Designing a Collaborative Photo-Sharing Experience
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
3 months → MVP → Beta Launch
Team
Founder, Engineers
Process
Research → UX → UI → Visual Design
Snap, Share, Laugh
Overview
Nudge Up is a photo-sharing app for close friends, designed to make connecting fun, spontaneous, and stress-free. Users capture and share everyday moments through collaborative photos, playful conversations, and shared experiences — creating memories together along the way.
Bringing Back the Fun of Sharing
The Goal
For young consumers, social media can make even simple moments feel high-pressure. Likes, comments, and engagement metrics create pressure, causing many moments to go unshared.
Nudge Up flips this.
Instead of sharing for validation, it creates a space where friends can share, contribute, and create memories together.
From Posting Alone to Creating Together
The Problem
How can we make sharing moments feel natural, playful, and meaningful for young users?
The goal wasn’t to create another social platform — it was to build a more authentic way for friends to connect without pressure or judgement.
What Users Told US About Sharing Moments
We spoke to Gen Z users to understand how they feel about sharing on social media. A clear pattern emerged: public posting often feels high-pressure, while private, collaborative spaces feel more authentic and enjoyable.
Key insights
72% felt anxious about posting because of engagement pressure.
68% wanted more casual, unfiltered ways to share.
60% were interested in creating content collaboratively with friends.
Users consistently preferred private, low-pressure spaces over public feeds.
These insights shaped both our feature set and design direction, leading us to create an experience that feels playful, collaborative, private, and free from the pressure of likes and metrics.
Solution
From Moments to Memories
The core experience focused on helping friends share moments together — making interactions feel more personal, playful, and collaborative.
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Group Moment
Real-time, collaborative photo sharing that encourages users to create a post and cherish memories together.
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Group Chats with a Twist
A playful take on group chats, incorporating creative photo-sharing features to spark lively and engaging conversations.
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Personalised Feeds
Customised feeds that connects users to discover meaningful updates from friends and favourite communities.
Impact & Launch
More Moments Shared
📈 25% increase in daily photo uploads during beta
🧡 Users loved collaborative sharing and photo interactions
⭐️ App Store Rating: 4.8
Nudge Up helped users move away from performative sharing and towards more genuine ways of connecting with friends.
Reflection
Designing for Real Connections
Designing Nudge Up showed how small, thoughtful interactions can create meaningful experiences.
Working closely with the founder and engineering team helped turn an early idea into a product that users could genuinely enjoy.
Takeaway: Simple, collaborative experiences can strengthen friendships without overcomplicating the product.
Get in Touch
Interested in learning more about my other projects and experiences? I’d love to connect!