Collidasphere
Social media made for you, by you.
Role
Product Manager & Product Designer
Timeline
August to December 2022
Team
2 Product Managers
5 Product Designers
5 Product Designers
Tools & Skills
Figma
Product Thinking
User Research
Interaction Design
Product Thinking
User Research
Interaction Design
A unique and self-driven social media experience.
Collidasphere is a premium social media platform that allows users to express themselves unabashedly through creative mediums and flexible communication methods. I managed this project under Design Consulting at Cornell, where I worked alongside an external client.
The Problem
Social media is a breeding ground for social comparison.
Users often people manipulate what others see on social media, which can make consumers feel like they need to look a specific way, or that their lives aren’t as good as it should be.
This creates an unhealthy, toxic mindset surrounding social media. Users are worried about the responses they’ll receive, and feel inclined to post things that will receive the most likes, comments, retweets, etc.
This creates an unhealthy, toxic mindset surrounding social media. Users are worried about the responses they’ll receive, and feel inclined to post things that will receive the most likes, comments, retweets, etc.
Source ↗
Research
How do people genuinely feel about social media?
To uncover this question, my client and team interviewed young adults who frequently consumed content on social media—ranging from college students, to recent graduates, to full-time corporate workers.
Our Goals
How might we design a social media space that encourages users to express their authentic self?
After conglomerating all of the insights found from our user interviews, we honed down on three goals that we wanted to achieve with Collidasphere:
Ideation
Designing a platform that provides authenticity, control, and privacy.
With low-fidelity sketches, we brainstormed the key features that would target our main goals. Our information architecture displays where our key features would exist.
Low-fidelity sketches
Information Architecture
Our client wanted their app to stand out in the social media market. Thus, they requested to have a home page/home button where all of the other pages would exist instead of a traditional nav bar.
Iteration
Main feed: Encouraging authentic interactions and thoughtful consumption.
One of the features I was in charge of designing is the layout of the user’s main feed, where they will consume and interact with posts.
Feed layout explorations
When exploring different layouts for the feed, I prioritized efficiency. One of the satisfactions of social media is that it serves as leisure time and entertainment for its users.
Thus, creating a feed that is as efficient as possible would maintain what users currently enjoy about social media, while providing more control over what they see.
Thus, creating a feed that is as efficient as possible would maintain what users currently enjoy about social media, while providing more control over what they see.
Post card explorations
My goal for the post card was to encourage meaningful, authentic interactions that limited unproductive passive engagement.
Thus, I went with a card that requires the user to click into the post in order to interact with it. This design requires users to be more engaged with the content they’re consuming with, making comments and likes more authentic.
Thus, I went with a card that requires the user to click into the post in order to interact with it. This design requires users to be more engaged with the content they’re consuming with, making comments and likes more authentic.
Creating a post: Providing full control through creative mediums.
There are two kinds of posts users can create. First is the traditional ‘layout’ post. Posts of this kind are a uniform post where text and images are left-aligned and stacked.
Second is the ‘canvas’ post, which is where users can draw on a canvas, add text and images, and have them overlap in any fashion they would like.
Second is the ‘canvas’ post, which is where users can draw on a canvas, add text and images, and have them overlap in any fashion they would like.
New post menu exploration
When creating a post, you have a myriad of options to choose from, which provides control. However, with several options, I also wanted to make sure the design was as accessible as possible.
Thus, I went with the vertical icon menu since it provided the most space to draw, and it would limit the number of icons on the page at one time.
Thus, I went with the vertical icon menu since it provided the most space to draw, and it would limit the number of icons on the page at one time.
Visual Design
Branding Collidasphere
When we were deciding on how we wanted Collidasphere to look, we kept two things in mind according to our client’s needs:
1. Make sure that the theming fit with Collidasphere’s logo, which is a golden record.
2. The app should emulate cleanliness and sophistication.
Our initial explorations were either too playful, or didn’t align well with gold.
1. Make sure that the theming fit with Collidasphere’s logo, which is a golden record.
2. The app should emulate cleanliness and sophistication.
Our initial explorations were either too playful, or didn’t align well with gold.
Failed explorations
After much deliberation, we agreed on this visual design for Collidasphere:
Putting it all together: Final Prototype
Your personal feed, fully in your control.
Providing users the control they need in order to consume and share content productively and authentically.
Users can create and select certain feeds to see specific followers’ and groups’ posts. Posts are more individually emphasized, with no option to immediately interact without consuming it authentically.
Users can create and select certain feeds to see specific followers’ and groups’ posts. Posts are more individually emphasized, with no option to immediately interact without consuming it authentically.
Encouraging authentic posts through unique, creative mediums.
Allowing users to create and share various forms of content for specific audiences.
For the more professional audiences—creating and sharing serious messages through Layout posts.
For close friends and family—creating and sharing fun moments, doodles, and scrapbook memories through Canvas posts.
For the more professional audiences—creating and sharing serious messages through Layout posts.
For close friends and family—creating and sharing fun moments, doodles, and scrapbook memories through Canvas posts.
Outcomes
At the end of our contract with Collidasphere, we made sure all the designs were ready for handoff to their developers. Upon doing so, my team received this delightful email from our client:
Currently, Collidasphere is in development. Its current set launch date is October 2024!
Key Takeaways
Collidasphere was the first project I lead as a product manager. Here, I was able to learn three main things:
Product thinking requires compromise.
Designers will always prioritize the user first. However, this isn’t always feasible with other factors in place. In this case, our client had a very strong idea of what they wanted Collidasphere to be, so we had to make multiple changes to our ideal designs to fit what the client wanted.
Advocate for the user.
Non-designers often think of product design as just making things look pretty—which couldn’t be further from the truth. I made sure that my designers knew that every design decision connected back to our key insights and user research.
Explaining design in simple terms.
As the project manager, my responsibilities included mentoring junior designers, and acting as liaison between my team and the client. Thus, when it came to explaining my rationale behind my and my team’s design decisions, being able to explain design in simple terms was extremely helpful in difficult conversations about what designs we should prioritize and why.
Product thinking requires compromise.
Designers will always prioritize the user first. However, this isn’t always feasible with other factors in place. In this case, our client had a very strong idea of what they wanted Collidasphere to be, so we had to make multiple changes to our ideal designs to fit what the client wanted.
Advocate for the user.
Non-designers often think of product design as just making things look pretty—which couldn’t be further from the truth. I made sure that my designers knew that every design decision connected back to our key insights and user research.
Explaining design in simple terms.
As the project manager, my responsibilities included mentoring junior designers, and acting as liaison between my team and the client. Thus, when it came to explaining my rationale behind my and my team’s design decisions, being able to explain design in simple terms was extremely helpful in difficult conversations about what designs we should prioritize and why.
