Meaningful professional networking with Dunbar
Context
The 'Dunbar Number' suggests we can only maintain 150 stable relationships — yet modern professional tools are cluttered with thousands of superficial connections. Dunbar’s mission was to reclaim the 'meaningful' professional network. Tasked with bringing this vision to life, I designed a sophisticated mobile experience that leveraged API integrations with social tools to paint a complete picture of a user’s professional world. The result was a streamlined MVP that traded the 'noise' of traditional platforms for intentional community building.
The home feed of Dunbar
Problem
Numbers hide true connections
Thousands of LinkedIn contacts make it difficult to sift through and find true meaningful engagement
Tons of data is being unleveraged
There is a ton of amazing data available but it's hidden behind overwhelming UX
Online networking is shallow
Messages from people you don't know, trying to connect with people you've never met, along with other numerous ways online life makes things easier yet harder to create deeper relationships
Integrations logic framework for feed
Process
We started with an initial round of UXR, getting a solid foundation of understanding of the people we were designing for. After some quick product definition and iteration, we then mocked different concept prototypes for testing before honing in on an approach. Once that was done, we worked closely with the founding engineer to develop the logic of the product, before moving into final designs. These were informed by brand work done for Dunbar, followed by my translation of the brand into the UI.
A true team effort
This project had a stacked team. Along with myself as Sr Product Designer and a Design Lead, we worked with research, product, and brand. Coordinating different streams of work involved daily syncs and frequent communication. This was especially true during the product definition, research synthesis (a collaborative effort), and the brand to UI translation.
Understanding the data
We wanted to pull everything — LinkedIn, Gcal, email, and more — into one cohesive tool. To do that, I teamed up with the founding engineer to go deep on the technical side, figuring out exactly how these different apps talk to each other. This, paired with my own research, allowed me to design a clear framework for our features, making sure we were using that data in the smartest way possible.
Early exploration concepts
Challenges
Relying on integrations as the foundation
Including visuals was an important aspect of clearly communicating what could be picked up. Knowing that a large portion of these were plastic bags, styrofoam, takeout boxes, etc. made it an interesting challenge to create clear but still visually consistent and on brand.
Convincing users to connect their accounts
Including visuals was an important aspect of clearly communicating what could be picked up. Knowing that a large portion of these were plastic bags, styrofoam, takeout boxes, etc. made it an interesting challenge to create clear but still visually consistent and on brand.
Onboarding and integration screens
Additional screens from the app
Result
The solution was an intelligent and powerful social networking tool that allowed people to integrate their networking directly into the tools that they already use, from their calendar to their email inbox to their note taking apps, creating a holistic and meaningful way to connect.
Information architecture and roadmap
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