An app for personal and professional growth
I joined Paradigm as Allogroom's logo and brand direction had just been approved and they were ready to begin work on their app—I quickly learned that this would be my first major project as part of the team.
I was briefed on a "social feedback app" that the founders saw as an alternative or even a supplement to platforms like LinkedIn. This new application's focus was to allow professionals to send and receive feedback anonymously. The goal was to give coworkers and peers a place to uplift and encourage each other.
Building out a brand
The Allogroom logo was designed by Katie Stegemoeller at Paradigm. Outside of this logo and a simple color palette, not much was set in stone just yet. The vibrant gradient of the logo served as the backbone for my explorations into the brand—eventually being separated into three gradients that I used to distinguish each tab within the application design.
Additionally, I was asked to weigh in on typography and other aspects of the project as I helped build out their brand guidelines prior to starting work on the application.
Designing a new type of social platform
While at its core this was still social media, it was driven by data, assessments and graphing a users personal and professional strengths. This meant the design needed to diverge from what's expected on social platforms. On the dashboard tab, I created a 5-point 'personality matrix' to make the data feel more alive. I used the vibrant gradients to make each assessment shine as you complete it. All of the iconography within the app was custom-designed specifically for Allogroom, including arrows that rest against the elements below them, and tab icons that transform as they're selected.
Both Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Google's Material Design System serve as great frameworks for user experience when designing apps like this—and I referenced both to ensure each unique element still felt right at home on mobile devices.
An encouraging voice
When designing this app for professionals, I took extra precautions to make sure it never came across as 'cold'. Most of the copy I was provided was directly from the client, outlining exactly which qualities to rate and which personality traits that would be reflected on the dashboard. Outside of that I wrote UX copy as I went, leaning on Paradigm's talented writers whenever I needed.
Something was missing though. I wanted users to feel like there was a reward tied to each assessment they create or receive, so I started to shift the tone past straight-forward UX copy in places where I could gamify the experience. The result was copy that encouraged the user throughout the experience—each task being celebrated before asking you to perform the next.
Striking a balance
The change in the app's voice was one of many areas I was attempting to balance the serious nature of the app with a bit of fun, and each design decision along the way was made for the very same purpose.
The colorful gradients helped breathe life into the deep slate color of the app, the dashboard creates a unique gradient from all 5 of the brands colors as it highlights your strengths, and micro-animations help create a fluid transition between each tab.
