CyHobbyFind your people
CyHobby helps Iowa State students find others who share their hobbies, then turn that into a club, an event or a friendship.
- Role
- UX researcher and designer
- Team
- 5 people, 4 weeks
- Tools
- Figma, Miro
A busy campuswith no way in
Iowa State has a thriving campus community, yet many students struggle to find others who share their hobbies.
Over 60% of the students in our research were eager to connect through their hobbies. So our team of five spent four weeks on one question:
How might we help Iowa State students build meaningful connections and foster a sense of community on campus?
Two appscame close
- Meetup
- Lists interest groups and events across a whole city, but nothing in it is built around one campus or a student timetable.
- Bumble BFF
- Matches people one to one from their profiles, rather than gathering them into clubs and events around a shared hobby.
Neither starts from one campus and one hobby. CyHobby does: clubs, events and people at Iowa State.
Threepeople
Jacob, 19
Student, works at a dining center
“I want to start a videography club to expand my skills and build my resume.”
- Goal
- Start a videography club and take a leadership role he can put on his resume.
- Frustration
- After Club Fest and an online search he still has not found anyone who shares the hobby.
Sunny, 30
Second-year maths PhD, teaching assistant
“I want to meet more friends and make time to be social.”
- Goal
- Join a dance club to relax from work, and meet people to have over for dinner.
- Frustration
- She is in no clubs at Iowa State and does not know how to get involved.
Trisha, 24
New master’s student, research assistant
“I need a quick and easy to use social media app to make friends who share my hobbies.”
- Goal
- Meet people on campus who share her hobbies, in her limited free time.
- Frustration
- She rarely uses social apps and feels uncomfortable meeting people on them.
Sunny and Trishagot stuck too
Sunny’s path to a dance club. Researching clubs leaves her overwhelmed; the club fair turns it around. 
Trisha’s path to meeting other students. The dip comes on the way to the event, with no directions to hand.
What testerstold us
“I wish it was easier to find hobby groups.”
“It’s unclear how to join or RSVP.”
“Adding hobbies during onboarding feels overwhelming.”
Five screens in grey
Profile set-up 
Home 
Calendar 
Create an event 
Messages
The grey round tested the paths that matter before any colour: set up a profile, find a club, put an event in the calendar, message a group.
Four featuresin cardinal red
After the grey round the screens took Iowa State’s cardinal and gold. This is the final home screen; each feature that follows is a part of it.
Hobby matchmaking
Over 60% wanted to meet through hobbies. On the phone: My Hobbies, the top left tile under Your clubs.
“I wish it was easier to find hobby groups.”
Pick your hobbies once and they live under My Hobbies. The app does the finding from there: clubs, events and students who share them.
Group creation
Built for Jacob’s videography club. On the phone: My Clubs, the top right tile under Your clubs.
“I want to start a videography club to expand my skills and build my resume.”
Start a club from the Clubs tab and it joins My Clubs, with its own group chat: the better way to talk that Jacob’s clubs were missing.
Event hub
Built for Trisha’s limited free time. On the phone: This week on campus, the cardinal cards, and My Events, the bottom left tile.
“It’s unclear how to join or RSVP.”
Everything you said yes to sits under My Events, one tap from home, each with its day and time, so a student with a full timetable sees where an evening is free.
Cyclone branding
Iowa State cardinal and gold. On the phone: the cardinal cards, the greeting and the home tab.
It should feel like Iowa State, not like one more social network.
The grey screens took the university’s cardinal and gold: Trisha’s name, the campus cards and the home tab in cardinal, a gold mark where something needs a nudge.
One club,one screen
Tap a club and everything a new student asks is on one screen: who is in it, when it meets, and a single button to join.
Impact and learnings
30%
higher satisfaction in the final test
“CyHobby gave me the push I needed to step out of my comfort zone and meet amazing people.”
What I learned
Onboarding has to stay light: testers called adding hobbies at sign-up overwhelming. A community app needs a reason to come back, so events carry the weight. And test with the people you designed for, students with full timetables.