As a fun side project, I decided to redesign the current OpunUp website to look and feel a little more like the MeetNow app. My main goal was to create a simpler and more inviting design. Just like both MeetNow and OpunUp's mobile applications, I used the card analogy to showcase the most important information about each meeting. The side ticker shows activities of what the users other connections are doing on the site. Right below, the user can see what the most trending topics are. Tapping on the users picture at the top reveals a drop-down menu.
OpunUp is an application that fosters a way to make connections with people by arranging meetings. The meeting topics can range from hobbies to business.
MeetNow is a spinoff application by OpunUp which allows people to use their dead time at airports to meet meaningful people whom they were not connected with before. This was my first time not only focusing on the interaction design of the app but also the visual design. Through the design, my main goal was to give the app a friendly yet clean feel. I used a blue and white theme to emphasize certain aspects of the design.
OpunUp &
Meet Now
To create the mobile version of this application, the two key functions I chose to highlight on the main page were create and search. These are the core functions of the application therefore, I chose to place them at the top of the page. Following the buttons, the easiest way for people to find meetings is by browsing. For simple browsing, I created cards that users can scroll through that give them a quick glimpse into the most important information about each meeting.
The flow below shows what happens when a user wants to create a meeting.
To see more about information about people, the user can simply tap a card which will take him or her into a full screen view. Here, users can focus on one person at a time and learn a little bit about people's backgrounds that they may be interested in meeting. Once again, users can take action to meet or chat with people from this screen. The swipe through interface allows for quick browsing.
For MeetNow, I chose an even more simplistic design approach than the OpunUp app. Because it is intended to be used when you're already at the airport, the assumption is that user wants to make the time they have available as valuable as possible. To make this happen, I decreased the number of actions to highlight on the main page. Here, the focus is on checking in. Once the user has checked in to the app, other people are able to find them and connect. Next, users can once again browse through cards of people nearby. Unlike the OpunUp app, the MeetNow app allows users to take action on cards for quick meetings. Users can alert others that they'd like to meet or chat straight from the main screen.
