espressoh is a social networking app designed for young professionals, graduate students, and career changers in NYC who are seeking meaningful connections.
By facilitating genuine, in-person coffee meetups, espressoh fosters authentic relationships and builds a supportive community, eliminating impersonal cold messaging and promoting lasting bonds.
Connecting young professionals across the city over shared values, goals, with a cup of coffee.
Overview
Team
Duration
1 UX Research
15 Weeks
3 Product Designers (me)
My Role
Branding, Design system, UX Research, Product Design, User Testing
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate
Challenge
Young professionals, graduate students, and career changers new to New York City often find it difficult to build meaningful and lasting connections.
While existing social networking platforms offer ways to connect, they tend to promote superficial interactions and lack the tools to facilitate genuine, offline meetups. As a result, users are left feeling isolated, overwhelmed, or unsure how to take the next step toward forming real relationships.
Discover
Survey Responses
User Interviews
Encountered Difficulties In Making Connections
Insights Identified
Our Goals
We saw an opportunity to connect NYC’s vibrant coffee scene with the evolving needs of young professionals seeking meaningful relationships. Our goal was to build a social discovery tool that encourages offline meetups and nurtures more casual, authentic connections. We focused on these core objectives:
Solution
espressoh! is a platform designed to help young professionals, graduate students, and career changers grow their social and professional networks in a more casual, authentic way.
Unlike most social networking platforms, espressoh! lets users swipe on cafes they like, then connect and mingle with like-minded people in their field through shared café preferences—turning digital matches into real-world meetups.
Relive Favorite Moments, Discover, Share, and More
Encapsulate your monthly listening journey. Explore highlights, discover new favorites, and share your Capsule with friends.
Unlock Exclusive Drops with Amazon Music
Amazon Capsule bring fans closer to artists through interactive challenges, personal messages, and exclusive behind-the-scenes moments.
What We Achieved
Curious what went down behind the scenes? Stick around to explore the research, wild ideas, and design twists that shaped our solution👇
Discover
We conducted surveys and in-depth interviews to identify areas where we can improve our services and address our customers’ pain points.
These are insights that defined the launch of a new feature designed to enhance the Amazon Music streaming experience.
“It’s pushing me the same few songs/playlists in my daily recommendation playlist, it feels repetitive.” - User
“As a fan, I want to interact with my favorite artists in a meaningful way, and just to support.” - User
“I like to see who my friends are listening to, it makes me feel more connected to my friend!” - User
Identifying potential problems and opportunities
How Might We
innovative new ways for listeners to discover and connect through music to drive deeper engagement and retention on Amazon Music?
Reflection
As streaming platforms grow more efficient and AI becomes a powerful force in personalization, the differentiator will no longer be how fast a user finds what they want, but how deeply they feel connected to the experience.
This project reminded me that emotional design isn’t just about aesthetics or delight—it’s about empathy, resonance, and designing for the inner lives of users. As AI continues to evolve, our role as designers is not just to build smarter systems, but to humanize them. That’s what turns utility into loyalty, and products into long-lasting experiences.
What I Learned
Next Steps
Integrate with the Amazon Ecosystem: Explore how features like spatial listening can be enhanced through Amazon devices such as Echo and Alexa. Creating a seamless, multi-device listening experience could deepen user engagement by leveraging voice interaction and immersive audio technologies.
Activate the Flywheel Effect: Develop strategies to encourage less active users to engage more by fostering community interaction and offering personalized incentives. This approach can build momentum, where increased engagement fuels further activity, creating a positive feedback loop that drives user retention and growth.