My role
UX/UI design, Product, Visual design
Timeline
Ongoing / May 2024 - now
Founder
Ruby (ex-Apple), Kenny (ex-Microsoft)
Feeling
overwhelming
on campus?
SoFiiT creates a space
where meaningful
interactions happen.
Turn strangers into peers,
and peers into friends.
We are a small but highly passionate team. We were selected for the 2024 Techstars program, successfully launched our platform at USC, and are excited to expand to more schools in the near future!
INTRODUCING SOFIIT
SoFiiT aims to enhance student well-being and success through improved physical, social, and mental wellness.
Struggling to find someone who shares your interests?
Always find your ideal workout buddy to connect and meet up.
Buddy matching system
Keep forgetting to track your workouts?
Log workouts in one click and stay motivated with streak rewards.
New tracking system
Not sure where to have fun on campus?
Activity hub offers the most accessible workout activities for you.
Activity hub
HOW DID WE GET THERE?
Background
University students are struggling with mental health.
PAIN POINTS
Too few activities are offered, or the activities are not accessible to many people.
Lack of timely ways to understand students' mental health, and low completion rates for related questionnaires.
Trying to find someone to go out and workout with, but there is no one fit.
Challenges in consistently logging exercises, especially when working out with a buddy.
Strategy
V.S.
DESIGN THINKING
How to encourage students to build social connections?
Use workouts as a way to create social intersections. Encouraging students to engage in physical activities together enhances emotional well-being, reducing depression and anxiety by up to 26%, while boosting mood, self-esteem, and social bonds.
How do we make students fill in the matching preferences?
83% of users complete basic info, but only 29% fill out matching preferences.
The purple value proposition screen divides the white-background onboarding process into two sections: 'general profile' and 'match preferences'
Most of the students skip filling in match preferences
Showcase real user profiles to enhance engagement and increase interest in the platform.
Add a progress bar to indicate that this is the final step of the onboarding.
Achieved a 68% completion rate for matching preferences
Matching system
How might we encourage students to engage actively in finding a workout buddy match on our platform?
Matching system progress from stages 1 to 4.
Membership, pay to match
Students are not willing to subscribe
Collaborate with school, free for students, match upon request
Low retention rate
Auto match every Wednesday
Result in an increase of 42% retention rate within 14 days after release
Auto match every Wednesday
Get an instant match after filling in the match preference questions
Refer and invite friends to SoFiiT to get 1 instant match
Let’s see the results!
Logging system
How might we encourage students to log their workouts?
"Post" as a tab in the menu bar
Previously, we had a community feature, so when the user logs an exercise, they can also share it with the community.
Why not post on Instagram?
Create streaks and log exercises
Make posting a natural extension of tracking progress
Increase the likelihood of posting and logging by 26%
But later, users gradually forgot to log.
We found that the students' engagement in the community is low. When they figure out the log is a post, they don't want to log and share an exercise anymore. So, we removed the community feature.
Embed the log into the calendar, highlighting the key feature. The user can easily review past workouts and track their progress at a glance.
Let’s see the results!
Pain point solutions
University pain point 1
The activities are not accessible to many people.
University pain point 2
Lack of timely ways to understand students' mental health.
Student pain point 1
Cannot find someone to go out and workout with.
Student pain point 2
Challenges in consistently logging exercises.
Inclusive design
We face a wide range of students, so how can we ensure SoFiiT is accessible and inclusive?
APCA lightness contrast
Ensure that all content is visible and accessible.
Gender, ethnicity & student background
We aim to deeply understand our users to provide them with the best possible experience while demonstrating our respect and care. Additionally, by analyzing the data, we can highlight students’ mental health challenges across different backgrounds, enabling universities to take proactive steps in supporting their social well-being.
Matching preference questions
We offer students a diverse set of questions to describe themselves in a quick and effortless way, ensuring inclusivity while minimizing the time spent. By using the fewest yet most effective questions, we gather meaningful insights to provide better matches every Wednesday.
At the same time, we prioritize inclusivity and privacy - sensitive information is used solely for matching purposes and will not be displayed to others.
Vibe check
We track students’ mental health and well-being to help SoFiiT and the university better understand their backgrounds, provide targeted support, and assess our platform’s impact.
The vibe check happens during onboarding, with biweekly pop-ups, and users can check in anytime. To ensure accessibility and inclusivity, students can directly access university resources and mental health support through SoFiiT whenever needed.
Inclusive events
Both SoFiiT and the university offer activities and events for students. We strive to ensure that our events are inclusive and accessible to students from all backgrounds.
To enhance accessibility, we display key feature icons directly in the event preview, allowing students to quickly grasp essential details. Additional feature information is available on the event’s detailed page for further exploration.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
Design solutions that resonate with the Gen-Z mindset
Emojis enhance digital communication by conveying emotions and nuances that text alone may lack. 70% of Gen-Z believe content feels more complete with an emoji.
final design
