The Challenge

Provide users with an easy way to obtain the tools and

knowledge they need to try, and stay engaged in, hobbies that
interest them?

The Solution

An app that helps users easily obtain the knowledge and

supplies they need to get started on a hobby, as well as
provides them a community that motivates them to continue
with it.

Role Tools Team Timeline

User Researcher, Adobe Illustrator, Mitchell Andeson,
 3 Weeks
UI Designer Figma, Invision, Miro Holden Gerber, 

Nicholas Gonsowski



Research
Interview Plan

The team wanted to understand what would motivate bored millennials to try and engage in new
hobbies. To identify the pain points of our users, we needed to research what prevents people from
staying engaged in new hobbies. We interviewed 6 users ranging from ages 25 to 35 and asked
them questions related to these pain points

Being bored at home during quarentine

Having a hard time learning about new hobbie
Has trouble find hobbies that fit thier personalit
Hates trying things alone

Affinty Diagram

We took the information we gathered from the interviews and sorted it into different catgories
based on the responses. We found that most people interviewed noted that would be more
encouraged to stay engaged with a hobby if they participated with a group, and that many people
were concerned about having the proper supplies or equitment for a new hobby.

User Persona

Based on the research results, we identified a user persona to represent Hobify’s demographic.

About
Outgoing and loves meeting new people, but is nervous about going out in public right
now due to the pandemic. He is struggling to keep himself busy and entertained, he is
looking for a way learn and share a new hobby/skill. Reuben is great at photography and
would even be happy to teach someone how to learn to pick up a camera.

Skills Skills Favorite Apps

Great with communication skills, and
will happily talk to anyone
Creative mind, is great with a camera
Compassionate, always happy to help
out those who are in need.

Goals Pain Points

Reuben Drew
Wants to participate in a community
32, Single
Doesn’t know where to get started to
driven group to gain a new hobby/skill
learn a new hobby/skill
Seattle, WA
Is looking forward to learning a new
Realizes that he might not have proper
Photographer hobby/skill
equipment to start a new hobby
To be able to share his knowledge on
Know that specific hobbies could cost
photography with other people.
him money that he does not have.

Competitor Anaylisis

After doing some market research, I found three close competitors to to our app, and idetified
the core features of each app.

Buy DIY hobby kits

Direct messaging

Filter by interests

Filter by location

Live workshops

Profile

Hobby rating System

Schedule Social Events

Sell your own work

Video courses

Prototyping
Low-Fidelity Prototype
We created a low-fidelity prototype in Figma to test our initial design ideas and layouts.

Core Features
Marketplace
Don’t know where to start? Get a hobby kit from our
marketplace. It comes with all the supplies you will need to get
started, plus access to video tutorials.

Social Feed
Show everyone your new hobby. Post photos videos, or just an
update. Then find others with similar interests and follow them
to see their posts.

Direct Messging
Want to talk to someone about a hobby, message them. Chat
instantly with your friends and connect over your new hobby.

Whims
Still need a bit of motivation, follow your hobbies whim page to
find a community of people posting about it.

Usability Testing
We created a testing plan to determine if users could easily navigate our app.

Each user had 4 tasks Fixes

Set up an accoun
Post an image to their social feed with a whi
Follow someone and message the
Purchase a hobby kit from the store

We gained the following insights Add filters to the search menu to

Multiple users struggled to find where find people, posts, & whims

messaging was located

One user commented that they wished they
could search for people by username Add Whims to the global nav to
One user commented they didn’t underatnd make it easier to find and make it
the purpose of whims

feel more integrated into the site

Brand Identity
Style Guide
I wanted Whimsy Boxes’ look playful and bright, while still feeling sleek and
modern. I chose orange as the primary color, though and used sans-serif font
throughout the app. To not overwhelm the user mostly I stuck to using orange in
menus and buttons, and leaving the rest of the sopace white.

Logos

Colors

Primary Secondary Tertiary

#DD4224 #FC9638 #F2CDC6

#2B2B2B #505050 #969699 #D8D8D8 #F8F9FA

Typography h1
SF Pro Bold 30
h2 SF Pro Medium 24
h3 SF Pro Medium 18
h4 SF Pro Me diu m 16

p SF Pro Regular 14

Buttons
Default Default Default
Active Active Active
Disabled Disabled Disabled

Tabs Active Inactive Inactive

Navigation
Ac t i v e Inactive Inactive Inactive Inactive

Icons Home
S h o p/

Cart
Whims

Messages Profle Search

C o m m e n t /

New Post Fav o r i t e
Send

Bookmark Settings N ot i f i c at i o n s

High Fidelity Design

Key Takaways
I have learned how important it is to set up guid;ines from the start, especially in a group setting. This
way people are in agreement about what fonts to be using, what the photos should look like, etc. That
way we don’t have to go bakc and make things match later.

Going forward, my hope is to futher integrate whims into the app, particullary within the posting
process. I would also like to add some type of event planner or calender to make group activities
easier to plan.