Quirc – A social collaboration app for Queer BIPOC
Quirc – A social collaboration app for Queer BIPOC
Quirc is a social app exclusively for Queer BIPOC to connect and collaborate on creative projects. The app matches users based on the skills they’re seeking or want to offer, and provides secure communication tools for collaboration. The team included myself, a brand designer, an engineer, a content creator, and the founding entrepreneur. I served as a product lead and UX design lead.
Some of the early mockups created before I joined the team
The initial app design had a really nice visual design, but it was somewhat inconsistent and not totally accessible – for example, the buttons all had a varying corner radius and some of the font sizes and colors were too small or too low contrast to meet WCAG accessibility guidelines.
There were also opportunities within the user experience. The initial information architecture included a lot of concepts – ‘Collabs’ and ‘Clubs’, unfamiliar icons, and multiple feeds with lots of overlap in content. And while most of the logic had been thought out, there were still some gaps in the functionality, where the team hadn’t yet had time to fully think through some of the interactions.
A few of my wireframes, sketches, and concept drawings from the design process.
After on-boarding with the rest of the team and speaking to a few folks who fit our user profile, I had a better understanding of the most important features as well as a few ideas about how we might change the user experience and restructure the information architecture.
I facilitated session with the team: story mapping, solution ideation and assessment, and multiple design feedback sessions as I moved the work forward from solution ideas to wireframes to interactive prototypes.
In the end, I was able to consolidate the UX into something simpler, cleaner, and more intuitive. I also ensured the design components were visually consistent, distinct, and accessible. Our little team created a beautiful, useful app that has since launched to the public!
Check out some of the highlights below.
The design system components were updated to be accessible and WCAG compliant, consistent, and beautiful!
The UX of Clubs and Collabs was simplified as Projects, which users would match with based on their gifts and request to join.
I also facilitated discussion and story mapped our UX to align on priorities and releases. We were able to add to safety and privacy features as well as admin tools and features to help protect folks on the app.
Lastly, the Feeds concept was reimagined and simplified. Where before there were multiple tabs and feeds.
In the new UI a single Feed is home to the inspirational, educational, and community building content the Quirc team produces in partnership with the Black Feminist Film School – The first official project on Quirc!