Jenna Sala

Project Overview

InCommon is for anyone who has ever scrolled for hours looking for a place that just feels right. By gathering insights from reviews, local groups, and community stories, it makes finding your next favorite hangout — and maybe your next friend group — a little easier.

It’s hard to find community.

It’s hard to keep an existing community alive.

In our fast-paced culture, social isolation has become an epidemic. It’s common for young people to feel that they don’t have opportunities to make friends. Just as unfortunate, they often feel that there’s nowhere to spend time with the friends they already have

People need spaces that foster connection. InCommon seeks to meet that need.

Context

In our research we found two themes:

Both stories are important for the same reason. 

We’re wired for connection, and when we don’t have it,
our mental health suffers.

User Research

This is backed up by our direct research with interviewees. We found the same two themes:

1. Everyone wants community BUT it has to happen organically
2. Everyone wants to get out of the house BUT it is hard to find suitable outings

What if we could get people into the community organically by making it easier to find suitable outings?

From our interviews and secondary research, we pulled four qualities that make an outing suitable or not suitable:

Ideation

If we find a way to make this data more accessible, the barrier to going out would be lessened and the likelihood of natural community building would be higher!

With the problem clearly defined, we began designing.

To avoid a cluttered interface, we categorized potential features into essential and optional additions:

In order to solve the problem, we had to design flows that would drive interest in getting users out of the house.

We identified three key tasks: finding a location, creating lists for saving locations, and creating an account.

Low Fidelity

We built prototypes to test our ideas.

We tested with different users, making small improvements each time.

Final Design

After three months of rapid iteration, we present InCommon!

Find Spots That Fit You

Pick what you’re into — cozy cafés, late-night study spots, open mics — and we’ll show you where your kind of people are hanging out.

Get the Whole Story Before You Go

Skip the internet scavenger hunt. We’ve gathered everything you actually want to know — like who goes there, what the vibe is, and whether you’ll get kicked out for only ordering a smoothie.

Make Plans That Stick

Find hangouts worth leaving the house for, save the ones that sound fun, and show up ready to make memories (or at least new group chat material).

Impact & Takeaways

• The user does not always know what they want
• Not all problems are entirely fixable with technology but technology usually can help
• Empathy and critical thinking are equally important considerations in design

You made it to the end!

Thank you for reading this case study. If you’d like to learn more about this project, please reach out at [email protected].