Community Viewfinder (Offline installation + WeChat Mini Program)

1) Background

A Shanghai street community wanted a low-cost, low-risk way to increase neighborhood interaction and help residents and visitors notice local “hidden” places—beyond typical physical renovation.

2) Problem

• Residents overlooked everyday community value and had limited interaction with neighbors.

• Visitors couldn’t easily find authentic local spots.

• Stakeholders required a solution that was safe, easy to maintain, and realistically deployable in public space.

3) Goal

Design an end-to-end service that links offline discovery with online sharing to create a repeatable loop: discover → capture → share → interact.

4) My Role

• Led user research (field observation, interviews, surveys) and synthesized insights.

• Defined the core concept and drove iterative design decisions.

• Designed the Mini Program IA, key flows, and UI/UX (from wireframes to hi-fi screens).

• Supported prototyping, testing, and stakeholder alignment for deployment readiness.

5) Solution

• Offline: a “viewfinder” public installation that frames community scenes and invites participation.

• Online: a WeChat Mini Program that lets people scan, upload photos to specific spots, view others’ perspectives, and engage through lightweight community interaction.

6) Process

• Research: combined qualitative + quantitative methods to validate needs and constraints.

• Ideation: explored concepts, then selected a “viewfinder” metaphor to lower the participation barrier.

• Iteration: refined structure + interaction based on safety, usability, and adoption feedback.

• Testing: evaluated learnability (especially for older users) and simplified the flow to a few clear steps.

7) Outcome

• Delivered a cohesive offline-to-online service concept with clear deployment logic.

• Produced a complete UX package: research synthesis, IA, user flows, and UI system for the Mini Program.

• Demonstrated ability to design within real constraints (public space, stakeholder risk, adoption barriers) and turn them into actionable design choices.