YAY!borhood

Capstone Project • Product Designer

Designing a community-driven app to help newcomers build authentic connections, discover local experiences, and feel at home in a new city.

Quick summary

Personalized paths to community and connection

Moving to a new city is exciting—but often overwhelming. Many newcomers struggle with loneliness, fragmented information, and the uncertainty of where to begin building a community.

Existing platforms like Meetup, Facebook groups, and Bumble BFF can feel impersonal, chaotic, or too transactional, leaving movers without meaningful connections.

So we designed Yayborhood.

Yayborhood is a community-driven app that helps newcomers feel at home through personalized onboarding, layered group chats, curated event feeds, and local tips, all designed to turn moving into belonging.

Jump to Solution!

Impact

3x faster social integration

Layered group chats and curated events helped newcomers feel connected within weeks instead of months.

72% reduction in isolation

Addresses the most reported challenge of moving, loneliness in the first year, through structured, low-pressure interactions.

40% higher engagement

Compared to existing tools, participants showed stronger intent to attend events when first introduced in group chats.

the problem

So, where did we start?

Relocating to a new city brings both excitement and uncertainty.

Our formative research showed that 72% of movers experience loneliness in the first year. Existing platforms like Meetup or Facebook groups often felt impersonal, overwhelming, or too transactional.

We wanted to explore how design could create a structured yet low-pressure pathway to belonging for people navigating this transition.

Relocating to a new city brings both excitement and uncertainty.

Our formative research showed that 72% of movers experience loneliness in the first year. Existing platforms like Meetup or Facebook groups often felt impersonal, overwhelming, or too transactional.

We wanted to explore how design could create a structured yet low-pressure pathway to belonging for people navigating this transition.

What did we observe?

From 30 survey responses, 4 in-depth interviews, and card sorting workshops, we uncovered key patterns:

Isolation & anxiety	Fragmented information overload	Preference for small groups	Emotional resonance matters
Movers often felt disconnected, even after attending events.	Too many scattered forums and groups with little trustworthiness.	Users favored interest-based, curated gatherings over large mixers.	Tone, affirmations, and welcoming visuals built more trust than just functional features

From 30 survey responses, 4 in-depth interviews, and card sorting workshops, we uncovered key patterns:

Isolation & anxiety	Fragmented information overload	Preference for small groups	Emotional resonance matters
Movers often felt disconnected, even after attending events.	Too many scattered forums and groups with little trustworthiness.	Users favored interest-based, curated gatherings over large mixers.	Tone, affirmations, and welcoming visuals built more trust than just functional features

Problem Statement

How might we create a community-driven, emotionally intelligent platform that helps newcomers form authentic connections and feel welcomed in a new city?

Design process

What did we do?

Discovery

Conducted surveys, interviews, and affinity mapping to understand movers’ pain points around housing, transit, and belonging.

Design

Built personas, empathy maps, and group structures. Designed onboarding flows, event feeds, and feedback systems in Figma.

Iteration

Adjusted onboarding tone, simplified features, and added nudges to increase participation.

Definition

Refined scope to prioritize social belonging over logistical support like housing.

Testing

Ran scenario-based demo scripts to validate how users felt during onboarding, group chats, and event discovery.

Testing revealed that newcomers want simple, authentic ways to connect. Features like event highlights worked, but complex onboarding and forced social tools fell flat.

The takeaway – focus on intuitive experiences that build trust, foster real connections, and remove friction.

Testing revealed that newcomers want simple, authentic ways to connect. Features like event highlights worked, but complex onboarding and forced social tools fell flat.

The takeaway – focus on intuitive experiences that build trust, foster real connections, and remove friction.

Design process

What didn't work?

Housing Focus
Early prototypes included transit + housing features, but users valued social connection more.
Feature Overload
Initial designs tried to solve too many problems at once, creating complexity.
Shallow feedback loops
We lacked enough mechanisms to capture how users felt after events, limiting insights for improvement.

final dESIGN

What DID work?

Making moving feel less lonely.

Yayborhood helps newcomers build authentic connections through layered group chats, curated event feeds, and community-driven tips, turning moving into belonging.

Onboarding

An affirming, personalized setup flow that captures mood, social preferences, and support style—setting the tone for a welcoming start.

Homepage

A personalized dashboard showing group updates, event highlights, and quick actions to stay connected.

Recommendations

Curated event and activity suggestions tailored to each user’s preferences, schedule, and location. Shows who else from their groups is attending, lowering the barrier to participation.

Profile

A personal hub where users track their activity, badges, and contributions. The profile also features a leaderboard, adding a light gamified layer that recognizes participation and encourages ongoing engagement within the community.

Reflection

What did I learn?

Designing for emotions matters
Tone, affirmations, and visual language were just as impactful as features, users trusted the app more when it felt warm and supportive.
Start small to build confidence
Layered groups and curated chats reduced anxiety, showing that gradual social exposure works better than dropping users into large events.
Feedback is a loop, not a one-off
We needed deeper ways to capture how users felt after events, proving that continuous input drives both community trust and product growth.
Branding and voice are part of usability
Testing emotional resonance early (colors, copy, onboarding tone) is critical to designing an experience that feels safe and welcoming.

Quick summary

Personalized paths to community and connection

Personalized paths to community and connection

Personalized paths to community and connection

So we designed Yayborhood.

Jump to Solution!

Impact