Crowdsurf
Industry
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Timeframe
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Role
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Social Media, B2B
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1 year, Part-time​
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Founding Designer, 0-1 Design Process
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An award-winning social planning app that connects people through mutuals and offers new opportunities for local businesses by uncovering community social intent.
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After watching The Social Dilemma, we knew we had to act.
Our survey of 100+ Gen Z respondents showed us that while social media unites social circles, interactions feel shallow and insincere, contributing to loneliness and depression.
Goals
Gen Z (and Beyond)
Encourage real-life interaction amongst old friends and their mutuals, fostering new connections.
Local Business Owners
Provide a quantitative understanding of target customers' social intents, enabling data-informed refinement of engagement strategies.
Ultimately, our goals were to redefine the business-model, vision, and ultimate impact of social media by focusing on creating in-person social experiences.
Key Features
Customizable Event Invite List
Users can choose to share event proposals with their entire friends list, a past activity group, or a select few, fostering continuity in social dynamics.
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In-App Chat
Crowdurf reveals event attendees 36 hours prior via an in-app group chat, enabling logistics without sharing phone numbers.
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Finite Feed
Crowdsurf is not designed for doomscrolling; users are encouraged to either join an event on their feeds or publish their own.
Design Explorations
Feed Cards
Considering what size, informational hierarchy and copy best aligns with Crowdsurf's mission to foster quick transition from a digital space to real life.
User Education
Taking into account when User Education is most useful and how much information is necessary to orient users to a simple feed.
Business Impact
After working closely with engineers to develop our MVP, we made the tough decision not to publish Crowdsurf on the app store—our priority at the time was completing our degrees.
However, we remained deeply invested in Crowdsurf's potential impact and carefully considered how it could thrive in the real world.
Crowdsurf would sustain itself through partnerships with local businesses.
Ruby Sushi wants to attract more Gen Z customers but needs a low-risk way to grab their attention.​
Ruby Sushi creates an activity template and only pay a small fee when Crowdsurf users follow through and visit them.
Users who visit Ruby Sushi get discounts on future visits through Crowdsurf, keeping them coming back to both the app and business.
Stakeholder Interests
Users
High Virality + Free to Use
Simplified planning
Meaningful social experiences
Reliable discounts
Businesses
15
Simple, results-focused marketing
Low-risk marketing
Access to intent-driven data
Increased business
Large Available Market + Annual Revenue Potential
US Population Aged 18-24
Social Outings Per Year
Business Revenue
Per Activity
% Received by Crowdsurf
Crowdsurf Market Penetration
30M
X
100*
X
$30**
X
5-10%
X
5%
=
$225M -550M
*Based on estimate of ~2 outings/week
**Low estimate
30M
Crowdsurf won the Lookup Startup Social Innovator Award for designing a ground-breaking solution to digital wellbeing and humane technology! We also received seed funding to develop our MVP.
In addition, we were featured on a podcast, Everyday Endorphins, and I had the opportunity to be a panelist with some influential figures in the world of advancing humane tech!
