G3ab: Low Fidelity Prototype

The current main idea behind this project is that the most “authentic” connections might come from when you’re anonymous. A lot of social media has a focus on who a person is, and not what they say. I want to create a platform where the focus is on what people say rather than who they are.

The components

There are two main parts to my low fidelity prototype: a prototype for testing the ideas behind the app, and a prototype made purely for testing a potential UI.

Testing the idea

I want to focus on the idea behind the prototype, so to test the functions, I will send the following messages to the participants through a Discord DM:

Hello! Thank you for taking part in my prototyping research about creating better quality relationships with strangers online. For this portion of the research, I’d like for you to answer one question I have prepared for you. Please note your answer to the question will be shared anonymously with someone else participating in this research, and you’ll be able to see their response to the question as well. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Question of the day: What toothpaste flavor other than mint or citrus do you think would taste the best?

Thank you for your response! I will randomly match you with a different participant shortly.

I will then match the respondents randomly with each other.

Your match said: + a randomly matched participant’s response

If you’d like, you can now send your match messages. Would you like to send them a message?

I will then ask the participants for feedback around why they did or didn’t send their match messages, how they felt when they had to answer a (potentially) lighthearted question, as well as things they liked/disliked about the procedure. I can also repeat the procedure with other potential questions to see what level of seriousness a question should be to build a better connection.

Some potential other questions if I have time:

What did you eat for breakfast today, and what is your favorite breakfast?
If you had to build a roof out of any vegetable, what would you build it out of?
What is your favorite 5-minute-or-less meal?
(more serious) What things do you think you cannot live without?

Testing the UI

I created a Figma prototype purely for testing a potential UI. All of the interactions that a user can take are predetermined on the Figma.

A main dashboard displays two options: “write a note” and “look at notes.” There is also an “about” page with instructions on how the app works.

“Write a note” consists of two main parts: the question of the day and an option to add finishing touches to the note.

Question of the day: This is a question designed to be lighthearted but also be a potential conversation starter. There is a text box where the user can put their response to the question of the day.
Finishing touches: Here, there is an option to make a user’s answer to the question of the day private. This is in case they feel like their response is not lighthearted enough to send to a random stranger. Also, to incentivize viewing a match’s responses and responding to them, I added a sticker book section to act as an gamified incentive to use the app. A user can attach a random sticker to their note before sending it.

“Look at notes” consists of three main parts: a response from your randomly matched stranger, past notes, and the sticker book.

Response from a stranger: A user can look at a randomly matched stranger’s response to the question. They can also start a conversation through a text chat. The response also comes with a sticker that the stranger attached to their note.
Past notes: A user can view their past answers to previous questions of the day.
Sticker book: A user can view all of the stickers they have collected.

The wizardry

For testing the functions, the interactions between people and the app are all based on wizardry. The user gets a random question of the day. For the prototype, I provided users with a random question of the day. The user gets matched randomly with another user who answered the prompt. For the prototype, I matched users randomly. Also, for testing in class, the users are guaranteed to be other people in the group I am testing the prototype on, which means the match is guaranteed to not be an actual stranger. The user can see their random match’s response to the question of the day and send them messages. For the prototype, I acted as a messenger between two parties that wanted to talk to each other.

The UI on Figma is also based on wizardry. The interactions in the Figma are purely for feedback on the potential UI, so all of the interactions that someone can take on the Figma are predetermined and linear.

The Prototype

This is the Figma prototype.