- Mobile App
- Trust & Safety
- 0→1
GatherUp
Helping people build trust and friendship in a new city
GatherUp turns the anxiety of meeting strangers into the confidence to actually show up, a trust-first social app for people navigating a new city alone.
Role
Solo UX/UI Designer, end to end
Tools
Figma / Miro
Focus
Trust, onboarding, marketing
The Problem
Existing meetup apps ask people to RSVP to a room full of strangers with no real signal of who's actually going to show up.
For someone already anxious about attending alone, that uncertainty is often enough to keep them home. I set out to design a version of that experience where trust is visible before you ever walk in the door.
Who I Designed For
I built and validated two personas from survey research, one high-research, cautious user and one lower-research, last-minute user. Both shared the same underlying fear: showing up somewhere and it not being what they expected.
What I Did
- 01
Designed a clean, minimal mobile UI that lowers the emotional barrier to browsing and RSVPing
- 02
Developed the Star Points system, a trust mechanic that rewards reliable attendance and gives new users a visible signal of who they're meeting
- 03
Ran user research through surveys, then built and validated personas against that data
- 04
Designed marketing visuals with a hand-drawn, human quality, deliberately away from polished stock photography, to feel more like a friend's invite than an ad
The Flow
Onboarding through to a confirmed RSVP, designed to feel like the lightest possible commitment at every step.
- Welcome
- Sign up
- Interests
- Discover events
- Confirmation
What I Learned
Research surfaced a clear pattern: people wanted proof before they'd commit. Trust signals mattered more than event variety.
80%
of surveyed users felt more confident RSVPing when trust metrics like Star Points were visible.
~40%
no-show rate in pilot testing, down from ~80% once users engaged with Star Points and buddy features.
3
factors users repeatedly chose events on: shared interests, small-to-medium group size, and detailed listings with real photos and reviews.
Impact
GatherUp gave people a judgment-free way to meet others through shared interests, and gave the product a trust ecosystem that held users accountable to each other, not just to an algorithm. For someone new to a city, that's the difference between staying home and showing up.
Visual Language
A soft, human identity built to feel warm and low-stakes rather than corporate, the finger-heart mark, a single periwinkle primary, and Poppins throughout.
What I Delivered
- High-fidelity mobile screens: onboarding, event discovery, trust system
- Hand-drawn marketing visuals for organic, non-corporate promotion
- Survey design and synthesis
- Data-validated user personas
- Feature recommendations grounded in research, not assumption
“Turning fear and isolation into new opportunities for real friendships and genuine belonging.”