Imzy · 2016

Imzy

Role: Lead designer, iOS and Android
Focus: iOS, Android, Community
Outcomes: Thousands of user-created communities and over a hundred thousand profiles found a comfortable home online.

Challenge

The platforms most people use today for their communities were not created from day one for community purposes. (Stay with me.) The challenge of Imzy was to bring people together with common interests without the threat of harassment, and to provide the tools for great community leaders to lead.

Simply put, the challenge was to create a place where you felt like you belonged. (Vague enough?) We invented an identity system that was very complicated to design, but people loved how it worked, and it made it worth it. I enjoyed creating a comfortable home on the internet for thousands of people.

Role

I was the lead designer for both iOS and Android apps. I worked closely with another designer when she wasn't too busy creating our mascot, and with our developers.

User flow

Your home

Imzy splash screen and home feed screens with the animated clouds behind Imzysaurus

After testing a few different graphics for the loading animation and splash screen, we decided that animating the clouds behind Imzysaurus was a great transition to your home.

The home feed went through many iterations to arrive at where it is today. We also had a feature for a compact feed view, which allowed for quickly scanning your community info.

Create

Imzy post creation screens showing the seamless posting flow

Imzy wasn't just about consuming. Communities are as great as their members, so enabling a seamless posting process was vital.

Explore

Over 6 thousand user created communities, 100k + profiles to explore.

Follow

People form various levels of relationships with others online, and we discovered that we really need to include a follow feature with a dedicated feed to see what and where the people you follow are posting.

Message

Imzy direct messaging and private group conversation screens

Making connections with other people requires direct messaging and private group conversations.

Comments

Imzy comment threads showing identity options including posting as anonymous

Comments are just as important, if not more so, than the actual post itself. Communities thrive on discussion. We need to make comments very visible, and allow anonymity either by creating a new identity in this community or posting as anonymous.

Profile empty states

If you would like to see more (I have so much more. 😄*) Please reach out.*