CircleUp
A social platform that fosters connections and boosts event participation through seamless discovery and engagement.
Febin Mohamed
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Designing for Meaningful Social Experiences
CircleUp is a social app designed to help people make new friends and engage in real-world activities. The platform addresses a common challenge: when people move to a new city or town, social anxiety and fear can make it difficult to form new connections.
While many users express interest in events by RSVPing, data shows that not everyone thats RSVP actually attend. This gap between intent and action presents a key challenge for the company, which aims to increase the number of attendees who follow through on their commitments.
CONSTRAINTS AND LIMITATIONS
Balancing Engagement, Privacy and Cost-Effective Solutions
Budget Restrictions – Encouraging attendance without relying on costly incentives.
Privacy Concerns – Balancing attendee visibility while ensuring user privacy.
Effective Communication – Delivering event reminders and updates without overwhelming users.
DESIGN PROCESS
From Research to Refinement: Crafting an Engaging Event Experience
To bridge the gap between RSVP confirmations and actual event attendance, I adopted a user-centered approach to uncover key barriers and design targeted solutions. Process included:
User Research – Conducted interviews to explore user motivations, social anxiety, and decision-making behaviors.
Feature Exploration – Evaluated potential solutions, such as community engagement tools and behavioral nudges, to encourage follow-through.
Prototyping & Testing – Developed and tested low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes to validate and refine design solutions.
Iterative Design – Incorporated continuous feedback to enhance usability and ensure a seamless, confidence-building event experience.
PROJECT GOALS
Driving User Action: Core Focus Areas
Bridge the gap between RSVPs and actual attendance.
Increase Event Attendance
Help users feel more comfortable attending events, especially in new environments.
Reduce Social Barriers
Ensure users stay informed about upcoming events to encourage participation.
Improve Event Communication
THE SOLUTION
Driving Event Attendance Through Community, Connection, and Smart Reminders
pre- Event Community Engagement
Dedicated event-specific discussion spaces for attendees to interact before the event.
Enables introductions, Q&A, and discussions to build familiarity.
Hosts can provide key event details, reducing uncertainty and last-minute dropouts.
Encourages accountability by fostering early social connections.
Attendee Profiles & Direct Connections
Users can access attendee profiles, including bios, interests, and event participation.
Option to send message requests for direct interaction before the event.
Facilitates meaningful connections by allowing users to engage with like-minded attendees.
Strengthens engagement while maintaining privacy and control over interactions.
Event Reminders & Calendar Integration
Personalized reminders help attendees mentally prepare in advance.
Event updates include relevant community interactions (e.g., new attendees, host messages).
Seamless calendar integration ensures events are not forgotten.
Avoids last-minute dropouts by keeping attendees engaged leading up to the event.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Understanding Barriers to Event Attendance
To design an effective solution, it was crucial to understand why users hesitate to attend events despite RSVPing. The primary research focused on identifying key pain points, behavioral patterns, and potential motivators that could encourage users to confidently attend events and build meaningful connections.
Key Research Questions:
What factors make people hesitant to attend an event, even after RSVPing?
What would make someone feel more comfortable and confident about attending?
What kind of reminders or support would help attendees follow through with their RSVP?
How do people feel about attending an event where they don’t know anyone?
What challenges do people face when trying to build connections through events?
THE MAIN INSIGHT
Breaking the RSVP Barrier: Social Anxiety, Commitment Struggles, and Last-Minute Hesitations
Theme 1 : Social Barriers and Pre-Event Discomfort
Attending alone felt intimidating without knowing anyone.
Lack of familiarity led to higher chances of backing out.
Knowing even one person beforehand boosted confidence.
Theme 2 : Ineffective Timing of Event Reminders
Hour-before reminders felt too late to prepare.
Day-before notifications helped users plan better.
Without early cues, events were often forgotten or skipped.
Theme 3 : Uncertainty About Event Atmosphere & Attendees
Users struggled to sense the event’s social fit.
Not knowing who else was going increased hesitation.
Many wanted insight into attendee profiles and group size before RSVPing.
USER PERSONA
Bio
Maya, 27, is a software engineer who recently moved to New York City. While she enjoys exploring new places and experiences, she struggles with social anxiety and often hesitates to attend events alone. Despite RSVPing to events, she frequently backs out at the last minute due to uncertainty and nervousness.
Goals
Discover and attend events where she can meet new people.
Find events that align with her interests and location preferences.
Feel more confident about following through with RSVPs.
Pain Points
Struggles with anxiety about attending events alone, leading to last-minute cancellations.
Lacks a sense of accountability, making it easy to forget RSVPs.
Finds it difficult to start conversations with strangers at events.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
Redefining the Event Experience: From Interest to Attendance
To bridge the gap between RSVPs and actual event attendance, the customer journey map outlines the redesigned experience. By mapping out key touchpoints, this journey highlights how users engage with the platform—from discovering events to attending with confidence.
Customer Goals
Emotions
Activities
Opportunities
Stages
Features & Data
DESIGN
Designing for Confidence, Connection, and Commitment
The design phase focused on creating a more engaging and supportive event experience—one that reduces social barriers, fosters pre-event interactions, and increases follow-through on RSVPs. Guided by research insights, the app’s core features were developed to:
Encourage accountability through pre-event community spaces, allowing attendees to connect and engage before meeting in person.
Enhance social confidence with attendee profiles and direct connections, helping users find common ground and ease anxiety.
Improve event follow-through by implementing custom reminders, ensuring attendees are mentally prepared and committed in advance.
DESIGN
From Concept to Structure: Wireframing the Experience
This stage focused on defining key user flows, ensuring intuitive navigation, and validating the placement of essential features. By testing and iterating on low-fidelity prototypes, the design was refined to support user needs effectively while addressing the core challenges identified in research.
style Guide
LOGO
COLORS
Primary Color
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Primary Text
#272727
Secondary Text
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Background
#F8F8F8
TYPOGRAPHY
Aa
Inter
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TESTING AND IMPROVEMENT
Refining the Experience Through User-Driven Insights
To validate the effectiveness of the platform and refine key features, I conducted usability testing with multiple participants. Their feedback helped identify pain points, optimize interactions, and enhance the overall user experience for better engagement and event follow-through.
Streamlining Attendee Connections for Meaningful Interactions
Replaced the Follow button with a Send Message Request feature, allowing users to initiate direct communication with context.
Personalized message requests enable users to introduce themselves, improving the relevance and quality of connections.
Enhancing Community Engagement with Conversation Prompts
Implemented contextual prompts in discussion spaces to reduce hesitation and encourage participation.
Helps users navigate social interactions by providing guidance on initiating discussions in event communities.
CONCLUSION
Reflecting on the Journey and Looking Ahead
Lessons Learned
Intent ≠ Action : An RSVP alone isn’t enough—users need structured support and timely nudges to follow through.
Frictionless Connection Matters : Lightweight ways to interact (like community spaces or 1:1 messaging) reduce hesitation and build comfort.
Smart Communication Wins : Overloading users with reminders can backfire—timely, relevant updates drive better engagement.
Next Steps for Evolving the Platform:
Gamified Participation : Introducing points or badges for attending, organizing, or engaging in events to motivate follow-through.
Smarter Event Discovery : Leverage behavioral algorithms to suggest events based on users' past RSVPs, interactions, and stated interests. Additionally, surface events that their connections have shown interest in, creating a more socially driven recommendation system.
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