Project MC

Context & Problem

During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, millions of people struggled with isolation and lack of meaningful interaction. Traditional social media felt passive, and video calls often lacked purpose.
Hypothesis: If people were given structured, shared activities during calls, they’d feel more connected and engaged.

Research & Insights

To validate this idea, I conducted 12 in-depth interviews and a 60-person survey to understand how people were coping with lockdown boredom and digital fatigue.

Key insights:

• 71% missed “doing things together,” not just talking.

• 63% said they’d try a social app if it offered guided group activities.

• Users valued ease of access (no downloads, quick invite links).

These insights shaped the MVP design: a web-based video call platform with integrated, weekly “challenge packs” for groups of friends.

UX Approach

I followed a Lean UX process, iterating quickly across three sprints:

1. Define & Ideate: Created personas for two primary segments: friend groups (18–30) and university students. Mapped pain points using journey mapping.

2. Prototype & Validate: Designed low-fidelity wireframes in Figma → tested with 8 early users via moderated remote usability sessions (Zoom + Maze).

3. Measure & Refine: Implemented Google Analytics event tracking for session duration, retention, and engagement on challenge pages.

UX Decisions that Moved the Needle:

• Integrated Zoom API for frictionless group calls.

• Designed “weekly challenge cards” with visual feedback loops to keep users returning.

• Simplified onboarding (reduced from 6 steps to 3 steps), increasing sign-up completion by 27%.

Outcome

Within 8 weeks of launch, ProjectMC reached 750 monthly recurring users, with an average session duration of 18 minutes and 60% weekly retention.
When lockdown ended, active usage dropped to 42 users, revealing that our core value proposition wasn’t resilient outside of confinement.

During winter 2020/21, we ran user re-engagement interviews (n=20) to explore the drop.
Findings:

• Users loved the social challenges but didn’t see long-term value once “normal life” resumed.

• Many compared it to a “temporary fix” rather than a platform they’d integrate into daily life.

Our first pivot was to position ourselves as the go to local events company to capitalise on our target audience and their needs:

This ended up not converting as well as hoped. Young adults were not interested in a new way to socialise because what they longed for was a return to normality.

Pivot: From Social Platform to Corporate Engagement

Using those insights, I reframed the product-market fit problem. The underlying UX infrastructure (multi-user sessions, real-time collaboration, challenges) was perfect for another struggling market: corporate and event engagement.

We rebranded to Project Micro Communities and partnered with major trade shows, including:

• Farm Business Innovation Show (UK)

• Family Attraction Expo (UK)

• Holiday Park & Resort Innovation (UK)

• Disasters Expo (USA)

Our system facilitated virtual networking and interactive content from exhibitors for attendees, driving a 38% uplift in attendee engagement metrics across our partner events.

This success attracted the attention of Markel, where I was invited to lead UX for their partnership platforms, focusing on improving collaboration and retention across B2B ecosystems.

Learnings

• Sustainable value > viral growth: Early traction is meaningless without a long-term user need.

• User research is a compass: The pivot only worked because we listened deeply to what users valued (connection, not novelty).

• UX can unlock business strategy: Redefining the audience transformed a failing social app into a viable B2B platform.