HobbySpot

A social networking service for people who want to pursue their hobbies in a safe, passionate, and collaborative environment.

Project Summary

Our team was tasked with creating an innovative, feasible social network offering, that fills a unique user-stakeholder need, and addresses a market opportunity that remains unexplored/unsaturated by real and potential competitors.

I, along with 4 other design team members, researched, designed, prototyped, tested, and iterated our social networking service’s mobile application.

HobbySpot is a new social networking platform designed to help hobby enthusiasts connect more with their chosen hobbies and with others who share their passion.

Team: 5 Designers

Time: 10 Weeks

My Role: Service Designer/Researcher

I conducted user interviews and market research. I contributed heavily to data synthesis and analysis, sketching, wire-framing, prototyping, and conducting user testing.

Tools Used: Figma, Miro, Google Suite, Canva, Pen & Paper

Market Research

Our team started off by identifying an ideal market and creating a project plan.   We looked at trends in the marketplace and developed an understanding of the social media market through a SWOT analysis.

We used value bullseyes to determine the 3 core values for the new service we would create; we focused on Community, Safety, and Passion.

We then developed a few concepts and determined the target user groups and competitors for each before diving into analyses of our concepts. 

Next, we analyzed our concepts using PESTEL and Porter’s 5 forces to understand the feasibility and potential market threats for our concepts. 

Finally, we examined the identity attributes, looking at where each concept distinguished itself from its competitors.  We put all this analysis together to determine that HobbySpot would be our focus moving forward.

User Research

With a directed focus on HobbySpot, we conducted surveys and interviews to gain a deeper understanding of hobbyists and finalize the user groups we would cater to with our design.  We broke down the users into two main groups: Explorers and Experts. 

We explored the expectations and use cases for our user groups and began developing a persona for each which helped us start to get into the minds of our target users.

This also helped inform the empathy maps for each user group, from which we extracted some valuable insights; explorers are motivated mainly by the thrill of discovery and continuous improvement while experts are driven by a balance of pride and accomplishment in their hobbies.

Using all we learned about our users, we developed a customer profile, identifying the jobs hobbyists were looking to do, the pains they experienced trying to accomplish those jobs, and the gains they made in their pursuits.

We realized we had identified quite a lot of attributes in our customer profile, so prioritized what we would focus on for our design.

After affinitizing all our data, we extracted several insights from which we identified opportunities for our design solutions and developed “How Might We” questions to help guide those designs.

Finding our Fit in the Marketplace

We started by taking a deeper dive into the Porter’s 5 forces analysis and determined our key competitors to focus on as we looked to differentiate our new service from those already in the marketplace. 

We then developed a Business Model Canvas for each competitor which helped us identify our key performance attributes as we looked to find the blue ocean areas where our new service could exist.

We utilized the ERRC framework, combined with our insights, to determine where we could Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, and Create value compared with the competitors in the marketplace.

To flesh out our new service, we addressed 17 key questions known as Zag’s 17 checkpoints.  This also helped our team gain alignment and formulate a cohesive vision of what we aimed to achieve with our service.

Utilizing all our research and analysis up to this point, we were able to create a business model canvas for HobbySpot which solidified what value our service was offering, how that value would be translated to our users, the support needed to bring this service to life, and how we could make sure it remained viable.

Next, we conducted a SWOT analysis for each building block on the business model canvas to hone our service and finalize our value proposition statement.

For current and aspiring hobbyists who seek to ignite or fuel and interest in a hobby, our local community-building platform connects like-minded hobbyists and allows them to share ideas and resources. 

Unlike our competitors, our platform provides a space for existing local communities to create and share content and resources, promotes local and social commerce, and helps to facilitate in-person meet-ups.

Preparation for Prototyping

Before diving into the creation of the prototype we ideated on and identified the essential features of our service and created a hierarchy of prioritization based on time and impact.

We used this information to fill out our value proposition canvas and make sure we addressed the pains, gains, and jobs to be done from our customer profile.

We also created balanced score cards to enumerate our goals for the different features of our service offering and how we could measure their success. 

Now it was time to make the prototype!  Here is a look at the main features of our proposed service solution.

The Prototype

  • My Communities

    Find your community and be part of a close and safe space with fellow hobbyists.

  • Resource Library

    Get reliable resources from trusted and genuine users and mentors.

  • Mentorship Program

    Find an expert to help you grow within your hobby!

  • Hobby Discovery

    Explore new hobbies and keep trying activities with your community.

  • Integrated Calendars

    Manage your time interacting with your hobby and plan for local meetups and events.

  • QR Code Integration

    Use your phone’s camera to check into events and invite others to join with QR codes.

Finishing Up

With our prototype in hand, we were able to test our solution on 5 users focusing on 7 key areas: comfort using the app, easy and intuitive flow, general usability, welcoming aesthetics, access to content, intuitive interface, and whether users bought in to the invite-only aspect.

Our users gave us some valuable feedback that we used to improve certain elements of the prototype such as suggestions for improving the UI and the drop-down menu.

Next Steps

To fully realize this service, we have to look further into partnerships with local hobby stores and obtain enough expert users to push through the hurdles of a cold start. The service will grow more powerful with a stronger user base, but we will need to manage growth to maintain information potency.

Getting the right price point on our service offering will be of utmost importance to the success of this venture. By supplying a freemium experience and offering different subscription packages, we can provide a valuable tool for everyone that caters to every type of user, from explorers to experts.