The main take-away from this critique session was that most people associated my branding with accommodation more that socialising due to the imagery of the bird in a nest. Although I believe the mascot of the bird fits well due to its dual meaning of a chat bubble, which others were also able to clearly see after it had been pointed out to them, I believe it can be reworked to better showcase the purpose of the product while keeping its unique personality.
Another necessary change is the colour contrast. I will change the icon colours to an off white instead of red on dark blue, and perhaps use the red as an accent colour only for a currently selected icon, with a lighter colour as a background. I will also lighten the background colour and slightly darken the secondary text colour, but not so much that it does not let the primary text colour keep its higher notability.
The user persona in this presentation is based off the real users I interviewed earlier in the project, and reflects their needs to find groups that fit their unpredictable or busy schedules between work and university.
Some elements of the design I focused on in the screens shown in the presentation were using uniform sizes of icons, but changing the shape to help users differentiate their purpose, such as circular icons for friends and square for groups. Another important feature was the visual hierarchy, such as uniform heading sizes based on importance, vibrant colours for calls to action, and lighter text colour for content of less importance.