Vero: True Social
Mobile App Redesign
What is Vero?
Social media app created in 2015, in a time when users were concerned about algorithms dominating their social feed and users information being misused unethically.
Vero promised trust and transparency between the user and the app.
Directly made to compete with big time players like Facebook and Instagram.
Why didn’t it work?
Users were not so quick to join yet another social media app that virtually offered the same features
All social media apps were under scrutiny due to the Facebook information scandal.
Vero also had issues with its owner being criticized for questionable family connections.
Scope
Challenge: Vero failed to launch as a successful social media app, our challenge was to increase value and usability by adding to Vero.
Duration: 3 Weeks
Tools: Sketch, Invision, Zeplin, Adobe Illustrator, Google Cloud
Phases: Research and Empathy, Research Synthesis, Ideation and Iteration, Prototyping, Testing and Refinement
Team: Carolyn Marut, Celia Ehrle and myself
My Impact: Helped with user interviews, collected competitive analysis, increased accessibility, created personas, journey maps, created Liams low and hi fidelity wireframes
Research & Empathize
To begin making iterations on Vero, my team collaborated on using the following research methods:
Survey’s
We created a survey about social media on SurveyMonkey and posted it to our Facebook accounts.
Review’s
We looked up existing reviews for Vero on the Apple App store and Google Apps.
Branding
We conducted research on Vero’s branding and intent, while researching what the original app had to offer.
We also divided and interviewed social media users in person. We collaborated on questions that we thought would provide insightful feedback. Some of the questions were:
Interview Questions
Perfection
What does your perfect social media app look like? Function like?
Desire
What would convince you to join another social media app?
Aversion
Briefly describe what you don’t like about social media and why?
Value
What social media feature do you value the most?
Competitive Analysis
Photo sharing app and social network
Platform for popularity
Hashtags
Facebook & Facebook Messenger
Global availability to talk to people
Informative content mixed with entertainment
Reactions to posts, mentions to share with friends
YouTube
Wide content variety
Leisurely watchability
Consistent upload of unique content
Ad Free!
You are your number ; identity through phone #
Group chat, pics and multimedia with messages, free calling, video calling.
Affinity Map Key Findings
I do want…
transparency with social media
to know how my informations not being used
to be inspired
to create business relationships
Authenticity
the original Vero UI
I don’t want…
text posts
politics in my social media content
advertisements
negative content
superficial content
These key themes that were found in surveys, user reviews, user interviews, and competitive analysis allowed us insight into what users need/desire. We created features that we believed would increase its value to the social media app market.
Ideation
We then proceeded to sketch and ideate how we would work the features into the app in a intuitive and ideal way. Below are wire frames and sketches used in the ideation process
Wireframe for Liam
Wireframe for Jordan
Accessibility
A general change we made to Vero was to test its accessibility to WCAG standards. Using the app Contraste, we discovered the white color was not easily readable against the teal color that Vero chose for its UI. We tweaked the color by darkening the teal color which then passed WCAG standards.
Meet Liam
Liam needs a way to control who sees which content he posts and to keep his social and work circles separate. He also needs a more authentic and immediate way of communicating to keep his interests in social media consistent.
Liam’s Journey Map
Solution for Liam
By using Vero, Liam is able to video chat and place his connections within different social ‘loops’. By categorizing people into different loops, it allows him to filter what content gets viewed by which loops.
Iterations for Liam
Video Chatting
Added a video chat feature to allow a more authentic, quick, means of communication rather than waiting for response from direct messages.
‘Work’ Loop
Enriched the “loops” feature by adding a work only “loop” - this allows Liam to control who views parts of his content.
Meet Jordan
Jordan needs better control over the content that appears on her Vero feed because she is tired of opening the app and being subjected to posts that are offensive, uninspiring, and/or irrelevant.
Jordan’s Journey Map
Solution for Jordan
Vero enables Jordan to easily select/deselect specific types of content that she wishes to view on her feed. It also allows her to create custom filters and block certain content from appearing on her feed.
Iterations for Jordan
Content View
The collections feature was changed to a pull down menu that allows the users to see certain content such as videos or photos only. The feed is then updated after choosing an option.
Custom Filter
Users can filter their feed by accessing their settings and choosing the Custom Filter Option. They can enter ‘keywords’ or ‘hashtags’ that will filter any content with those hashtags within their feed.
Next Steps
Usability testing
Adding a meetup feature
Add way to see previously liked posts
Create playlist for others to view
Add video chat option in chat view
See who has visited your profile
Active or offline indicator for video chatting