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Group meetup
the challenge
Planning a casual meetup with friends who live across the city can be surprisingly frustrating. People often want to discover new, interesting places that are conveniently located halfway for everyone, but coordinating this is tedious and inefficient. The challenge was to design a tool that makes this process simple, social, and even fun.
the
IDEA
We developed a concept for a mobile app that helps groups explore and agree on fair meeting spots. The app allows users to create events, invite friends, and interact with suggested locations on a dynamic heatmap. Using spatial cues and collaborative gestures, groups can view, vote, and decide on their ideal meeting point — making social planning more spontaneous and engaging.
the
Process
As part of a university HCI Bootcamp, we followed a complete user-centered design process: identifying the problem space, conducting user interviews, sketching and prototyping on paper, and refining ideas through iterative feedback. The focus was on quick, low-fi validation and playful interaction design. This resulted in a tangible prototype where users could explore real-world scenarios and reach consensus through an intuitive visual interface.
Design phase
The design revolved around making the experience tactile, social, and map-driven. We created a low-fidelity prototype using paper interfaces to simulate core features: creating events, inviting friends, and exploring shared preferences. Key interactions included dragging an "explorer" ring across a map, seeing real-time heat zones for suggested areas, and using gestures like checkmarks to finalize decisions. The emphasis was on quick feedback loops and spatial engagement, helping users feel more connected to both the interface and each other.
Prototype
We built a paper-based interactive prototype to quickly test core functionalities. Each screen was hand-drawn to mimic a mobile app, allowing users to tap, drag, and gesture through the experience. This lo-fi approach helped us iterate rapidly and gather real-time feedback during usability tests. Despite its simplicity, the prototype successfully captured the essence of the concept — enabling us to explore interface layout, gesture-based actions, and collaborative exploration features before investing in digital development.
testing phase
User testing showed that participants found the concept intuitive and engaging. The heatmap and gesture-based inputs were especially well-received, with users appreciating the playful yet practical approach. While still early-stage, the prototype validated the app’s potential to reduce coordination friction and make social planning feel more collaborative. Feedback also highlighted future opportunities, such as integrating real-time place data and personalizing recommendations based on past behavior.
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