Xircle
Beyond casual friendships and hangouts, Xircle strives to make it easier to find study buddies within classes, especially your typical 100+ student lecture.
Impact
Grew from 13-200+ users within 1 month
Role
User Experience Designer
Tools
Figma, Photoshop
Industry
Social
Xircle: An App to Connect University Students
As a User Experience Designer at Xircle, I led the redesign of a mobile app and website aimed at connecting San Jose State University students for various activities. This project involved revamping the entire user experience to address engagement issues and relaunch the app successfully.
Challenge
Xircle's initial app launch faced significant user adoption and engagement issues:
Only 13 active users
Complaints about unintuitive and underwhelming UI
Goal
The primary goal was to completely revamp the Xircle mobile app and website to:
Increase user adoption and engagement
Create an intuitive and visually appealing UI
Shift focus from academic features to social connections and fun activities
Successfully relaunch the app with improved user experience
Process
User Research & Analysis
I began by guiding founders on conducting proper user research, including interviews and surveys. Analyzing qualitative and quantitative insights from research uncovered key pain points and user preferences.
We discovered that:
Users felt the original app's UI was unintuitive and underwhelming
The onboarding process felt very long and had too many questions
They could not figure out how to edit their profile
Another crucial insight:
>75% of users found the app's academic focus unappealing and were looking for more social features to connect with peers for fun activities
Define & Ideate
With these insights, I proposed a significant shift in our approach. Instead of focusing on academic tools, we needed to create features that would encourage spontaneous social interactions. This led to the conception of the "Hangout" feature. I initiated brainstorming sessions with the co-founders, where we fleshed out ideas for an easy-to-use social event creation and joining system.
In parallel, I also began to enhance the existing carousel feature with clearer designs that incorporated UX principles and usability heuristics including affordances, signifiers, consistency, visual hierarchy, and more.
Some features like Chats would have minimal changes.
Initial Brainstorming
Low-Fidelity Sketch Example
Hi-Fi Designs & Interactive Prototypes
With a clear concept in mind, I began the design process by sketching out ideas. I then moved on to creating wireframes in Figma, which helped us visualize how the feature would integrate within the app. As I developed high-fidelity mockups, I paid special attention to Gen Z preferences. This meant incorporating vibrant colors, maintaining a clean UI, and using intuitive icons that would resonate with our young user base.
Onboarding
Hangouts
Carousel
Edit Profile
Testing & Iteration
Before finalizing the design, we conducted usability beta tests with 10+ SJSU students. Their feedback helped me refine the UI and ensure the feature was truly useful and easy to use. Based on this feedback, I iterated on the designs, making necessary adjustments to enhance the user experience.
During this stage, I also began to revamp the Xircle website for a more visually cohesive look and feel.
Implementation & Launch
Working closely with our development team, I helped bring the Hangout feature to life. I provided detailed design specifications and was involved throughout the development process to ensure the feature was implemented as intended. We launched the Hangout feature as part of our app redesign, marking a significant milestone in Xircle's evolution.
Key Contributions
Led the end-to-end redesign of the mobile app and website UI
Introduced user-centered design methodologies to the Xircle team
Designed new features to enhance user engagement and app functionality
Created a visually cohesive UI that aligned with Xircle's branding
Results
The Xircle app redesign achieved significant outcomes:
Increased user count from 13 to 200+ within 1 month of relaunch
100% of users expressed excitement about the new UI and experience
Received overwhelmingly positive reactions from advisors on the website upgrade
Attracted interest from other colleges, including DeAnza and Santa Clara University
Before vs After
Old UI + App Store Panoramic
New UI + App Store Panoramic
Lessons Learned
This project reinforced the importance of:
User-Centered Design: Prioritizing user needs and preferences in the design process
Research-Driven Decisions: Basing design choices on solid user research and data
Iterative Design: Continuously refining designs based on feedback and testing
Trend Awareness: Staying updated on emerging design trends and user preferences
Conclusion
The Xircle app redesign project demonstrates my ability to lead a comprehensive UX overhaul, resulting in significant user growth and positive feedback. By employing user-centered design principles and leveraging emerging trends, I successfully transformed an underperforming app into an engaging platform for university students.
