Loam

Status Post 1: Loaming about Copy

Feb 15, 2024

Completed Tasks

Desirability Survey

Person Responsible: Ella

Due Date: Oct 12

  • We built a desirability survey to help us better inform our branding and messaging

  • We wanted to know what words, emotions, and imagery people associated with the word and/or app Loam.

Questions:

  • What emotions do you think the name Loam should evoke?

    • Warmth / Connected / Overwhelmed / Growth / Fearful / Nostalgic / Calm / Joy / Trust / Boredom / Creativity / Inspired / Safe / Empowered / Other

  • Which words best describe what Loam should feel like as a brand?

    • Playful / Grounded / Organic / Modern / Intimate / Natural / Sophisticated / Minimal / Friendly / Innovative / Retro / Other

  • Should Loam feel more…

    • Calm and nurturing / Bright and energetic / Sleek and modern / Cozy and personal / Other:

  • What kinds of symbols or imagery come to mind when you think of “growth” or “connection”?

  • What visual elements might represent close relationships or meaningful connections to you?

    • Circles or links / Plants or roots / Hands or gestures / Paths or bridges / Abstract/organic shapes / Other:

  • Anything else that would help us capture that feeling visually?

Takeaways

  • Users feel that loam should evoke feelings of growth (64%), warmth (56%), and calmness (52%).

  • Words that best describe Loam include organic (72%), natural (60%), and friendly (56%).

  • Users agree that Loam should feel cozy, nurturing, and personal (92%).

  • Many users envision natural elements like trees, plants, and roots when hearing the words “growth” or “connection.”

  • 88% of users think that plants and roots visually represent lose relationships or meaningful connections.

Core Task Flows

Person(s) Responsible: Everyone

Due Date: Oct 14

  • Started working through some of our core task flows for the app

Profile item Brainstorm + Categorization

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 12

  • Brainstormed/organized potential profile items into categories. This will help us get into the right headspace for profiles and think about how to best approach the adding and editing flows of the profile items

Media and Entertainment

  • Currently watching (TV shows, movies, anime)

  • Watchlist / want to watch

  • Favorite genres (horror, rom-com, sci-fi, etc.)

  • Podcasts currently listening to

  • Favorite YouTubers / creators

  • Live events attended recently (concerts, festivals, plays)

  • Song currently playing

  • Concerts attended (or upcoming)

  • Top artists of the month / year

Learning and knowledge

  • Currently reading

  • Topics you’re studying / learning about

  • Courses you’re taking (online/offline)

Gaming and Digitial

  • Currently playing (video games, mobile games)

  • Coding projects / GitHub modules

  • Apps currently using the most

Creativity

  • Artwork you’ve made recently

  • Photography gallery

  • Writing samples / poems / essays

  • Crafts / DIY projects

Health and lifestyle

  • Workout routine / log

  • Step count / activity streak

  • Sports you play

  • Sleep tracker

Travel and exploration

  • Current location check-in

  • Countries visited (map visualization)

  • Trips recently taken

Home and living

  • Gardening / plants grown

  • Favorite meals / recipes

  • Restaurants recently visited

  • “Fridge shelfie” (snapshot of what’s in your fridge)

Pets and companions

  • Recent pet photos

Social and community

  • Upcoming events you’re attending

  • Polls for friends to vote on

  • Hot takes / unpopular opinions

Mood and personality

  • Daily mood / vibe check

Open Tasks

Kano Feature Survey

Person(s) Responsible: Gavin, Dom

Due Date: Oct 16

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 20

  • Feature survey using the Kano survey method

  • Describes a feature then asks users to answer how they feel if the feature did exist vs. if it didn't

  • The survey is complete, currently surveying users

Answer types:

  • I like it (I really want this to be a feature, I don't see it very often)

  • I expect it (I consider this to be a norm)

  • I am neutral (I don't care)

  • I reluctantly accept it (I'm not fond of it but there's nothing that can be done about it)

  • I dislike it (I don't like that you are adding this and it's existence is not natural)

Takeaways:

  • 72.7% expect photo posts

  • 90% like or are neutral about discord style reactions

  • 71.4% like connection limits

  • 95% like feed organization

  • 90.5% like interest based profile

User Personas

Person(s) Responsible: Gavin

Due Date: Oct 16

Core Feature Sketches

Person(s) Responsible: Everyone

Due Date: Oct 16

  • Group effort to sketch out some of the core features we have in mind

  • Practice for getting the wireframing started and also working to get everyone on the same page

  • Modify/add new sketches on Wednesday or Thursday so that we can start wireframes on Thursday, to be completed October 19.

Wireframing

Person(s) Responsible: Chem, Enoch, Ella

Due Date: Oct 19

Use our kano and desirability surveys, sketches, and task flows to inform our wireframing.

Screens for wireframing:

  • Posting feed 

    • Reacting 

      • where does the add reaction vs already added reactions live

      • pop-up window of emojis

    • Comments view

  • Connections page 

    • should include remove buttons

  • Posting process

  • Profile page

    • Edit profile

    • settings 

    • share

  • Profile item detail

  • Adding profile item

  • Onboarding 

    • log in / sign up

    • notifications

    • Profile info (name, image, bio)

    • Adding a profile item 

    • Adding a custom item

    • sync contacts

Logo + Colors

Person(s) Responsible: Chem, Enoch, Ella

Due Date: Oct 14

  • Whittling down our options for colors and logos based on our desirability survey

  • Had a variety of logos and colors that covered a range of looks and feels

  • Our desirability survey informed use that our users associate our app with organic, earth and plant orients shames and earthy colors.

    • 3 new color palettes of 5 colors will be created, leaning into warm and natural colors

    • Our type logo will remain the same (organic host grotesk lettering)

    • Developing 6 new icons to choose from, leaning into plants and roots.

Task Flows / User Journeys

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 17

High Priority:

  • Editing a profile item

  • Deleting a profile item

  • Commenting

  • Reacting 

  • Adding a connection

  • Removing a connection

Low Priority:

  • Creating a feed

  • Physical product ideas

    • open profile?

    • Other interaction?

  • Sharing a profile

  • Settings

Ethical Nudge analysis

Person(s) Responsible: Joe

Due Date: Oct 19

Review current nudges used by apps, ethical nudges. etc. How can we incorporate this into our app?


New Tasks

Testing script for low fidelity

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 12

  • Once we have our lofi prototypes finished, we will start testing them.

  • The prototype will cover the core tasks of the app

    • onboarding

    • posting

    • profile editing + adding

    • Adding + Removing connections

    • Interacting with posts

      • commenting

      • reacting

  • Build out a test script that touches on each of these core tasks in the prototype

Database design / schema 

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 12

Description/Example(s): Show images/movies of completed work. You can also embed codepen / figma / youtube / vimeo / etc... Do NOT include images of code or links to github. If you coded something make a video of the working example and embed that. Also include text description/bulletpoints of process, hurdles, and key take aways.

API Selection - connect to the app

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 12

Description/Example(s): Show images/movies of completed work. You can also embed codepen / figma / youtube / vimeo / etc... Do NOT include images of code or links to github. If you coded something make a video of the working example and embed that. Also include text description/bulletpoints of process, hurdles, and key take aways.

API Selection - connect to the app

Person(s) Responsible: Dom

Due Date: Oct 26

Create a moodboard for the look and feel of the UI’s style and design.


Meetings

2025-10-12, Zoom

Ella, Enoch, Chem

Agenda

  • Reviewed sketches

    • Discussed overlapping ideas and themes

      • In terms of UI Design, everyone seems to like the idea of a “Bento Box” or “Widget” look for the profile page

      • Exploring different ways to sketch posts types

      • Exploring the design of the home screen

  • Based on sketches and the kano survey, we will plan to modify/add new sketches on Wednesday or Thursday so that we can start wireframes on Thursday, to be completed October 19.

  • Reviewed results of desirability survey

    • Users feel that loam should evoke feelings of growth (64%), warmth (56%), and calmness (52%).

    • Words that best describe Loam include organic (72%), natural (60%), and friendly (56%).

    • Users agree that Loam should feel cozy, nurturing, and personal (92%).

    • Many users envision natural elements like trees, plants, and roots when hearing the words “growth” or “connection.”

    • 88% of users think that plants and roots visually represent lose relationships or meaningful connections.

    • Based on this data:

      • 3 new color palettes of 5 colors will be created, leaning into warm and natural colors

      • Our type logo will remain the same (organic host grotesk lettering)

      • Developing 6 new icons to choose from, leaning into plants and roots.

2025-10-13, Zoom

Max, Dom, Joe, Gavin

Agenda

  • Discuss open tasks

    • Feature Survey

      • Added some wording and a new question

    • Notification research

      • More direction towards actionable items

    • Profile Categorization

  • Discussed New tasks

    • Set time for Max and Dom to meet about task flows

    • Gavin doing personas

    • Joe finishing research

2025-10-13, Zoom

Ella, Max

Agenda

  • Planned out acceptance criteria for

    • wire framing

    • Design system setup

  • Discussed

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