Scribble - Lists with Friends
Scribble is a list sharing social app, where users can create, share, and discover lists. Our vision is to build a comprehensive discovery platform where users can easily find and share content relevant to their community. We're currently focused on local discovery, helping users explore restaurants, bars, and activities. As we grow, we plan to expand Scribble to support broader forms of discovery across various categories.
This project started as my senior thesis project at NYU but I really wanted to continue developing it. So after graduation, I found two investors, a business partner, and put together a team of engineers. Currently discoverable on the app store as “Scribble - Lists with Friends”!
Role:
Founder, Product Designer, Product Manager
Team:
1 Business/Ops, 3 Engineers, 2 Investors
Duration:
Sep 2023 - Present
Tools:
Figma, TypeScript, Go
Goal:
Build a comprehensive discovery platform amongst communities through the form of lists.
Inspiration:
I frequently turn to friends for food recommendations and discover new dining spots through TikTok and Instagram Reels. However, I noticed there’s no central place where we can easily share and compare favorite local restaurants, especially amongst friends. As someone who loves making lists, I saw a clear opportunity for a platform focused on local and peer-based discovery.
MVP Demo
Target Audience:
16-40 years old
Have a particular interest in something (food, music, hiking, reading, etc.)
Looking for community
To break it down some more, there are two user groups:
Influencer
The first type of user is the "influencer", someone who likes to compile lists, an active user and content creator.
Consumer
The second type of user is the "consumer", someone who might not post as much but uses Scribble as a form of discovery. This is probably the larger type of user on Scribble.
Initial User Research
To get started, what I wanted to learn was:
Is there a market for this app?
What types of content would people most likely use this app for?
Should this app be more community (friends) based or algorithm based (something like TikTok)?
And I found that…
Conclusions:
People are definitely actively making and looking for lists.
Hobbies like books, movies, and food are the most popular categories, but to simplify things let's start by attacking the food industry.
People are definitely community oriented when it comes to discovering interests. While people are open to discovery through other channels like influencers and strangers, they have a high preference to discover through friends.
Competitive Analysis
Such a good idea must have been made before right?
I actually haven't seen something solely for list sharing yet. Different apps definitely touch on different aspects of Scribble, but what makes Scribble unique is the fact that it can incorporate so much in one. Most notably: the ability to collaborate on lists, share lists, and discovery a variety of different lists.
Design
I'm not going to bore you with every little design decisions I made (although if you want to hear more please reach out!), so let's focus on the biggest one: how to make a list, which is text-heavy, appealing in a social app?
Second Iteration
This iteration was close to the final version we developed, I played more into the idea of "Lists", really wanting to allow users to get information just from a quick glance and simulate what it would be like to write a physical list. Visually however, I think this could be a lot cleaner.
MVP Iteration
This is what the MVP version of Scribble looked like on the app store.
Lists are more readable with an itemized design
Lists are collapsible and expandable from the home screen
Auto expand lists when you click into them
Scribble in the NYU Thesis Show!
Here's some memories of the early early version MVP of Scribble being shown for the first time. At this event, I had people write physical notes on two boards!
Change, change, and more change!
This is what my Figma file looked like once we started implementing and user testing. Design is never perfect! We are constantly making adjustments based off of user feedback. I promise I'm an organized and efficient designer but reality is… things get messy 😬
Challenges
Best way to communicate my design with an engineer?
Details, communication, understanding!
How do we cold start the app?
AI! We used AI to generate at least 100 lists focused in SF and we are continuing to generate content as we improve our app.
What's Next?
We are working hard to grow Scribble. Check it out on the app store and let me know what you think!
