyone wants to join or host a successful group, meet good people, and improve on a skill; however, the method, thought process, and motivations are unique depending on the type of user.
I wanted to focus on two specific types of users as these two will be our main focus of the redesign. They are the new user and the casual user. The new user has not used Meetup before, but wants to try it out. The casual user uses Meetup for specific interests, but wants expand on other experiences. I chose to focus on these two personas because they will both be heavily interacting with the app in an unfamiliar fashion. Also, they are arguably the most important types of users. Like social media and dating apps, bringing in new users and transforming them into heavy users are the underlying foundation of the structure.
By doing so, I was better able to answer the question why. What motivates a person to join and use the app, and what keeps the person coming back.
User Maps
Next, to gain a better understanding on their actions, thought process, and feelings as our personas interact with the app, I created their individual user maps. These were specifically helpful in pinpointing the areas where our personas would have friction within the app. This is hugely important as it highlights the key points that I can focus on.
The personas and user maps really helped me understand and validate the need for:
Better in app communication about an event and when researching an event or group
An easier way to sort through potential groups and events that they will be interested in
Current State
By better understanding who the proposed users are and how they would function with the app, I then better understood how to improve on the current state of the app to optimize user flow and intuition.
I looked at the current state of the app and analyzed the specific areas that could be improved based on our two main goals: Better communication and better navigation.
After going through each page, I learned that most the benefits lie within a couple pages and by focusing on the improvements within these pages, I could dramatically improve the user experience of the users.
Ideate
Wireframes
I created multiple versions of mid-fi wireframes revolving around the proposed ideas. These will later be used for testing. Creating these multiple wireframes allowed me to explore different design that would serve our goals, while maintaining an intuitive and clean concept.
Better Communication
Event Pages
Group Pages
Key Highlights:
Discussions are at the top of the page and other information are stored in other tabs
Discussions have the extra functionalities such as reactions and polls
Ability to check in when the event starts to promote attendance and useful business analytics
Better Navigation
Event Pages
Group Pages
Key Highlights:
Splitting events and groups for better usability and to avoid confusion
The ability to search through categories
User Testing
I tested the wireframes with 12 volunteers to determine whether the app would achieve my goals and which version was more appealing. I had each tester go through a series of tasks, analyze each screen, and provide feedback.
Key Highlights:
Communication
The proposed screens were all successful in allowing the user to see and interact with other users
Tests had no issues posting or using the proposed changes
Creating a more robust and easier to see discussion section was great, but it could potentially be cumbersome
There are concerns that a heavy discussion section will hide other important information
The checking in function would be great in getting and providing more accurate information
A point system could be an additional incentive that could be built out in later iterations
Navigation
Splitting the groups and events were great in searching for events and / or groups
The time to search and join and join a group was faster than the current solution
This presented an overall cleaner and less cluttered look to the search page
It can help the user quickly find what they are looking for
Prototype & Reflection
Prototype
Taking the tested wireframes, I was now able to create a final hi-fi prototype.
Reflection
As mentioned, this project was an passion project; however, it provided me with the incredible opportunity to really investigate and understand how to better an app that relies so heavily on a new and active user base. Really understanding and empathizing with user’s experience was key for me in designing the final prototype. Also, creating the wireframes were not only enjoyable, but also illuminating with seeing what works and what doesn't.
This project was completed back in 2019. As of 2024, I am glad to see the emphasis on better communication is heavily integrated in the Meetup app. They have only flushed out their discussion and comment sections but also, they now have the option to join event and group chats, as well as connecting with other users in the same group. I believe that all serves to help lessen the friction users feel when joining a group or event.
The explore page has had a couple updates; however, group and events are still mixed within the same page. Maybe we will see this update in the future!