As an internship project with the innovation team at Naver, my team and I set out to ideate around digital tools for Millennials and Gen Z. With such a wide problem statement, we created constraints by ideating around common problems and trends experienced by this demographic. Our exploration lead us to the intersection of utility applications, like maps and calendars, and social media. A shared problem we idetified was accessing and leveraging friends’ recommendations. Whether you are looking for a cool new bar, or the best activity for a rainy day, the first place we typically go is to our network.
RecDec is a notional pitch for a product where users can ask for recommendations, and curate their favorite places. In research we found that the popular tools these users would turn to, Instagram, Google Maps, etc, made it difficult to easily find recommendations without additional research.
The core RecDec experience revolves around posting questions and responding to your friends questions with curated story-like responses. Each recommended spot can be curated into a deck of recommendations around a theme or a question. For example, a creator could curate a set of favorite cozy working cafes and add labels and tips that is specific to their preferences.
Users are encouraged to continue to add to their recommendations when friends mention them in a question. After posting a response, the recommender can track how viewed and visited their recommended spot! RecDec aims to help capture and curate experiences and share them with your network.
