The internet is one of the most prevalent and powerful communication technologies today, if not the most powerful. In the final project, you will create a digital platform for people to exchange information, goods, or services. You will be required to prototype user flows in Figma. By connecting to a data management system, your platform concept has potential to collect, store, and publish the collected information from its users, and benefit the group as a whole. You will learn how digital platforms structure exchanges between people, how interfaces respond to data, and how to prototype systems powered by data like JSON, APIs, and user-generated content.

Together, we will build towards designing and prototype a dynamic multi-user web platform. The project introduces concepts that distinguish static websites from living systems:

• dynamic content
• multiple users
• interaction between participants
• evolving datasets
• interface behaviors that respond to user input

Your design decisions can't be made in a vacuum. The data your platform uses has structure, rhythm, and edge cases, and your interface should reflect that. When does your data update? What does the platform look like when it's empty versus full? When something unexpected happens, does the design hold?

We’ll start by identifying a real group of people with a shared need. Define user archetypes within that group and diagram how they interact: what they contribute, what they receive, and what the platform makes possible that wouldn't exist otherwise. Think about how different needs can intersect in a single platform, forming a unique product (e.g. I want to make money driving my own car + I want to call a taxi directly from my phone). Map at least one user journey showing the full arc of a person's interaction with your platform, from arrival to action to return.

Consider:

• Who contributes to this platform, and who benefits from those contributions?
• How do you design for users who haven't yet decided to participate?
• How does the site look and feel on day one versus day one hundred?
• Where is the most meaningful moment of exchange and does your interface honor it?

Project 3 specs:

| Content | • dynamic content • user-generated content • multiple pages • content organized as data | | --- | --- | | Users | • multiple users • defined user roles | | Navigation | • clear orientation • users understand where they are • page relationships are visible | | Behaviors | • interfaces respond to users • users influence the system • interactions create new content or data |

Choose your approach: Both options require the same depth of thinking, they differ in where that thinking lands. You are allowed to change approaches as we move through the project, but you must submit either Option A or Option B.

What needs to be true for all projects:

• You put forth an original concept / idea for a platform that comes from your mind, grounded in user insight
• You bring your platform to life by thinking through and mapping the experience flow, value, and features for multiple users