Logistics Over Connection
Existing calendar apps organize dates well, yet lack the warmth needed to make everyday meetups feel effortless.
Project Overview
Gather is a delightful mobile app designed to help close friends coordinate and stay connected despite demanding, conflicting schedules. Created as part of a Delightful Design sprint at SFSU, the project explores the balance between hedonic design (instant joy, playfulness, and cuteness) and eudaimonic design (deeper fulfillment and long-term personal well-being).
Problem Statement
Existing calendar tools feel like corporate admin, causing friend groups to abandon plans in chaotic group chats. Without a warm, social-first space built for everyday friendships, coordinating across busy schedules becomes exhausting and spontaneous hangouts stall before they ever happen.
Target Audience
- Busy Students & Friends: Close-knit groups balancing heavy schedules who want quality time without logistical burnout.
- Spontaneous Planners: Users seeking low-pressure, casual hangouts rather than rigid, corporate-style calendar invites.
- Core Need: A friction-free availability hub that replaces planning anxiety with warmth and playfulness.
The Solution
- Instant Availability Sync: Visualizes overlapping free time across friend groups to eliminate endless back-and-forth messaging.
- Shared Hangout Wishlist: Lets friends save and vote on local spots and activities, turning planning into a collaborative ritual.
- Centralized Plan Hubs: Combines group chat, location pins, and RSVPs in one screen to prevent fragmented communication.
- Reassuring, Delightful UI: Pairs warm character design with intuitive micro-interactions to lower social friction and encourage connection.
Design Thinking Process
A four-stage human-centered process balancing hedonic delight (playful, low-pressure interactions) with eudaimonic purpose (meaningful, real-world friendship).
Empathize
- Competitive Audit
- Friendship & Color Research
- Student Schedule Insights
Define
- Pain Points
- User Storyboarding
- Hedonic/Eudaimonic Goals
Ideate
- Brainstorming
- Card Sorting
- User Flow
Design
- Wireframing
- Custom Mascot & UI Kit
- Prototype
Test
- Evaluation Rubric
- Peer & Mentor Critique
- Improvements
Empathize Phase
Competitive Audit Table
Key Takeaway
Friendship Needs Low-Barrier Touchpoints
Grounded in APA friendship science, maintaining close ties relies on consistent, casual check-ins rather than formal planning.
Emotional Safety Drives Action
To help busy friends follow through, the interface must feel reassuring and inviting rather than like another task list.
Color & Emotion Research
To ensure Gather felt supportive rather than stressful, we researched UI color psychology principles and how color shapes emotional perception. Drawing on the concept that meaning matters, we combined warm, optimistic tones with calm, grounded hues to create a cozy, approachable atmosphere—using vibrant accents intentionally to guide users toward key actions without visual overwhelm.
Define Phase
How Might We
How might we turn hangout planning from an administrative chore into a playful, low-pressure ritual for close friends?
Hedonic Goals
Lowering planning friction through warmth
- Playful Visuals: Expressive star mascot and soft, rounded UI that feel welcoming rather than corporate.
- Rewarding Micro-Interactions: Friendly prompts that make checking in feel lighthearted.
Eudaimonic Goals
Turning check-ins into real-life closeness
- Frictionless Syncing: Surfacing mutual free windows without awkward back-and-forth texts.
- Shared Rituals: Collaborative hangout wishlists and memories that strengthen lasting friendships.
Ideate Phase
Lo-Fi Wireframes
Exploring Low-Friction Flows
Welcoming Entry
Tested a friendly "Let's Get Together" splash screen to set a warm tone before showing any schedules.
Visual Calendar Over Text
Explored a clean monthly grid so users could spot free days at a glance instead of reading long chat threads.
Quick Event Prompts
Sketched lightweight invite cards to keep hangout creation fast and casual.
User Storyboard
User Flow & Information Architecture
Design Phase
Modular Character System
- Round, Organic Silhouettes: Designed soft, curved base shapes (Greenie, Bluey, and our Star mascot) to feel warm, friendly, and approachable rather than rigid.
- Mix-and-Match Expressions: Built interchangeable eyes, arms, and wave poses as modular components so characters can react dynamically to user moods, empty states, and hangout confirmations.
- Emotional Reassurance: Acts as a supportive companion throughout the app, lowering the social anxiety of coordinating plans.
Hi-Fi Screens
Test Interactive Prototype
Try clicking through the core user flow above
Open Prototype in Full Screen ↗Test Phase
Delight & Usability Evaluation
Evaluating Delight & Usability
To validate whether Gather balanced playful charm with clear usability, we ran structured walkthroughs with peers and mentors using a 6-dimension Delight Rubric—measuring how captivating, surprising, lively, cute, serendipitous, and reassuring the flow felt in action.
Key Evaluation Takeaway
High Emotional Warmth
Evaluators consistently praised the custom mascots and soft color palette for making hangout planning feel welcoming rather than stressful.
Clear Core Flow
Participants quickly grasped how to view mutual free windows and send low-pressure invites without confusion.
Opportunities for Clarity
Feedback highlighted minor friction points around text contrast on warm yellow buttons and visual density in early schedule views.
Project Reflection & Next Steps
What I Learned
- Emotion Drives Utility: Designing for eudaimonic connection taught me that reducing social anxiety is just as important as simplifying calendar mechanics.
- Systems Over One-Offs: Building modular character components and reusable UI patterns kept our 3-week group sprint fast and cohesive.
Next Steps
- External Calendar Sync: Integrate Google and Apple Calendar APIs so free windows update automatically in real time.
- Accessibility & Group Testing: Conduct contrast audits across all color themes and test multi-friend group dynamics in live social scenarios.