Layers
Overview
Bringing projects to life with community contributions
Our Prompt:
My Role
Ideation, UX Design, Prototyping
Team
Emily Chan, Katherine Chen, Mu Zhang, Timothy Sonibare
Timeline
12hr designathon (Feb 2025)
The Problem
people are consuming but not creating
37%
of young adults spend 5+ hours a day scrolling on social media
87%
of that time is on Youtube, Tiktok and Instagram
74%
of young adults aged 18-34 wish they spent more time engaged in their creative hobbies.
Research
Why aren't student creatives spending time doing what they love?
We surveyed university students to find out more about their projects.
97%
of students abandon their passion projects
These students face three major barriers to creating art:
Lack of time
A feeling of paralysis that stems from perfectionism
Lack of an actionable idea
Design Challenge
HMW…
Use art as a bridge for collaboration
Turn the audience into an artist
Create a community that encourages contribution
Competitive Analysis
Existing solutions that guided the designs
What are other communities of global artists and audiences?
1
FlipAnim
Casually create and browse animations on the web
2
Scratch
Create and remix different projects
Ideating
Designing a fun and casual website
Our Solution
Bringing projects to life with community contributions
A casual space where people around the world connect by building on each other’s unfinished ideas. No pressure, just creative play.
Upload an unfinished idea
Start a project by uploading anything, from a thought, sound or sketch.
Contribute a Layer
Add to someone else’s project. Each idea can grow with up to three contributions (Or Layers) from the community.
Complete projects together
Once a project gets three layers, it’s complete. Browse the finished creations and see what collaboration sparked.
Reflection
Expanding the value for users
If I had more time, I’d explore how to make users feel more valued on the platform. A mentor posed the question of “how are you ensuring people feel valued contributing to the platform? What would keep them browsing, contributing, and coming back?" I’d like to explore what happens after a project is completed with features like contributor recognition, ways to track the impact of your contributions, or even light forms of monetization or curation. These could help build a sense of purpose and long-term connection to the platform.