Branch Out

Role
Product Designer, UX Strategist, Content Designer

Timeline
2026 - Present

Overview
Branch Out is a concept platform designed to help students build community and belonging through personalized recommendations, behavioral design, and guided engagement experiences.

Challenge
Students often struggle with participation, not awareness. Existing platforms provide information but are typically organized around institutional structures rather than student goals, making it difficult to identify the right next step.

Design Principles

• Reduce activation barriers through small, achievable actions

• Prioritize participation over information consumption

• Personalize recommendations around interests and goals

• Reinforce progress through positive feedback and milestones

• Make community discovery feel approachable and rewarding

Approach
Designed a behavior-change platform focused on reducing activation barriers through personalization, small-win experiences, and a digital companion that guides students toward meaningful community engagement. Created the product's visual identity, including Buddy, a custom character system designed to make the experience feel more approachable, supportive, and emotionally engaging.

Content Strategy & Experience Design

Branch Out was designed around a central insight: students often know opportunities exist but struggle to take the first step toward participation. Existing platforms excel at surfacing information but place the burden of motivation, decision-making, and follow-through on the user.

To reduce these activation barriers, I designed a content and engagement model focused on action rather than awareness. Recommendations were structured around interests, goals, and behavioral cues rather than organizational silos, helping students discover relevant opportunities without navigating complex campus systems. Content patterns emphasized small, achievable actions, positive reinforcement, and clear next steps to build confidence and encourage continued participation.

The buddy companion system, “Bloomy”, served as both a visual and content-design framework, providing contextual guidance, encouragement, milestone celebrations, and progress cues throughout the experience. Rather than functioning as a mascot alone, the character system was designed to create a more approachable and emotionally supportive pathway into community engagement.

The result was a platform concept that combined behavioral design, content strategy, information architecture, and product design to help students move from discovery to meaningful participation.

Impact

• Created an original product concept, brand, and design system centered on student belonging and community engagement

• Designed a personalized engagement model focused on action rather than information

• Applied behavioral design principles to support confidence, participation, and habit formation

• Developed a character-driven experience that increased approachability and emotional connection

• Explored new approaches to fostering belonging through digital experiences and community-building tools

Key Takeaway
Technology cannot create belonging, but it can create conditions that make connection more likely.