Product Design

User Research Methods

Semi-structured Interviews with users

As a team, we conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with users who matched our target profile. I independently led and analyzed 4 of these interviews, focusing on uncovering user needs, behaviors, and pain points.

This approach allowed us to identify recurring themes and patterns across participants, which directly informed our problem framing and design direction.

Three overlapping pages showing a digital survey form titled 'NYU International Student Experience' with questions about student background and challenges, a persona empathy map with 'Feel, See, Say, Do' sections labeled with student concerns, and a sheet with participant details and colorful sticky notes.

Synthesizing the Research

Seven distinct categories emerged from our research

Language Barriers
Social Isolation & Loneliness
Cultural Adjustment
Safety & Sense of Belonging
Academic Resources
Cost of Living
Access to Support Systems

Diagram mapping social challenges faced by international students, including Language Barrier, Loneliness, Cultural Adjustment, and Bias and Inequality, with linked colored text boxes detailing each issue and related social and cultural impacts.

Synthesizing the Research

Three core themes emerged across interviews and surveys

Connection &
Belonging

Students struggle to build confidence and meaningful connections beyond familiar cultural groups.

Access &
Navigation

Students struggle to build confidence and meaningful connections beyond familiar cultural groups.

Safety &
Stability

Students struggle to build confidence and meaningful connections beyond familiar cultural groups.

Personas & Opportunity Framing

Designing for multiple student experiences

Drawing from both qualitative interviews and surveys, we created three personas reflecting common student challenges. We paired each persona with How Might We questions to reframe pain points into actionable design prompts and align the team on where to intervene.

User persona card for Xu, a BA student from China majoring in ITP, listing needs such as affordable resources and clearer support, and goals like finding free academic resources, alongside the question how to help students navigate academic resources efficiently.

User persona card for a student named Xu from China, BA student majoring in ITP, listing needs and pain points about expensive resources and disorganized website, motivations to find free academic resources and better support, with a question on helping students navigate academic resources efficiently.

Key Feature

Designing a hub for meaningful connections

Guided by persona insights and How Might We questions, we designed a centralized hub to help international students form meaningful connections, discover communities, and navigate social interactions with confidence.

Find Friends

Helps students introduce themselves beyond surface-level profiles, making it easier to start conversations and reduce social anxiety.

Join Groups

Allows students to discover interest-based and goal-oriented groups, supporting networking, peer learning, and community building.

Shared Profiles &
Introductions

Encourages personal expression through lightweight prompts, helping students connect over common interests rather than small talk.

Conversation History &
Context

Provides continuity and social context, making it easier for new users to engage without feeling lost or intrusive.

User Testing

Validating flow, clarity, and social comfort

To evaluate whether the app’s flow and features effectively supported meaningful connections, we conducted multiple rounds of usability testing with 5–6 international students.

Our focus was on identifying points of friction, understanding where users hesitated, and observing how comfortably they navigated social features without guidance. These sessions helped surface moments of confusion, cognitive overload, and social anxiety within the flow.

Iterating After Testing

Reducing friction and lowering social barriers

Testing revealed that while users resonated with the concept, unclear navigation, visual density, and hidden interactions created hesitation especially in social contexts.

In response, we simplified the interface hierarchy, clarified navigation paths, and restructured social features to feel more approachable. Emphasizing progressive disclosure and clearer entry points helped users engage with others more confidently and intentionally.

Lo-Fi Prototype

Exploring structure before visual polish

Based on early insights, we created low-fidelity wireframes to explore onboarding, social discovery, and group interaction flows.

At this stage, we focused on information structure, interaction logic, and emotional comfort, rather than visual details, allowing us to quickly test assumptions and iterate on flow.

Lo-Fi Prototype

Designing for social ease

Throughout sketching and wireframing, we repeatedly asked:

Where might users feel hesitant or anxious?
How can we lower the psychological barrier to starting a conversation?
When should the system guide users versus let them explore?

Through multiple iterations, we streamlined core flows and reduced decision pressure, making social interactions feel lighter, clearer, and more welcoming.

Final Prototype

Final Prototype Walkthrough

This short walkthrough, presented by a teammate, introduces the final prototype and highlights the core features and interaction flow. It shows how users can discover designers, share style creations, and connect through intentional social discovery.

Key Learnings

Designing for connection, not just features

Through usability testing with international students, we validated that the app helped lower the barrier to initiating social interactions and made discovering communities feel more approachable. Participants responded positively to the focus on guided discovery, shared interests, and low-pressure ways to connect.

Rather than feeling overwhelming, the experience felt intentional and supportive especially for students navigating language, cultural, and social uncertainty in a new environment.

Reflection

Scoping intentionally to design with empathy

This project reinforced the importance of narrowing focus. By centering on international students and their lived experiences, we designed features that prioritize psychological safety, meaningful connection, and community. Designing for how users feel proved just as important as designing for what they can do.

Credits

This project was created in collaboration with a team of designers.
Thank you to my teammates Alex Ni, Shikuan Zhu, and Yichen Xiang for their contributions to research, ideation, prototyping, and the final walkthrough.