Alpha Wave

About the project

Introduction

Greetings! I’m thrilled to present a case study on the design journey of the “Alpha Wave” a project that redefines the traditional refrigerator by integrating modern technology to enhance the user experience.

Objective

As a UI/UX designer, the journey began with a deep dive into the pain points of social media users. The primary challenge identified was the inconvenience of missed posts for memorable occasions.This insight laid the foundation for Alpha Wave as a mobile first social platform, modeled on Instagrams familiar visual storytelling but enhanced with a story scheduling for personal accounts not only business accounts. As a designer my goal was to merge habit forming social interactions with productivity driven design tool so users can engage consistently without real-time posting pressure.

Research Phase

Understanding User Needs: We conducted in-depth interviews and surveys to comprehend the needs and pain points of our target audience. This helped us identify key features that would make a significant impact on users’ daily lives.
Competitive Analysis: We analyzed existing social media platforms and identified gaps in their functionalities. This allowed us to position the “Alpha Wave” as a unique and advanced solution.

User Persona

Meet Name: Olivia Reyes

Age: 26
Occupation: Lifestyle Influencer & Freelance Photographer
Behavioral Insights:

Olivia thrives on content batching — she prefers to shoot, edit, and plan her week in one session.
She often works across time zones and struggles to hit peak audience hours.
Aesthetics matter to her — she expects clean visuals, fast editing tools, and intuitive navigation.

Design Implications:

Provide visual feedback (color-coded story borders) for scheduling status.
Offer drag-and-drop scheduling on a calendar to make planning tangible.
Include in-app previews to reduce anxiety about how posts will look when live.

Design Phase

Information Architecture: Empathy & Research, conducted user interviews with influencers, small business owners, and event promoters. Identified pain points: manual posting, missed opportunity and the need for consistent branding.
Information Architecture: Built a three -tier navigation → feed view (familiar social experience) → story planning (calendar & list view) → profile/ analytics (engagement tracking)
Wireframing and Prototyping: Using low-fidelity sketches for posting flow: Upload → Edit → Schedule → Preview → Confirm. Placed scheduling tools within reach of the thumb for single-hand us

Alpha Wave reimagines the way users share and manage stories by merging the immediacy of social media with the efficiency of scheduled content. From the scheduling-first posting flow to Featured Highlights that update automatically, the app is built to reproduce posting friction while enhancing long-term profile storytelling.

Visual Design

Brand Identity: We developed a modern and inviting visual identity for the “Alpha Wave” to create a friendly and approachable user interface.
Color Palette:A vibrant gradient of pink, orange, yellow, blue and violet. This gradient, often displayed in a gradient effect, evokes a sense of energy, playfulness and warmth.
Typography: Readability was a priority, leading us to select a clean and legible font for all text elements. This choice enhances the overall user experience.

Feature Highlights:

Extend story lifespan beyond the 24-hour limit.
Enhance profile storytelling with organized, thematic collections.
Streamline workflow by allowing scheduled stories to auto-add to chosen highlights.
Support branding through customizable highlight covers and styles.
When scheduling a story, users can tick a checkbox to “Add to Highlight” and choose the collection.
Eliminates the need to manually add stories after they go live.

Testing and Iteration

Usability testing was conducted with a diverse group of users to identify pain points and areas of improvement. Feedback was invaluable in refining the user interface and ironing out any glitches.

Bayli Jacobson