Clurb
UI/UX Design (Feature)
Hochschule Macromedia | 2024
Overview
KLUB was a UX design project brief set by Hochschule Macromedia: design a new feature for the university's existing student app. If the concept was strong enough, it would be considered for real integration. The brief was open: find a problem students actually had, and solve it within the university's existing app ecosystem.
Being an international university in Berlin, which means a significant portion of its student body arrives not knowing anyone, in a city where they may not speak the language fluently, trying to find their footing academically and socially at the same time. The university had no structured way for students to find each other based on shared interests.
The brief
Design a feature that helps students (especially first-years) build social connections through shared interests. The solution had to work within the university's existing app, following its brand guidelines, colour system, and typeface. No blank canvas; design within constraints.
The research
I conducted user interviews with students across two distinct groups: introverts and extroverts. The goal was to understand not just what kind of social experiences they wanted, but how much social exposure felt comfortable before it became overwhelming.
The key insight was simpler than expected: the problem wasn't that introverted students didn't want to connect.
It was that most social structures at university defaulted to large group settings, which created friction for people who needed smaller, lower-stakes entry points. Extroverts meanwhile wanted visibility, energy, and the ability to organise larger events.
The same feature needed to serve both without compromising either.
Design
KLUB allows students to create, discover, and join clubs based on personal interests: reading groups, cat lovers, café hunters, film nights, cycling, whatever students actually care about. The club range was deliberately broad so the feature wouldn't skew toward one personality type.
The introvert/extrovert tension was resolved through event scale. Club organisers could set events as small, intimate gatherings or larger open meetups. Students could filter by group size when browsing. The design process moved from paper prototypes through to Figma, following the university's existing brand language throughout. Final concepts were presented through UX storytelling and storyboarding, showing the feature not just as screens, but as a lived experience for a first-year student in their first week in Berlin.
Outcome
KLUB was presented as a concept for potential integration into the university's student app. The final deliverable included user flows, app screens in Figma, and a storyboard narrative following a first-year international student discovering and joining their first club.
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