HobbyHub
This project explored how digital design could create opportunities for greater community and connection within increasingly independent and socially fragmented apartment living.
Understanding the Context: What does Everyday Apartment Living Look Like?
I led a series of 11 resident interviews with my team, conducted both virtually and in person, to understand how people experienced their current living environments. I intentionally kept the questions broad and open-ended, asking about their homes, daily routines, what they valued, and what felt challenging or overlooked, while avoiding leading questions that might steer participants toward assumptions we had already made.
A selection of key quotations from interviews with apartment residents.
I began to notice recurring themes in how residents described their daily lives, particularly around privacy, community, and interactions in common areas. I led my team to group related responses, hoping to uncover the underlying tension within each:
Grouping interviewees’ thoughts and experiences. While housing concerns also surfaced, we focused on the human aspects of residents’ experiences where our design could have greater influence.
Through further probing with my team, I helped synthesise the responses into three key findings:
Privacy is valued, but separation isn't: Residents wanted independence at home, while still expressing a desire for human presence and connection.
Community matters, but proximity isn't enough: Community was repeatedly described as an important part of a desirable living environment, yet interactions with neighbours were often limited to brief, incidental encounters.
Shared spaces aren't necessarily shared experiences: Apartments had many communal amenities which often went unused. Meanwhile, participants fondly recalled the courtyards, gardens, and neighbourhood spaces in landed housing as places for spontaneous gatherings.
Together, these insights pointed towards an opportunity to explore how existing shared spaces could support more natural forms of connection and foster stronger community. This led to my next question:
What would make connection happen naturally?
Understanding How Connections Form
To better understand what makes connection feel approachable, I led five additional interviews with my team, focused on how people socialise and form friendships, before looking at how those behaviours played out within apartment living.
I realised that even when opportunities to socialise existed, there was often no comfortable reason for people to take the first step. Connection needed a point of entry. Reviewing participants’ examples of spaces where connection felt more natural, I noticed a common thread: whether gardening in the garden or playing in the playground, a shared activity provided a reason to be in the space and something to connect over, without requiring people to initiate a social interaction from scratch. With this in mind, I arrived at a more specific design focus:
How might we use shared hobbies as an entry point for residents to engage with underused spaces within their apartment complex, creating low-barrier opportunities for organic connection and a stronger building community?
Our first user journey and wireflows, structured together to show the user's flow in tandem with each screen.
The First Major Design Decision: How Would the App Work?
With a clear design focus, I began exploring how this could translate into a digital app experience. I explored laterally, continuously probing and diverging into different possibilities for the app’s touchpoints and primary workings, keeping in mind the concerns about forming connections and using shared spaces from our interviews.
A sticky note trail of thought as I worked out the first interactions, touchpoints, and potential features for the app.
My team and I then mapped an initial user journey and wireflows, experimenting with features that could support the in-person interactions we wanted to foster within the building.
01 Prompt Use of Amenities through Check In Function:
Why: Checking in as our primary app feature gave residents a simple nudge to use underused shared spaces, encouraging initial presence and gathering, the first step toward fostering connection.
02: Choose Activity when Checking In
Why: I then incorporated activity selection to support the second step toward connection: shared interests. This guides residents toward spaces where like-minded participants are gathering, making a shared hobby a natural point of entry for connection.
03: View, not Commit to Upcoming Events
Why: This design decision was aimed at supporting both planning ahead and spontaneous participation, reflecting some interviewees’ preferences for low-pressure, organic community experiences.
04: Active Amenities + Hobbies
Why: I wanted to make social opportunities more visible by showcasing spaces in use and ongoing resident hobbies. This responded to the lack of natural social touchpoints in large, fragmented buildings, identified through our interviews.
05: Spotlight Hobby Event
Why: I introduced a weekly event to give hesitant or new residents an easy way to join in without having to initiate connection themselves. Rotating the featured hobby also supports a more inclusive and balanced community over time.
06: Snapshot of Hobbyist Roles
Why: These role overviews were meant to make neighbours feel more approachable, signalling support and guidance. This made each hobby community feel accessible and low-barrier to hobbyists of all skill-levels.
07: Hobby Channels
Why: I introduced channels to give residents a low-pressure way to start or continue conversations beyond shared spaces, creating another pathway for connections to grow both digitally and offline.
08: Creating a Hobby Event
Why: I wanted to give residents the autonomy to shape community on their own terms, allowing them to create events based on the activities and interactions they want to foster within the building.
Reflection
In an increasingly digital world, this project made me question how digital tools can be designed as catalysts for richer, more human experiences, rather than simply becoming another source of distance. HobbyHub showed how digital intervention does not have to replace physical connection; it can help make it easier to begin.
Reflecting on our process, I would have also liked to conduct further usability testing, assessing whether the UI chosen made our intentions clear and intuitive, carrying our strategic goals through into the final interaction.
The Intervention
An app to help building residents discover and connect through shared hobbies, transforming solo activities into low-barrier, communal experiences that foster a sense of belonging among like-minded neighbours.
My Role
I led UX research through user interviews, synthesising findings to uncover how residents connect within their living environments. I brought together these research insights to shape the strategy and design of the HobbyHub app.