Mingle. iMessage scheduling assistant
Let's admit it. Scheduling with friends was never easy, it's even harder than scheduling a coffee chat with your CEO. I found myself drowning in back-and-forth messages trying to coordinate hangouts, and I'm definitely not alone in this.
This inspired Mingle, an iMessage scheduling tool to make it easy to find time for daily hangouts. Mingle also considers the unspoken emotions that come with group planning, making coordination feel less like a hassle and more like a shared experience.
Role: Product Design
Duration: Sep 2020 – Dec 2020
Result: Under development
Let’s go out
for dinner
Let’s do
friday night?
I can’t do Sunday.
What about...
Initial Research
Why is scheduling with friends so hard?
I invited 8 participants to share their past scheduling experiences and walk me through their journey. We agreed that scheduling with friends is more challenging than scheduling in a workspace, and here's why:
01 The Context
Casual setting, casual approach
Unlike workplace scheduling, friends' availability is often unclear, and conversations tend to get mixed with small talk, making the process less rational and structured.
02 The People
There's no organizer
Typically, no one wants to take on the role of the “secretary” or “decision maker” who collects everyone's availability, identifies overlaps, and creates a plan for the entire group.
03 The Decision
The paradox of choice
The more options we have, the longer it takes to decide. With no fixed time or location constraints, the abundance of choices makes quick decisions difficult.
I mapped out 3 design requirements based on my initial research
Separating scheduling from chat
so that it seamlessly integrates into conversations, but it won't distracted by casual chatter.
Everyone
is responsible
for suggesting time slots and making decisions—we can't rely on others to do it for us.
Providing limited options
prevents decision fatigue and helps avoid the paradox of choice.
Based on these requirements, I made the decision to:
design an iMessage embedded app
create a feature where everyone in the group chat proposes their preferred time slots
allow users to vote from the overlapping slots
and I invited participants to go through their scheduling routines again using wireframes
Plot Twitst
We care more than just time
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