Overview
For my final project in HCI 5300 (Perspectives in HCI), I teamed up with two classmates from Iowa State and three students from NUST in Namibia to design Neighborly, a community-based mobile app.
Our goal was to address issues like food and item waste, local scarcity, and social disconnection by creating a platform where neighbors can easily share resources and support one another. Through cross-cultural collaboration and the Design Thinking process, we developed a prototype that encourages stronger, more generous neighborhood networks.
Watch our Demo Video Below!
My Contributions and Roles
As the team lead, I facilitated collaboration between all 6 of my team members across 2 continents and time zones. I led the team through all stages of the design thinking process, communicated weekly goals and meetings, and maintained team alignment through clear communication and empathy.
Additionally, I conducted competitive analysis, created low & high fidelity wireframes, and edited and co-produced a demo video using Canva to promote the application.
Our Design Process
1. Empathize Phase
Background Research
During the Empathize phase, our goal was to explore existing gaps and pain points in current solutions, especially related to food and item sharing.
We explored real-world challenges around food insecurity, local waste, and barriers to neighborhood connection.
Key Findings Revealed:
- In Namibia, neighborhood sharing often takes place in more informal and face-to-face, especially in rural and semi-urban areas.
- Many communities lack a safe, organized way to offer or request items and services.
- Trust and communication are major hurdles in neighbor-to-neighbor interactions
These insights highlighted a clear opportunity: to design a digital platform that encourages local sharing, reduces resource waste, and helps neighbors build stronger, more connected communities.
🗣️User Surveys
We also conducted user surveys to identify common concerns and insights for our app.
- 👥 22 respondents | 🌍 USA, Bangladesh, Namibia, Greece
- 🏙️ 82% urban/suburban | 🎂 91% under age 40
Key Suggestions Include:
- "Timers for how long something has been loaned out"
- "App should help me actually meet neighbors, not just chat"
- "Let people share info about themselves to build trust"
2. Define
Based on all of the research gathered, we identified several pain points, which include:
From the Competitive Analysis:
We found that many existing neighborhood apps fail to foster trust, engagement, or usability. Users felt disconnected, overwhelmed, and hesitant to participate.
From the Survey:
We found that most people were willing to share food, services, and tools. The top concerns were trust & safety, item misuse/loss, and hygiene
The top requested features were:
- Map to show nearby items
- Chat feature
- User verification
- Scheduler and review system
After identifying the main problems and pain points, we defined them through a clear problem statement:
How might we design a neighborhood app that is trustworthy, intuitive, and helps people build meaningful local connections through sharing?
3. Ideate
Based on the pain points defined from our research, we came up with several ideas on what should be included in the neighborhood app to address each problem.
4. Hi-Fi Prototypes
🎯View Interactive Prototype (Figma)
Takeaways and Next Steps
Throughout this project, I learned:
- The importance of conducting thorough user research to uncover real community needs.
- How to turn early sketches into polished prototypes, and collaborate effectively in Figma.
- The value of consistent branding and thoughtful UX details, like clear button placement and color contrast.
- As the team leader, I also developed my skills in guiding and managing a team throughout the entire design process.
Thanks for Reading!
Feel free to check out my other projects below
Credits:
Created with an image by Flamingo Images - "Smiling team of designers brainstorming together on an office wa"