A social networking app to be used within rave/concert settings.
Made for my NYU Critical Experiences class. Further developed on my own time.
ConnectPack App
Tools
Deliverables
Figma
Mobile Prototype
Duration
5 months, solo
An Overview
ConnectPack is a 2-part project featuring the ConnectPack app, a mobile application, and the ConnectPack, an LED light fanny pack, designed for ravers who want to connect with other ravers at raves. In this section, I will be going over the ConnectPack App, as the fanny pack isn’t finished yet.
What is ConnectPack?
The aim is to enhance the rave experience by encouraging ravers to connect and socialize with nearby ravers.
Goal
The Problem
Raves have experienced a significant decline and alteration in culture.
Raves, once considered an underground music scene united against mainstream culture, have now merged with commercial, consumerist music scenes (i.e., the club scene). Consequently, critical identity markers of rave culture, for example, PLUR, the rave scene’s ethos of peace, love, unity, and respect, have declined in practice. Consistent participants of the rave scene, also known as ravers, call this phenomenon the “death of PLUR”, or the “death of raves”.
Research
A critical aspect of PLUR is human connection.
Example practices of the PLUR model include saying “excuse me” when passing others in a crowd and hugging/complimenting random strangers. One key tradition of PLUR is the exchange of kandi, bracelets made from [typically] pony beads. Ravers exchange kandi with other ravers to reinforce the PLUR ideology and commemorate newly established connections between the ravers they meet. The exchange of kandi is usually accompanied by the PLUR handshake, a series of 4 gestures (one for each element of the acronym), followed by the exchange of kandi from one party’s wrist to another.
The PLUR model has been followed to create a safe, welcoming environment for current and new ravers. However, ravers have reported a decline in PLUR practice.
According to Redditor u/raver_arcade under a post titled “Is PLUR dead?”,
“The culture at [raves] has shifted from kind-hearted and welcoming ravers, to the inconsiderate mainstream consumer.”
Diana Tamulavage, a fellow raver and staff writer of Your EDM, an online EDM newspaper, can attest to this claim in their blog post:
“The Peace is gone. Now you have people trampling others just to get to the front of a stage. The Love is no more. Hugs amongst strangers have become an oddity as opposed to the norm. Instead of Unity, we are completely divided and cliquey; EDM Elitists & rave veterans act entitled rather than showing the newcomers the ways of the scene. Respect is lost. Rather than encouraging a judgment free culture, we fight over and make fun of varying music tastes.”
User Persona
For several years Anastasia has been an active member of the rave community, with an expressive passion for PLUR and exchanging kandi bracelets. Anastasia even has her own blog and Tiktok, where she keeps her followers updated on the rave festivals she goes to and current rave fashion trends. Over time, Anastasia has noticed a negative shift and decline in rave culture, and desperately wishes for a way to revitalize the loving culture it used to be.
Challenges
Needs
Anastasia, 23
∙ The declining rate of social interactions at raves
∙ Making new friends at raves when social interactions are fostered digitally
∙ A way to digitally connect with others
∙ Having a method of exchange similar to kandi bracelet exchange
Solution
Based on the data I collected on ravers and the decline of rave culture, I aim to amend rave culture by reinforcing PLUR and encouraging human connection with a 2-part solution - the ConnectPack app and the (Bluetooth) ConnectPack fanny pack.
The ConnectPack fanny pack is an LED light fanny pack powered by Bluetooth and is controlled by the ConnectPack app, which has 3 main features:
a list of the nearby ConnectPack fanny packs (just as you would see nearby Bluetooth devices on your phone),
a light customizer that controls the light pattern/color of the user’s fanny pack, and
a message portal that unlocks when the user is connected to another user via a Bluetooth connection.
Disclaimer: A polished version of the fanny pack is still a work in progress. Me and my partner Elbert have 2 working prototypes that can connect to each other but not the app.
Design Thinking
The design of the app is inspired by rave culture, which is vibrant, eccentric, and extraterrestrial👽. The connections page features ConnectPack users (aka ravers) as planets traveling through an infinite universe. When we click to the profile page, the user is floating within their home planet, with a variety of emoji emblems that could be as straightforward or nuanced as they want their interests to seem. This design process aims to expand upon a theme that strongly resonates with ravers and to explore how the typical Apple Bluetooth Devices interface could be innovated to become as colorful and bold as the rave universe is.
References
Anderson, T.L. (2009), Understanding the Alteration and Decline of a Music Scene: Observations from Rave Culture1. Sociological Forum, 24: 307-336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1573-7861.2009.01101.x
“Kandi Bracelet.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Aug. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandi_bracelet.
Customize your ConnectPack and View Others’ Profiles
ConnectPack users can view others’ ConnectPack profiles via a reimagined Bluetooth Connections interface. Profile pictures glow with the color the user has their ConnectPack light set to. You can adjust your own ConnectPack’s color via the Light Editor.
Customize the Brightness, Speed, and Pattern
ConnectPack users can adjust the Brightness, Speed, and Pattern of their ConnectPack’s light. Drag up and down to adjust the Brightness and Speed, and pick from 7 different presets or customize your own pattern on the Pattern page. Depending on the intensity of a wearer’s ConnectPack light settings, the battery life will be adjusted accordingly.
ConnectPack users can edit their name, username, and personal information (city, occupation, favorite artist, and bio) via the Profile page. Birthdays and zodiac signs are set in the onboarding process and cannot be changed.
Edit Your Profile Information
ConnectPack users can customize their home planet via the Profile page. Users can change their planet’s color, pattern, and orbit color. Patterns are powered by AI, which can generate endless patterns depending on what the user inputs as the prompt. How a user customizes their home planet will be displayed in the connections feed.
Customize Your Home Planet
Customize Your Emoji Emblems
Emoji Emblems are critical to display a ConnectPack user’s interests. Users must select 3 emblems. Emblems show up in the connections feed next to a user’s profile. Emblems are taken into consideration when filtering a user’s feed.
Connect with Other ConnectPack Wearers
When a ConnectPack user taps on another user’s profile, the profile expands and the message portal is unlocked. Profiles display a user’s profile picture, name, age, emoji emblems, and information on their home planet. Users can swipe on the planet to reveal the user’s personal information. The message portal is an opportunity for users to connect briefly online and direct focus on connecting in person.
If a connection is incompatible, then the user has the option to either Disconnect or Block a user. This page can be accessed via the Information symbol on the second page of the user’s planet information or the top right of the message portal. This page displays a user’s name, ConnectPack name, and the Disconnect/Block buttons. It is the one page that resembles Apple’s Bluetooth Connections interface, to remind users that the profiles they are connecting with happen via a Bluetooth connection.
Block Users
