EXPLORATORY DESIGN
SOCIAL PLATFORM
Designing for Trust in Social Contexts
Bridging Intent and Action
TEAM
Solo
MY ROLE
UX Designer
(End-to-end)
TIMELINE
4 Weeks
FOCUS
Trust Building
Emotional Readiness
Social Participation
DELIVERABLES
Research Insights
Design Hypothesis
Iterative Prototypes
Kaleidos explores how people follow through on social commitments across different cultural and behavioral contexts.
Why do people commit to social events, yet still not show up?
This project examines the gap between intention and attendance through the lens of anticipation, trust, and social comfort. Rather than assuming reminders or incentives are the primary levers, this project investigates how emotional readiness and cognitive load shape whether someone actually follows through.
Created early in my UX practice, Kaleidos functioned as a learning laboratory: synthesizing research, testing assumptions, and translating nuanced human factors - such as social anxiety and uncertainty - into product decisions. The result is not a fully resolved product, but a focused exploration of how design can reduce friction before the moment of commitment.
Viewed in retrospect, this work marks a formative point in my design thinking. Many of the questions surfaced here about anticipation over persuasion, curation over volume, and trust as a UX material, continue to inform my later projects with greater clarity and rigor. This case study preserves that starting point honestly, allowing the work to be read for what it is and what it set in motion.
DEFINE
Designing for Trust Before Participation
Kaleidos was an early stage social events startup designed to help adults form new connections through in-person activities. While interest in events was high, attendance often did not follow.
Internal location data showed that only ~20% of users who accepted an event invitation ultimately attended, revealing a disconnect between stated intent and real-world participation.
For a product centered on social connection, this gap reflected challenges around readiness, trust, and follow-through in socially vulnerable moments.
The Problem That Wasn't the Problem
The initial brief pointed toward familiar solutions: Better reminders. Clearer event details. Stronger incentives. Standard tools for closing a conversion gap.
What research revealed was something different. Users were not failing to attend because they lacked information or motivation. They were hesitating in the window between saying yes and actually showing up. That window was where participation collapsed, and the product offered nothing there.
The real problem was not conversion.
It was readiness.
RESEARCH
The Signals Beneath No-Shows
The data confirmed that non-attendance was more than just a motivation problem.
Several signals repeated consistently across research:
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Users accepted invitations optimistically, then hesitated as the event approached.
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Ambiguity around logistics and group context increased perceived social risk.
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Social commitment felt asymmetric. Participants feared factors such as being the only attendee, arriving late, or not fitting the group.
KEY CONTEXTUAL INSIGHT
Many participants were navigating new or disrupted social environments due to relocation, life transitions, or reduced social infrastructure. In these contexts, saying “yes” functioned less as a promise and more as a tentative step toward belonging.
These patterns pointed to something the original brief had not anticipated. The window between saying yes and showing up was where the real work needed to happen.
"How does the system demonstrate that it understands the cost of showing up, before the user has to pay it?"
IDEATE & DESIGN
Anticipating the Moment Before Doubt
Attendance friction clustered around uncertainty and perceived social risk in the window between RSVP and arrival. Three design directions emerged, each built around the same throughline: meet the user before hesitation peaks.
CALIBRATION
Early testing showed that clearer information helped users understand the event. It did not reliably help them feel ready to attend.
Users still hesitated, not because details were missing, but because reassurance was. Flexibility was interpreted as ambiguity. Social expectations remained unclear. Group dynamics felt unpredictable.
This revealed that the gap was not informational. It was emotional.
Design adjustments shifted focus toward anticipating unspoken concerns, framing participation more explicitly, and helping users imagine themselves arriving successfully. The goal moved from reducing confusion to supporting confidence.
Improvements in Phase 2 came not from adding features but from restructuring how information was paced and sequenced. For users who were ready, the path accelerated. For users who needed more support, the system met them there.
PROTOTYPE
The prototype translated the design principles into interface decisions. Each screen was built around one question: what does this person need to feel right now?
Making event expectations
more legible
Surfacing who will be there, what the environment is like, and what showing up actually requires. Reducing the unknowns that give people pause.
Surfacing social context
without adding noise
Giving users enough information to feel oriented without overwhelming them with detail at the wrong moment.
Directing attention when
uncertainty is highest
The period between RSVP and arrival.
Designing for the moment when hesitation typically peaks.
REFLECTION
What This Project Taught Me
Kaleidos surfaced an early but enduring insight in my design practice:
Supporting follow-through in social experiences is less about persuasion, and more about helping people feel prepared.
Research and testing pointed toward anticipatory design: trust, safety, and cognitive effort are shaped before a commitment is made.
Features such as Buddy Mode, host transparency, and curated discovery emerged as structural responses to uncertainty and social friction, positioning the app itself as the primary experience ahead of the event.
This project represents a formative stage in my approach to UX: prioritizing clarity over volume, restraint over persuasion, and trust as a core design material. While later work may reflect greater rigor and complexity, Kaleidos captures where these principles took shape.
This question, of what does someone need to feel before they're willing to act, continues to shape how I think about product, communication, and trust across every context I work in.
