InternationalConnect

Inspiration

Many international students face unique challenges when studying abroad, including social isolation, language barriers, cultural differences, and academic adjustments. Navigating these challenges can be overwhelming, and it can be challenging to find the right resources and support to succeed. The pandemic has affected not only domestic students, but international students as well because the opportunity to connect and meet others in an interactive environment was snatched from them, therefore making the college experience isolating and difficult.

An app that connects international students with mentors and peers can help bridge the gap and provide a community of support for those who are struggling. By creating an app like this, the goal is to provide international students with the resources they need to succeed and thrive in their academic and personal lives at UW and address the gaps in their college experience.

What it does

Using this app, users are able to create an account and profile for themselves, on which they can upload profile pictures, a biography, their interests, etc. After their profile is created, they have access to a feed page, showing them the profiles of mentors and peers with whom they can connect with. If they decide to match with a mentor, they are able to connect with them by sending a message. Through the social events page, users are up to date on social events, giving them an opportunity to get more deeply involved with the University of Washington community. Attending a big school like UW from a different country can be quite a daunting task, so this app aims to make this transition as smooth as possible.

How we built it

We used figma to develop a demo version of the app. We first started off with a brainstorming doc and wrote all the ideas we thought would be the best solution for the problem. After, we selected the ones that stood out and would make our app more unique. This was very helpful as it allowed us to go through the design process with already framed ideas. Next, we made sketches of what we thought different screens would look like in the app. Using that as inspiration we started to design our figma project. We all split up the work according to our expertise and curated a list of slides. Next we made sure it was functional and was the best user experience for the user.

Challenges we ran into

One of the challenges we ran into was managing the buttons on Figma. It took us a while to figure out the most efficient layout for the user to navigate the app and find what they need to. In addition to that, after we added some buttons, we realized that there were more pages and features we could possibly add to the app so we spent much more time adding those as a result.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the way the app has turned out, most specifically the features that allow the international student to curate their experience. For example, the user has the freedom to design the app completely up to their discretion and can present themselves the way that they want to by including their hobbies, profile, and interests. They can upload their own images and swipe through their feed as well. Overall, our biggest thing that we’re proud of is the purpose of the app itself. Although it is not fully functional given the limitations of Figma, we know that if this app were to be developed fullstack, it would serve as an invaluable resource for international students and break down a huge language culture and isolation barrier for them.

What we learned

We learned to think about the most effective ways to deliver our product to a user and think about the easiest way to navigate the app. We tried to follow the generic structure of a social media app so that any new users would be able to navigate it without getting confused. In addition, we learned to tie in our objectives. Since our target audience is international students looking to meet new people, we added many different features that would appeal to such an audience.

What's next for InternationalConnect

InternationalConnect would be a really helpful app for those who are coming to uw from abroad. However, what we created is just a prototype; it is important to add more features and screens that increases the purpose of the app. Through trial and error, we will be able to identify where we are receiving issues and what will need to be added. Based on that, we can change it to be more functional. The main goal we have is to get trained mentors to guide these students as that will make the app more trusting and ensure that they will have a positive benefit from using this application.

Built With

• figma