Using Snapchat for Social Good

As a Design Intern at Snap Inc., I worked cross-functionally with two other designers, engineers, and marketers to imagine a Snapchat feature addressing the unique challenges faced by underprivileged teens and young adults in their academic journeys.

One core discovery through early research was that underprivileged students in high school and college are five times more likely to drop out than their higher-income peers. Given that information, our primary focus for our feature was, “How might we provide under-resourced students the tools and structure they need to succeed?”

Slide that is titled 'Problem.' Underneath that, there is a sentence that says, 'Low-income students are 5 times more likely to drop out than higher-income peers.' To the right, there is a Bitmoji that is saying, 'I'm lost.'

Early on, we had ideas about how to leverage Snapchat's existing functionalities; some of them included masterclasses on Snapchat's Spotlight page (their short-form video feature), interactive quizzes using Snapchat's AR filters, or something resembling Duolingo within Stories. Ultimately, we decided the most relevant product areas for our features were My AI and Chat/Group Chat.

A glass wall in an office room has multiple post-its stuck to it; specific post-its are titled with the product areas of the Snapchat app, such as Maps, Stories, and Spotlight. Underneath each title post-it, there are multiple post-its posted with recommendations on each one suggesting features to tie into that particular product area.
Aftermath of our needfinding and ideation sessions.

Our goals were to help foster a sense of accountability in teen and young adult students, but also provide some structure and guidance for students who are more likely to really need them; our answer was two features: AchieveAI and Pods.

Slide with mockups of Achieve AI and Pods. The Achieve AI mockup shows a prompt component that allows a user to choose something the AI can help them with. The Pods one shows a Pomodoro Timer within the Pods chat screen.

The first feature, AchieveAI, leverages Snap's MyAI chatbot released in early 2023 and is meant to give under-resourced students targeted, individual guidance in the form of an AI mentor. Achieve AI helps provide the knowledge or motivation students need when navigating the college application process, or once they've actually entered a college environment. Snapchatters can use Achieve AI to do things like build a study schedule, set studying timers for themselves, or jump into a pod to study with their friends.

Photo of sketches I did when ideating our feature. The sketches show the Chat interface in Snapchat, and the user is talking to the AI education assistant. In one sketch, the user prompts the AI to set a Pomodoro Timer for them to help them study. In another sketch, the user asks the AI to help them make a study schedule.
iPhone screen showing an active chat with AchieveAI. The user, Wendy, asks the AI to help her build a study schedule. The AI asks for her class and study schedule before giving her an ICS file that she can import into her device's calendar.

Pods, our second feature, are dedicated groups within Snapchat meant to serve as virtual study sessions for students who want to collaborate with friends remotely. Research into academic performance and long-term goal setting (such as diet and workout plans) showed us people are 95% more likely to be successful when they commit to something within a group setting.

We made sure not to lose focus of Snapchat's primary vehicle for communication: the camera. Pods would utilize all of Snapchat's exhaustive text and chat functionality, but would also incorporate video chatting for (virtual) face-to-face interactions.

A slide titled 'Pods'. Underneath that is sentence that says, 'Virtual study groups where students can connect, be productive, and hold each other accountable for goals.' To the right of the text is a group of 3 separate Bitmoji studying in their rooms.
iPhone screen showing the chat portion of a Pod. Multiple users are talking about studying, and one of them starts a study timer within the chat for everyone to follow while studying.
iPhone screen showing the video portion of a Pod. The members of the pod are on a break, and there is 4 minutes and 48 seconds of time left in the break. Two users are present on video on the screen speaking to each other.

Following the 2-week product sprint, our team presented our process and final features to 10+ leadership staff (SVP/VP), as well as other designers, engineers, and stakeholders throughout the company for feedback.

Photo of myself and my group on stage presenting our feature during rehearsals for Final Showcase.
Photo of myself and my group on stage presenting our feature during the official Final Showcase.