Outcome
Launch strategy, onboarding, exploring, and motion & microinteractions
4.
Launch strategy
It may be beyond the scope of interaction design, but I found myself thinking about functionality based on some of the launch strategy.
Signal long-term commitment
Emphasizing that there are long-term plans for the app could help early adopters decide to dive in.
Network effect
This service would definitely be beholden to the network effect: additional users increase the value for each user.
Bowling pin pattern
Following Geoffrey Moore's bowling pin strategy, we would want to keep networks clustered. Rolling out by city, company, or school could be a big help.
Invitation only?
One way we might keep networks clustered is by only allowing users to register with an invitaiton.
Incentivise mentors?
I wonder if we would need to incentivise mentors in order to create value for mentees.
High fidelity mockups
Onboarding
In the end, I went with Material's "self-select" model for onboarding. It felt like the best option for getting the users into viable profiles as soon as possible.
"The Self-Select model allows users to customize their first-run experience by making a short series of choices. This experience provides implicit education, giving the user a sense of control and vested interest in the screens to come."
Material.io
Mentees may be looking for help with personal or professional growth
Exploring
I went with a bottom navigation bar due to how few top-level destinations I had
I was worried that cards would feel too much like a dating app to users. But they were preferred over a list by most of my testers.
Motion & microinteractions
I often look to motion to help bring joy and surprise to a project
"Motion is emotion"
This earlier version still has an email signup option. I removed it after reading this article.