-isms

Case Study

Web AppEnterpriseSecurity

Project Overview

-isms was the first project Shane and Kara built together. They had the idea on a road trip to a music festival in 2011, back when Snapchat didn’t exist, Facebook had no way to target a share, and iMessage had no group threads. What they wanted was to post a quote or an overheard line to everyone, or to a few people, and to pick which one every time.

Inspiration

Shane and Kara identified the need for targeted quote sharing: a way to share overheard lines with specific people, not the entire social graph.

First Iteration

Built the initial version focused on core sharing mechanics: creating, tagging, and sending quotes to selected recipients.

Public Launch

Shipped the app publicly with refined UX for group sharing and individual quote feeds.

Improvement

Iterated on user feedback to improve sharing workflows and notification handling.

Our Challenges

Targeted Social Sharing

We worked with small focus groups to come up with a unique way to share experiences.

Agile Design and Dev

We created the designs and built the iOS app in Objective C. The goal was to keep everything light, open, and simple. As we neared launch, iOS 7 was released, and we incorporated some of the features that Apple’s new interface allowed.

Selective Public Posts

We allowed users to adjust the privacy levels of each post: they could post on Facebook or Instagram, post to the main -isms Feed, or just post to the feeds of certain friends within the app.

Iterative Feature Building

We went through different iterations, and incorporated short videos that played in the background of the feed, added photos, and presented the visual components in a way that didn’t detract from the text of the quotes.

The Outcome

The First Experience

-isms launched in early 2014, just as Snapchat started to gain traction. The timing wasn’t great, but the experience of conceptualizing, designing, developing, and pitching an app was extremely valuable, and a great launching pad for ClearSummit.