Aesthetic: Connecting communities through creative content

I was given a project to address the inconsistencies within the creative world for marginalized communities. To start, I conducted interviews with people that identified with marginalized communities, including people from: black, Latine, LGBTQIA+, East Asian, and female-identifying communities as well as a mixture of two or three of them. 

The interviews

I conducted nine interviews in this process. Eight of those nine individuals identified with a marginalized community. All eight of those people mentioned feeling disconnected from their communities in one way or another. All eight of them also said that they felt underrepresented AND misrepresented in the art realm. They also voiced concerns about having safe spaces to express themselves.

The problem

After conducting interviews, I made an affinity map and recognized several trends. The main trend was the problem of disconnection. Most of the people I spoke with want more in-person contact with creatives that they relate to. They also felt that the representations of their communities through artistic mediums didn’t portray them accurately or didn’t portray them at all. A safe space to create and share was also a common theme.

The solution

When hearing about the problems that marginalized communities seem to be facing in many artistic mediums, I thought that a social media app that addressed these concerns would be helpful. The two apps that most of them use to create and view content are Instagram and Spotify so I thought I should use features from those apps for ease of use and continuity. 

To address the connection issue, I figured that in-person events in their geographical area in which they would be interested, would be a viable solution. To address the concern for safe spaces, I thought about the comment sections on content and how hostile and negative they can be. So taking away the opportunity to comment on content seemed like it may work. I thought a lot about the concern with representation and I focused on some comments that were made in my interviews stating that they were tired of seeing the same things on Instagram and that everything was focused around how many followers people have. To shift the focus from the creators to the content, I decided to have the users follow hashtags as opposed to following people. These hashtags would signify specific and niche communities as well as the type of medium being used, for example, #blackqueermusic, #afrolatinopainting, etc.

I also thought that an algorithm could be created to take pieces from the hashtags that they follow and expose them to different genres. If they consistently listen to #blackqueermusic, they could be suggested content in the #blackfolkart category. Whenever someone creates content, they tag it with whatever hashtag is appropriate. I feel that this promotes proper representation and takes the focus away from the obsession with individual attention that tends to happen on social media.

Early ideas

After having an idea in mind, I began to sketch out some simple user flows to see how the app could potentially work. I then made some sketches of the home screen and events page. This led to the production of the paper prototype that I presented to classmates and alumni in my UX program. The feedback I received was really positive concerning the idea itself. The only criticisms I received were of the layout and including a possible chat function so that event attendees could communicate prior to the event. I then felt ready to tackle a low fidelity clickable prototype in the Balsamiq program.

Prototype

I synthesized all of the feedback and made sure to include it in the beginning phase of my vision. My prototype focused on the events aspect mostly. The home page connects the user to events that are in their area and fall under the hashtags that they follow. They can then choose a specific event that includes all necessary details and an option to RSVP. Once the user agrees to attend the event, they are added to the guest list and they are able to see the rest of the attendees so that they will be comfortable going. They then have the option to send the other guests a chat request by sending a brief message. The other guest must accept their request before the chat is available. This is meant to foster more positive direct communication.

Final thoughts

The next thing I would do if I were to continue this process, would be to collect even more data. I would also want to test the usability of the app on people to make sure that it is easy to use and as intuitive as possible. I would then revise the app to tailor it to the feedback that I receive and consult with engineers and data scientists to make sure that the algorithm is within grasp. I truly believe that these features would produce an arena for safe expression, community connection, and accurate representation in social media.