Glib is a social mobile application that strengthens relationships among friends through casual collaboration based on a psychological principle of friendship called shared experience.
Glib was presented to a Chinese mobile-app developer as a concept for expansion into the North American market that builds on their existing video technology.
|| Overview
A Chinese company specializing in video compression technology and app development sponsored a studio project in which they asked Art Center students to help them combine communication and gaming in an application that would improve social interactions among users and could perform well in the North American market.
Over the course of the project I conducted research and trend analysis, designed the application interface and functionality, developed the business model, and produced a short promotional film. Glib allows friends, who could be together or separated by long distances, to create hilarious films by completing absurd tasks. The tasks are simple, fun, and can be completed in a matter of minutes. The result of this process is a humorous short video that is shared among the group of friends, and can be shared with the world. The effort required by each party is minimal, making it a low investment activity that returns a positive social value.
|| Opportunity
Based on the design brief co-produced with the client, I conducted future-studies with a small group in order to develop insightful social trends that could guide product development (shown at right).
Based on these trends, Glib's value proposition is centered on the idea of joint pursuit. According to the Stanford University Encyclopedia of Psychology, friendship requires 3 basic elements: Mutual Caring, Intimacy, and Shared Experience. The primary form of shared experience is joint pursuit, including such things as making something together. Shared experiences between people provide bonding that benefits the relationship, adds self-worth to the individual, and improves the well-being of the larger group.
“Shared experiences between people provide bonding that benefits the relationship”
|| Solution
Trend analysis led to the generation of several mobile application concepts, and Glib had the most appeal to my feedback group. Glib is a simple way to collaborate with friends towards a joint pursuit - an activity that has a proven positive effect on the friendships among the group. Glib takes advantage of modern video and mobile technology, utilizing AR and face-recognition for humorous special effects. Glib modernizes the classic mad-lib game, implementing multimedia into a mobile experience. Glib is free for users, but advertisers will benefit from sponsoring branded Glibs in order to engage their audience.
“Glib is a simple way to collaborate with friends towards a joint pursuit”
|| Process
Framing Research
From left: Trends research/brainstorming, Future scenarios board, Rapid concept generation
Business Viability
Left: Popular brands can sponsor highly engaging Glibs on a pay-per-click model. Right: Glibs are self-promotional, an attractive quality to advertisers
Scripting
A "mad-lib" script example -- this is the mad-lib created in the Glib App Promo video (at top of page)
Storyboarding
An excerpt the Glib promo video storyboards
