↤ Work / Glimpse Social

Glimpse Social is a mobile platform that gives independent and minority-owned businesses the same reach as big brands. As product designer I owned the experience from zero to launch, including research, core features, branding, and motion, scaling it to 2,000+ local business connections.

Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2019 — 2022
Tools
XD, Illustrator, After Effects

Problem

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped how customers shop and view entertainment, negatively impacting minority-owned, underserved, and independent businesses. These businesses struggle to gain visibility and increase foot traffic due to a lack of budgeting and media.

Research

User interviews conducted from a survey to get an insight into the preferences of NYC customers and business owners on social media applications.

Bar chart from user interviews comparing what customers and business owners value — simple and easy to use, appealing interface, two-way communication, and convenient and timely.

Personas for a customer and a business owner created from user interviews and online research. Used for prototyping and designing mock ups.

Two personas — Casual Chris, an 18 to 54 year-old customer, and Old Timer Joe, a 50 to 64 year-old business owner — with their values and pain points.

Key insights from research analysis

  • Seamless two-way communication for both parties
  • Integrate principles of material design for visual appeal, ensuring a high-quality experience
  • Prioritize convenience and simplicity of features to ensure user-friendliness

Proposal

How can we design an experience to bring businesses to the same level of exposure as big competitors? What may entice customers to view local establishments and drive traffic to these businesses?

Design Process

Glimpse Social offers unlimited free advertising within the app and allows these businesses to push their updates to traditional social channels. For the first time, businesses of all types can collectively work together to raise their profile in the city and with potential customers, driving foot traffic when they need it.

Sitemap to determine what features and pages would be valuable for users based on the research and ideation.

Glimpse sitemap — from the home page through login and signup to selecting user or business owner, business location, business information, and payment options.

User flows designed to make sure the usability and available features were accessible and straightforward.

Glimpse user flows mapping how customers and business owners move through the app.
Hand-drawn ideation sketches of eight Glimpse screens: login, loading, map, profile, cam, business icon, settings, and business info.
Login wireframe
Sign-up wireframe
Loading wireframe
Map wireframe
Before
Login, before
After
Login, after
Before
Sign-up, before
After
Sign-up, after

Ideation — early hand sketches mapping out every core screen before any pixels.

Design Decisions

Shadow Hierarchy

Using shadows to convey hierarchy to impact the prioritization of elements for users and solve usability issues.

Map screen with a business-location prompt resting above the map via shadow.
Map screen with the pin confirmed, elevated above the map.

Bold Colors and Whitespace

Utilizing bold colors to create meaning and focus for the user experience. Leveraged whitespace through typography and optimized text layout to emphasize key elements.

Glimpse map discovery screen using bold color and whitespace.
Glimpse business profile page using bold color and whitespace.

Motion Animations

Leveraged motion animation to guide user interactions and communicate functionality, enhancing the experience during processes like loading into the map interface.

Animated upload interaction.
Animated empty-state interaction.

Primary and Accent Colors

Optimizing visual clarity and design aesthetics by applying concise color schemes for backgrounds, fields, fonts, and key interface elements.

Glimpse business category icons in the primary and accent colors.
Glimpse color palette of primary and accent colors.