Blossom

How can we spark meaningful connections at a networking event?

In a post-pandemic world where casual conversations often feel strained, Blossom set out to reimagine the networking experience. Designed as an interactive Human Bingo game, the project aimed to transform awkward mixers into joyful, low-pressure spaces for meaningful connection.

Blossom used personalized prompts, blended interactions to engage participants in authentic, goal-driven conversations. The result? 89.8% of participants reported enjoying the event, 85.7% deepened existing relationships, and 89.8% expanded their networks

March 2023 - August 2024

Role: Product Designer

Research Methods: Interviewing, Qualitative Analysis, Journey Mapping, Surveying, Usability Testing, Focus Groups, Contextual Inquiry

Team: Irene Wong, Mansi Saini, Pichy Jumpholwang, Rishab Bajaj, Wing Koon, Blythe Chen, Michelle Tan, Hayat Malik(Research Support), David Lee(Advisor)

Scoping & Secondary Research

The Challenge

Community events such as luncheons, conferences, and mixers are intended to spark collaboration and connection. However, their large scale often leads to surface-level interactions. Attendees tend to stay within familiar circles, which limits opportunities to meet new people and achieve personal goals.

The Gap

Previous research highlights the value of icebreakers, shared experiences, and digital facilitation tools in supporting early-stage interaction.

However, these methods often feel generic or fail to support deeper, individualized connections. While some tools support presenter-audience interaction or group engagement, few designs focus on helping attendees connect meaningfully with each other in real time.

How can community events be designed to foster authentic, goal-aligned connections between attendees with diverse interests and needs?

Design & Implementation

What is Blossom?

To support authentic and meaningful interactions in large, collocated community events, we created Blossom, an augmented human bingo experience.

While similar in structure to traditional bingo, Blossom introduced personalized prompts based on pre-survey data, enabling attendees to connect through shared interests, receive support, co-create ideas, and foster deeper social ties.

How does it work?

1. Personalized Prompts

Before each event, we gathered responses from attendees about their goals, interests, and preferred topics of discussion. These responses were analyzed to generate customized prompts tailored to the participants' responses.

2. Diverse Prompt Types

Blossom used four types of prompts to support a wide spectrum of social needs: Meet n’ Greet (Icebreakers), Have Fun (hands-on activities), Ideate (Brainstormers), Support (Experience sharing).

3. Live Engagement Features: participants earned themed rewards, a projector displayed real-time updates, public prompts created shared moments and encouraged communal brainstorming.

Intro Screens

Research Approach

Goals:

To what extent does Blossom meet diverse individual and community goals in collocated settings?
How do participants perceive the personalization, interaction design, and community-building value of the activity?
What design challenges or contextual barriers limit the depth or longevity of the connections made?

Methods Used:

Pre-event survey: Collected participants' goals, interests, and social preferences
Post-event survey: Measured impact on participants' sense of connection, value of the event, and personal goal fulfillment
Semi-structured interviews: Conducted with 13 total participants to gather qualitative feedback on experiences, challenges, and perceived outcomes

To evaluate how Blossom could foster meaningful, goal-aligned interactions in collocated events, we conducted 3 user studies using a prototype of a digital human bingo experience.

Insights

1.

Personalized prompts made conversations feel authentic
Survey-based customization ensured interactions aligned with attendees’ actual interests and goals. Participants felt more comfortable and engaged.

2.

Participants expanded and deepened their networks

85.7% deepened relationships
89.8% expanded their networks
Many continued conversations beyond the event.

3.

The four categories (Meet n’ Greet, Have Fun, Support, Ideate) allowed participants to choose how they wanted to connect, ranging from lighthearted interaction to collaborative brainstorming.

4.

Projecting live stats and photos created a playful sense of group momentum and visibility.

The leaderboard and rewards encouraged movement, interaction, and a bit of friendly competition.

5.

Participants who were initially hesitant or shy found that the game-like structure gave them permission to start conversations.

The clear, modular goals of each square helped reduce pressure and made participation feel manageable.

6.

Key improvement areas

Longer events allowed for deeper engagement
Some prompts needed more time or guidance
Not all connections translated to long-term follow-up

Personal Takeaways

Design

1. Plan for text variability
Designing prompts of varying lengths taught me the importance of setting clear typography guidelines early on. In future projects, I’ll better anticipate how copy impacts layout, legibility, and interaction flow.

2. Structure matters at the pixel level
While prototyping Blossom, I realized the need for more structured, grid-based spacing. Using precise pixel measurements and layout systems would have improved alignment and consistency across screens.

UX

1. Structure should support, not distract
Using a light game structure like bingo helped guide interaction—but we had to be careful not to pull people away from the physical space by relying too much on phones.

2. UX is more than screens

Elements like live stats and photo projections shaped how people moved and interacted. Designing the physical and social environment was just as important as the interface.