TRUBADOUR

I joined up with a group that was already formed, filling the gap in both the user experience and user interface role. We consisted of 4 developers, one poet, and myself. The concept of Trubadour was already a somewhat formed idea of bringing people who do not engage in art, but want to, an easy way to explore. Each of us found that idea compelling and design-worthy.

We quickly narrowed down this concept into a mobile application that could connect people to new poetry in a ‘dating app’ format. We loved the idea of giving poetry a comeback, reacquainting people to emotions, and creating a platform where new and old poets could share their work.

We brainstormed for a while, and I sketched out our ideas. We then split into two teams: developers who would go seek assistance on building the app, and the design team who would assist me in layout, navigation, aesthetics, and all things creative.

This was incredibly exciting for me. I had just been introduced to the concept of prototyping in class, and this project served as a perfect way to explore new applications, such as Adobe XD, Sketch and InVision. 

We were a team of complete strangers spending a lot of time together, so there were moments of collaboration and moments of disagreement. Though the physical app was not completed, the preliminary design in InVision and our collective knowledge, got us through to the top 10 finalists, out of 44 teams. 

Below is our collaborative idea, my designs, and a very rough prototype that we presented to over 200 students, MIT graduates, and experts in the field in the MIT Media Lab. Click anywhere on the phone to navigate the designs.