Turn your app idea into a reality with our Ultimate Starters' Guide.
Learn how you can turn your app idea into a reality with our Ultimate Starters' Guide.
To deepen its engagement with a younger demographic, Sony identified a growing trend — tweens in the US and Europe increasingly connecting through digital platforms. With this insight, Sony set out to develop "Social Hangout," a mobile app to foster online friendships and creativity among Gen Alpha users. The challenge? Turning this conceptual idea into a user-friendly platform that resonates with the tech-savvy, socially driven preferences of today's youth.
Sony wanted to create a safe, authentic space for young users to build connections online while respecting their unique behaviors and expectations. Our solution focused on developing a platform that balances fun and safety — prioritizing privacy controls and user safety features while delivering a genuine experience. From the app's playful aesthetics to intuitive design, we ensured every detail resonated with this generation's distinct needs and values.
We explored gamification mechanisms within the app, focusing on two key elements: urgency and progress. We introduced features like countdown timers, streaks, and limited-edition collectibles — tools designed to motivate users to take immediate action and keep returning daily.
Additionally, we focused on progress-driven features, such as point systems, levels, and progress bars, which provided users with a clear sense of achievement. These mechanisms made the experience more interactive and encouraged users to continue using the app, creating a memorable, rewarding journey each time they logged in.
Recognizing the need for robust parental oversight, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of leading social apps for kids and teens to identify best practices in privacy controls and safety features. We developed an intuitive parental control system that offers two management options: parents can create their dedicated accounts or manage settings directly through their child’s profile. Customizable controls allow parents to set preferences for content visibility, friend requests, and app usage, all protected by a PIN system. This transparency and control give parents peace of mind, ensuring their child’s online interactions remain safe, age-appropriate, and aligned with their family’s values. By prioritizing privacy and user safety, we built a platform that parents can trust while giving tweens the freedom to engage in positive, authentic social experiences.
With a broad vision but no predefined feature set, we embarked on an iterative and collaborative process to explore potential product features and functionalities. Our approach centered around the three core pillars of the app: social interaction, creation as play, and safety. We brainstormed and developed numerous concepts, rigorously testing each idea to ensure it met the needs of the target demographic while balancing these essential elements.
In our design exploration, we explored numerous concepts to craft the ideal user interface for the app. Central to our vision was the idea of an "endless canvas" where users could freely build their profiles and engage in creation as play. The challenge was to create a canvas experience that felt dynamic and engaging, rather than overwhelming or limitless. We aimed to design an interface that allowed for creativity and personalization while maintaining a sense of structure and purpose.
To refine our concepts and foster a collaborative approach, we organized a two-day "Design Studio" workshop, bringing together stakeholders from around the globe. This intensive workshop deepened our exploration of the proposed solutions and expanded on the initial ideas. The in-person format facilitated dynamic discussions and a shared sense of ownership among the teams, enabling us to uncover hidden requirements and address project scope in real time. This collaborative effort was instrumental in honing the product features and ensuring alignment with Sony's vision.
We employed a rapid iteration process during the workshop to accelerate design development. Our team generated multiple low-fidelity wireframes, each focusing on specific aspects of the product. These sessions were crucial for quickly visualizing concepts and user flows, allowing us to make swift decisions and refine our approach. Through continuous critique and iterative feedback, we clarified the product vision. This agile process ensured that we aligned with the project's goals while adapting to new insights and requirements.
In a landscape where traditional social media often falls short of fostering genuine connections, there is a clear demand for a platform that prioritizes authentic relationships. Social Hangouts stands poised to meet this need, offering tweens a safe and engaging space to build meaningful friendships based on real interactions.
The Sony team continues exploring innovative strategies to engage their emerging demographic. Our collaborative efforts have paved the way for ongoing experiments, including the exciting concepts we’ve developed together. We aim to build on this foundation, validating and refining these ideas as Sony moves closer to bringing their vision to market.
