Purpose
Groundid
My role
Product Designer,
UX Research
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Zoom, Illustrator
Timeline
(2026)
Groundid
A digital third-space that enriches people who crave meaningful dialogue
TLDR
Overview
I designed Groundid, a mobile app that serves as a digital space to enrich people and satisfy their craving for meaningful dialogue. Groundid is designed to encourage users share life opinions/advice, and engage in healthy, fruitful discourse. It's random, but I drew inspiration for this app idea during college, while I was TA'ing a lab and my student asked for life advice; I realized how much I enjoy thoughtful questions because it sprouts the most interesting conversations. After, I began developing Groundid on-and-off in my spare time.
This case study explores the tensions between the long-form content space vs. trusting information online (including conducting user interviews, competitive audits, etc.) and an aligned design solution. It will explain the process of designing the idea from 0 to fruition, and delivering a fully interactive Figma prototype with a design system.
PROBLEM
Users love discussing life online, but the platforms' design is stripping away its nuance
In an early competitive audit, I noticed millions of social media posts related to "how to live life" among Gen Z and young adults across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc., including talk about career and healthy mindsets. It's present from life vloggers on YouTube to TikTok's Get Ready With Mes, to r/AskReddit. However, the irony is:
Mainstream social media corners people to discuss deeply nuanced topics on apps built for quick consumption, resulting in an environment where alternative perspectives are buried and the nuance in insightful topics is lost.
Problem
In other words, there is a mismatch between the heaviness of these topics and the fleeting nature of the platform - making mainstream social media inconsistently suited for fruitful discourse. My next step was to validate and understand the exact audience I'm designing for.
RESEARCH
Active Pain Points
Although these apps can produce thought-provoking discourse, I sifted through thousands of posts to uncover where discourse can be improved. Here are some pain points written by users in discussion-oriented platforms:
What does this reveal? I noted that users are frequently frustrated with the lack of fair + healthy discourse; they want conversations that treat different perspectives with equal visibility, especially viewpoints with fair arguments. Due to how these like/dislike systems "control the narrative," they believe there could be more room for nuance, and less attention on the "hive mindset."
Due to this topic coming up in different ways within thousands of unrelated discussions, I noticed users feel a strong sense of skepticism toward these platforms. This active pain point sparked many potential ideas for me to encourage healthy discourse in Groundid.
Competitive Audit
As another layer of research, I chose to audit 5 social media platforms, Substack, Medium, Quora, X, and Reddit, which are some of the most known apps that have quality discourse about life-related topics.
User Survey
TOTAL SURVEYED
29 "perspective seekers"
Who appreciate engaging with life discourse online (including new grads, full-time workers, college students, and job-seekers) across X, Substack, and Reddit
"LIKE/DISLIKES" AREN'T THE FULL PICTURE
76% (22)
Express "rarely" or "never" on how often a "like/dislike" captures their full stance when reacting to content relating to life choices (e.g career shifts, relationship dynamics)
DO YOU REFERENCE YOUR LIVED EXPERIENCE
83% (24)
Express they are "somewhat likely" to "highly likely" to reference their lived experience in their comment. (2 mentioned they haven't commented publicly)
HOW VALUED THEIR PERSPECTIVE FEELS
52% (15)
Expressed their perspectives feel "not valued," "minimally valued" or "neutral" by the app's system.
I conducted 3 interviews to dive deeper
On Zoom, I conducted 1-on-1 interviews with 3 "perspective seekers" (22 y/o, 23 y/o, and 29 y/o) active on life-related content online (e.g relationship, career advice) to evaluate what keeps them going back and what they'd change. I wanted to understand their holistic experience to better immerse myself in their shoes. I quoted some highlighted issues:
Takeaways: What "perspective seekers" value
"Perspective seekers" want different perspectives surfaced. They fear engagement-over-credibility systems are burying alternate viewpoints.
They want to feel like nuance is valued in a conversation, especially within serious topics where nuance is required to have fruitful dialogue.
They are highly intrigued by others' experience making important life decisions, often relying on digital outlets for info outside their bubble.
KICKOFF THE DESIGN
Outlining the Project Intent
First, I began outlining the project intent. I iterated until I came up with a statement that encompassed potential solutions to pain points expressed in the surveys and interviews.
Satisfy people's curiosity on seeking life content/advice and have healthy, fruitful discourse that is required of nuanced topics
My Intent for Groundid
IDEATION
Drafting Concepts and Ideas
First, I began drafting out concepts and ideas on paper using the Crazy 8s method.
CONCEPT TESTING
Analyzing Early Concepts
Testing was an iterative process, where I'd have users click through early prototypes, gather feedback, then refine. I recorded the testers' comments, and classified them into pain points and successes, which played a significant role in refining the visual direction.
PAIN POINTS
Too many choices that drive user to skim instead of giving it thought (EX: Hot Takes UI, Meet New People)
Meet New People needs more intuitive form of action
Short-form content tempts users to "doomscroll," which is undesirable
Hot Takes UI could be more visually appealing to reflect originality in opinions
Flow needs to be cleaned up
Tags' purpose needs to be made clearer
SUCCESSES
Appreciated concept of having warm and cozy "conversation-starters" for meeting new people
Visual elements have an intuitive interaction (like in Hot Takes UI)
Users appreciated "clean, modern" look
Users enjoyed upvote/downvote system due to familiarity (Jakob's Law)
Highly satisfied with the concept of expressing hot takes; many are excited to also see others' takes
GROUNDID
Final Designs — Groundid
After multiple rounds and iterations of designs, testing, and feedback, I finalized a fully interactive prototype for Groundid!
Key Final Screens
Feature Spotlight
Hot Take of the Day 📝
Includes 7-scale opinion spectrum for users to express a breadth of perspectives.
Quickly check articles' references
Authors are encouraged to cite their articles to encourage accountability from users and rounded discourse.
Get to know your peers, and join group chats 💬
Spotlighting the interesting people behind the opinions! Users can meet new people or browse people of the app.
Profile stats focused on posting-patterns
For users who want to check someone's credibility based on their past posting behavior.
Read anecdotal/fact-checked user articles 💌
Users are encouraged to share their advice/opinions with no character limit for people to read and comment on.
Form your opinion first, then view other users' stances
After completing the Hot Take of the Day, users are exposed to others' takes with the system aiming to give differing perspectives equal visibility.
Interactive Figma Prototype
Full Prototype
REFLECTIONS
Some Peer + User Reactions!
NEXT STEPS