BRIEF

Trill is a peer support network.

Trill Project is a social networking platform that creates a virtual support community with a focus on inclusivity, privacy, and anonyminity. Users can anonymously express themselves and connect with other users on the application.

Trill was acquired by Blue Fever in late 2021. The app is no longer accessible to the public.

THE PROBLEM

Users wanted us to expand how to connect on Trill.

While the app supported direct messaging other users, finding users through posts, and joining communities, through monthly surveys Trill's beta testers expressed wanting a group chat feature to be able to connect with more people at once through mutual friends and interests.

DELIVERABLES AND APPROACH

I was tasked with designing the ability to create group chats with other users. This was my first time working on prototyping a new app feature so I was unsure to go about doing so, but here's what I ended up doing.

I interacted with a couple of mobile apps that I used regularly that had group chat features, and took note of features, interactions, and functions that they had in common.

From there, I worked on a couple of both low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes to arrange where to lay out the components on a page.

Some common group chat features included...

Group chat names
Buttons for group chat info
Buttons to add group members
Area to type and send messages

Lo-fi wireframes

First draft mockups

INTEREST GROUP CHATS

In addition to giving users the option to connect their mutual friends to each other, I came up with an alternative way for Trill users to communicate with each other outside of posting and creating their own chats: interest-based group chats.

Trill users would be able find a page with a list of moderator created, existing group chats that were created on the basis of user interests and identities, and could join them if they wanted to engage in the group's conversations.

USER RESEARCH

While I wasn’t heavily involved in the user research process, I got a glimpse of the user research process. Another intern on our product team interviewed some of our beta testers and had them test the prototypes I created.

Some beta tester
notes included...

Numbers on the side of a group chat were confusing
"i" in the corner of a chat was confusing
Good to have a group description and an option to leave the group chat
Navigation feels really natural, simple and easy to navigate
Should have an option to react on texts
Would keep both options to make your own group chat and be in a group chat made by Trill

Interview questions created by our UX Research intern, Lauren! Through her research, I learned about what questions to consider when designing products.

OUTCOME

Here are the final mockups and prototypes of the project, revised based on tester feedback. Group chats were implemented into the app by Trill's developers before the app was acquired.